"We built this for the community, honoring what came before us but at the same time, blazing our own path," Ryan Soifer, operations manager of Tasty Delicious, told the Marin Independent Journal when the restaurant opened in late September at 639 San Anselmo Ave.
That is a fair description of a burger counter in the former Hilda's Coffee Shop. It also describes what has happened to the block's public life. Since 2022, the plaza over Building Bridge 2 across the Avenue has been mostly fenced. In August the town picked a design to replace it, but the work is unlikely to finish before early 2028. Meanwhile, outdoor seating downtown is coming from storefronts. The newest one just added room for about 50 people at the curb.
The IJ's opening coverage gives San Anselmo's burger-and-shake history in a few lines. Tasty Delicious is the newest entry:
The IJ says the three earlier places add up to nearly a century of combined history, and that this history is what inspired the team. The links are physical, too. Bubba's original clock hangs near the kitchen, and Hilda's old sign hangs next to the bathroom door. Hilda's pancakes are due back when a coffee-shop-style breakfast launches later this year.
The team is local. Managing partner Pat Townsley owns Creekside Pizza & Taproom across the street. Chef and general manager Jackson Palmer is a Mill Valley native who cooked at State Bird Provisions in San Francisco before moving to casual pub and burger kitchens in Colorado and then at Creekside. A San Anselmo couple funded the project and helped coordinate it.
Anyone who has priced a remodel on an older Marin building will recognize this part. The IJ reports that when Hilda's closed, extensive deferred maintenance meant the space needed substantial work to meet current building, health and accessibility codes. San Anselmo architect Bill O'Callaghan and the San Francisco construction company Cookline, which also worked on Mamahuhu in Mill Valley, handled the infrastructure upgrades.
The finished room is 12 feet wide and seats about 34. The design choices are what make a room that narrow work:
Local designer Ann Lowengart of Ann Lowengart Interiors did the interior. The IJ reports that she wrote on Instagram that her brief was a 1960s- and '70s-era burger joint like you might find in Inverness. With seating for about 34 and only 12 feet of width, the room was never going to hold much of the block's evening crowd on its own.
The IJ says the menu is short on purpose, and the team kept prices low so the place could be a regular stop for all ages.
| Item | What's in it | Price as reported in September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Tasty burger | One or two 4-ounce patties from a custom 80-20 Black Angus blend, caramelized onions, pickles, American cheese, Tasty sauce | Burgers run $10 to $14 |
| Bubba's Burger | Smash style with crisp edges, grilled onions, fresh jalapeños, pickles, lettuce, firecracker sauce | Burgers run $10 to $14 |
| Fries | Twisted Sidewinder fries now; hand-cut, twice-fried fries due in late October | From $5 |
| Shake | 12 ounces, hand-spun, with a splash of Clover whole milk | $6 |
| Soft-serve | Chocolate, vanilla or twist, made with milk from Valley Ford Cheese & Creamery's Jersey herd | Not listed |
There is also buttermilk-brined fried chicken, served on a bun or wrapped in a Sonoma Valley Foods tortilla with the Palmer family's Caesar dressing. A black-bean patty can replace the beef on any burger, and gluten-free buns are available. Before the flat-top went in, Palmer spent months testing burger blends across the street at Creekside, cooking two patties at a time in a cast-iron skillet.
The parklet is the part of the opening that changes the block most. Tasty Delicious built a new street-side parklet for roughly 50 guests, more than the 34 seats inside. Its corners are angled so drivers and pedestrians can see each other at the crosswalk, and a retractable waterproof canopy is on the way.
The street seating on this stretch traces back to the plaza. According to the IJ's account of the Creek Park redesign, the town leased Building Bridge 2 during the pandemic in 2020, put picnic tables and wood chips on it, and turned several nearby parking spaces into parklets. In 2022 the county ended the lease over concerns that the structure could be unstable, and most of the surface was fenced off. The parklets and some sidewalk tables stayed.
Four years later the arrangement still stands. Most of the plaza surface is still fenced, and the outdoor tables next to it sit on restaurant parklets and the sidewalk. The IJ reports that Townsley owns two restaurants next to the plaza, and he now has a hand in a third parklet one block up.
The plaza project moved faster in 2026 than in any year since planning began in 2019. It still has several steps to go before it opens:
A joint release from the Marin County Flood Control District and the Town of San Anselmo explains why the fence is still up. A structural evaluation found that the bridge needs repairs and reinforcement before it can reopen. The cost isn't known yet. District staff expect to bring a funding recommendation to the Board of Supervisors in early 2027, with the money coming from the county general fund. The town would pay for the plaza improvements on top of the bridge.
Town manager Dave Donery told the IJ that all the work could be done by early 2028. He added a condition:
"This is obviously pending successful fundraising."
That puts at least one more fall, and likely more, on the Avenue as it is now. Public comment at the August meeting covered several concerns. Some speakers said the council was moving too fast, some disagreed, and some asked for parking to be restored.
The next two weekends center on the same few blocks.
Saturday, Oct. 17, fall clean-up. The town's community clean-up runs 9 a.m. to noon, starting at Town Hall Plaza, with volunteers working along San Anselmo Avenue and nearby side streets. Creekside's community page says Tasty Delicious is providing free lunch for volunteers.
Friday, Oct. 23, Goblins' BOOtacular. Visit Marin lists the costume trick-or-treat on San Anselmo Avenue starting at 5 p.m. Creekside's page gives a 5 to 7 p.m. window, with the route running from Fire Station 19 and Town Hall past Creekside to Cucina. The town hadn't posted a 2026 street-closure notice when this was written, so check the town site that week.
There are other new stops nearby. Tụ Tập, an upscale Vietnamese restaurant and bar, opened at 625 San Anselmo Ave. in late July, on the same block as Tasty Delicious. Pretti Platters opened May 19 at 810 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., in the former Auryn Thai Cuisine space near the Red Hill Shopping Center.
The library is open too. It reopened in April. Town Books, the used bookstore on San Anselmo Avenue, is run by the Friends of the Library, who give all net proceeds to the library.
The plaza fence comes down only after the repairs are funded and built, with a projected finish of early 2028. Until then, the closest thing to a downtown terrace is the 50 seats at the curb outside 639 San Anselmo Ave.
Restoring Hilda's old space meant bringing an older building up to current code, and many Ross Valley homes need the same kind of work. If you're wondering what that would take for your house, Heather Thompson can give you a realistic read on scope, cost and timeline. Schedule a free design and home valuation consultation.
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