For most of the last decade, the answer to "where is Calabasas eating this week" was a single address at Commons Way. That is quietly ceasing to be true. The Commons is mid-renovation, its parking lot has a construction fence around part of it, and the two most interesting kitchen announcements of the year are pointed at Calabasas Road and Las Virgenes.
If you already live here, this is the shift worth tracking before Labor Day: the dining center of gravity is drifting back off the Caruso property and onto the older commercial spines of the city.
The Mulholland space gets its second act
The clearest signal is at 23538 Calabasas Road, across from Sagebrush Cantina, where the Mulholland restaurant closed last October. That address is now being taken over by Jon & Vinny's, the California-Italian concept from Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo. The team is currently hiring for all positions at the new location opening soon at 23538 Calabasas Road in Calabasas, across from Sagebrush Cantina, with the hiring line at 818-444-6494.
The reason this matters more than a typical opening: Jon & Vinny's has stayed compact. Their existing footprint is Fairfax, Brentwood, Slauson, Beverly Hills and Studio City. Calabasas is the first push outside the central city grid, and the operators are picking a two-story stretch of Old Town rather than a mall pad. The menu leans on handmade pastas, wood-fired pizzas, and produce-driven dishes in a casual, diner-style setting. A spokesperson said the team was excited to be in Calabasas but still waiting on some permit approvals, with a definite opening date unknown as reporting stood late last year; hiring activity this summer is the freshest tell.
The Commons is a construction site with a valet
Anyone who has driven Commons Way in the last six months has seen the fencing. Per the property's own status update, The Commons is in the middle of a significant construction period; work began in January 2026, and the July through September update says construction is underway on new shops, restaurants, and a parking structure for planned apartment homes, with existing stores and restaurants remaining open. Surface parking is still available, and weekend valet service is listed near SUGARFISH from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
What that means for a Saturday routine:
- The center of the property still works, but arrival friction is real. Weekend valet is the path of least resistance.
- The tenant roster is thickening, not thinning. Cheesesteaks by Matū opened on Tuesday, July 14 at The Commons, a casual walk-up spot next to HiHo Cheeseburger from the team behind Matū and Matū Kai, serving 100% grass-fed Wagyu Philly cheesesteaks with First Light Farms beef, Cooper Sharp cheese, grilled onions, and a long hot pepper. It sits at 4799 Commons Way, Suite I, open daily from 11:30am–7pm.
- The center's summer program is running on schedule. Live performers play the Commons every Thursday from 5:30 to 8:30 pm through Labor Day weekend, located between Toscanova and Marmalade Cafe.
Las Virgenes gets a Zacatecas import
The second address to keep an eye on is not at Commons Way at all. Salsa & Beer Mexican Grill appears to have signage up at 4895 Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas, according to reporting by Conejo Valley Guide. The location was previously in the works in 2020 but never came to fruition; owner Gabriel Huerta told What Now Los Angeles they are finishing construction on the space and planning to open soon.
Two useful pieces of context. First, Salsa & Beer has four existing locations, including one in Lake Balboa and three in North Hollywood, and focuses on bringing the flavors of Jerez Zacatecas, Mexico, to the Los Angeles area. Second, the Las Virgenes corridor has historically been a car-through strip on the way to the 101; a full-service regional operator anchoring there is the kind of small change that reshapes weeknight habits for the households immediately north.
Old Town, The Commons, and Las Virgenes have functioned as three separate rooms for a long time. Late 2026 is the first stretch in which all three are actively adding named operators at the same time.
What still holds at The Commons
None of the above erases the Commons roster; it reframes it. Superba Food + Bread opened at The Commons at Calabasas with a modern design inspired by European cafes and classic American diners, the California brasserie extending founder Paul Hibler and CEO Jeff Goodman's American Gonzo hospitality group that started at Venice Beach in 2014. The Calabasas menu carries dishes exclusive to this location, including an Egg White Frittata, Superba Hash Browns and Osetra Caviar, Bluefin Tuna Carpaccio, and a Market Vegetable Fritto Misto. The room is 1,800 square feet, designed by the Klein Agency, with leather booths, counter-height swivel chairs and a shaded patio, seating 100 with 27-foot ceilings, stone and marble tabletops, and vintage reclaimed redwood.
The Commons' response to construction pressure is a coordinated dining program rather than a discount push. Every Monday through Wednesday, participating restaurants offer prix fixe menus for The Commons Night Out, including BLVD Steak, Marmalade Cafe, Superba Food + Bread, and Toscanova, with 50% off Affogatos at Bacio di Latte from 3PM to close. Read it as a mid-week hedge against the Thursday-through-Sunday crowd that construction and valet queues will slow down.
The lake wraps in three weeks
The other calendar item worth locking in before the season closes is at Park Sorrento. The private Calabasas Lake is open to the public only during City-sponsored concerts, with entrance at The Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center at 23400 Park Sorrento. The remaining 2026 SunSets dates are tight:
| Date | Act | Style |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 2 | Gold Rush Country | Top 40 country |
| Aug 23 | Fantastic Diamond | Neil Diamond tribute |
Families set up and picnic before concerts on the Calabasas Lake Greenbelt adjacent to the Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center; seating is on the grass, so bring chairs or blankets. There is a free park-and-ride shuttle from the Calabasas Civic Center at 100 Civic Center Way, running 4:30 to 8:00 pm. Picnics are welcome with no glass bottles, barbecues or heating devices; friendly leashed dogs are permitted on the grounds only.
The reason the shuttle matters this year: Park Sorrento parking absorbs both the concert crowd and any Commons overflow from the construction period. Two hours saved by riding it back to the Civic Center is a real number.
A working late-August Sunday, mapped
For residents deciding how to use the last stretch of the season, one shape that uses the current geography:
- Late afternoon coffee and pastry at Superba on Commons Way, 4799 Commons Way, using weekend valet by SUGARFISH.
- Walk-up Wagyu cheesesteak from Cheesesteaks by Matū, Suite I, packed for the picnic.
- Shuttle from the Civic Center at 100 Civic Center Way, boarding by 5:00 pm.
- Blanket on the Greenbelt at Park Sorrento, Fantastic Diamond starting at 6:00 pm on August 23.
- Shuttle back to the Civic Center, walk or short drive to Old Town Calabasas Road to check whether the Jon & Vinny's signage has gone up at 23538.
Every stop on that list is either brand-new, newly programmed, or in transition. None of them existed as a coordinated sequence a year ago.
Why this reshuffle matters if you already live here
Two long-standing assumptions about the city are being tested at once. The first is that The Commons is the singular center. It still anchors the weekend, but its construction window has pushed the property from destination into supporting player through at least the third quarter. The second is that Calabasas Road east of Parkway Calabasas is a residential-service strip. With a Shook-Dotolo restaurant taking the old Mulholland footprint and Sagebrush Cantina still holding across the street, that block is being priced and programmed like a dining corridor again.
For anyone weighing what a home in a specific Calabasas pocket actually delivers on a Thursday night, the walkable-radius map is being redrawn in real time. The households closest to Old Town and to the Las Virgenes corridor get the strongest tailwind between now and year end. Households near The Commons get a temporarily quieter room and a stronger permanent one on the other side of the build-out.
At Walters | Plaxen Estates, we track these shifts because they are the small facts that make the difference between a well-priced listing and one that reads flat. When you are ready to talk about how the new geography of Calabasas maps onto your next move, step into a new standard.
