Montclair Village's Antioch Corner Is Between Owners This October

For 35 years, Grinders Submarine Sandwiches kept regular customers' sandwich orders and condiments in a computer. Owner Peter York liked a fast, efficient counter, and his two-page menu had 10 kinds of turkey sandwich. The tiny shop on Antioch Court had been open since 1991. This spring it closed with a "permanently closed" sign and no farewell party, as reported in Ginny Prior's Eye on the Hills column.

A few steps away, Pagarung Thai Cuisine at 6200 Antioch St. has also closed for good. It had been there since 2005. Both spaces already have new tenants lined up, and neither new tenant is open to walk-in customers yet. Right now, the busiest thing at this corner of Montclair Village is the plaza between the storefronts, not a business inside one. The two operators moving in already have East Bay food experience.

Two long-running businesses closed within five months

This year's changes in Montclair Village came gradually, a few each season. In order:

1. January. The Shop, a clothing store for children, women and men, opened at 6123 La Salle Ave. in the former Folks Art storefront.
2. March. Highwire Coffee at 2059 Mountain Blvd. closed temporarily.
3. April. Grinders closed on Antioch Court after 35 years.
4. June. A Great Good Place for Books on La Salle Avenue had its last day on Sunday, June 14, after nearly 30 years in the village.
5. July. Highwire reopened, serving coffee and pastries daily and gradually adding hours.
6. August. Healthy Life Vitamins at 6130 Medau Place added a wellness suite with infrared sauna, red-light and aromatherapy services and a massage chair. Perle Bar at 2058 Mountain Blvd. closed again, a year after it reopened in 2025.
7. September. Pagarung's permanent closure at 6200 Antioch St. was reported, along with the closure of the shoe repair shop in Montclair Plaza. The shoe repair owner asked customers with pending repairs to leave a note.

Grinders and Pagarung stand out because of how long they lasted. Between them, they ran on the same corner for 56 years. A business that has been in a space since 1991 or 2005 becomes part of how people get around the block. When two of them close in the same year, the corner needs time to settle into a new routine.

Who is moving in

The restaurant replacing Pagarung is called Piggie's. A mother-daughter team is opening it as an Asian American restaurant serving brunch and dinner, Tuesday through Sunday. Alex Piyapanee, the daughter, is a bartender and sommelier who worked at Daughter Thai for 11 years. Her mother has a hotel background and wrote many of the recipes. Piyapanee expects her mother's morning porridge to be a signature dish. It's a savory oatmeal with assorted mushrooms. The menu will also include an Asian braised pork dish, and the name partly comes from the fact that both women were born in the year of the pig.

The opening date has already moved once. A September 1 report said brunch would start October 1, with dinner added after a soft opening. The October 6 update moved that to mid-October, and one approval was still outstanding.

"The only thing still pending is our Fire Department inspection," Piyapanee told the Mercury News, adding that she was told the department is understaffed and that the inspection "could potentially push our opening back a little."

As of today, October 8, Piggie's has an opening target, not an opening date.

Next door, Go Banh Mi is opening a new location in the former Grinders space. For now it takes catering orders only, with a $200 minimum, through gobanhmi.com. The site says walk-in and regular pickup ordering are "coming soon." According to Prior's September column, walk-up service for its grilled meat, tofu and fried egg sandwiches is "reportedly coming soon."

Neither new tenant is new to East Bay food. One co-owner spent more than a decade at an established Thai restaurant, and the other business already has a following and a catering operation. Thai cooking also hasn't left the area. Payakk, at 5761 Thornhill Drive on the Montclair and Merriewood border, opened in fall 2025. Chef Nattaporn Pinpech, who also co-owns Secrets of Tiger in Emeryville, runs it. Oaklandside's September 30 profile describes it as dinner only, Thursday to Monday from 5 to 9 p.m., with large plates from $27 to $46 and dishes drawn from Thai royal cuisine. When Pagarung closed on Antioch Street, Thai food in the neighborhood moved to a more expensive dinner spot a short drive up Thornhill.

The plaza is busier than the storefronts

While both storefronts are dark, the Montclair Village Association's events keep people coming to the corner. The Association's Picnic on the Plaza series uses the Antioch Court plaza at 2066 Antioch Ct. On Sunday, September 20, the series brought Salsa & Sangria from noon to 4 p.m., with DJ sets and beginner salsa lessons. These events run in the same block as Grinders' old counter and Pagarung's old dining room.

The last event of the series is a Halloween party on Sunday, October 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with trick-or-treating, crafts, a DJ and a farmers' market scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt is planned around the Montclair Village Farmers' Market. That market runs every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., rain or shine, at La Salle and Moraga avenues. On October 25, the market and the plaza event overlap for three hours, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

After that, the next date on the Association's calendar is the 24th annual Holiday Stroll on Thursday, December 10, from 4 to 8 p.m. The event page says 2026 details are still to come. Mark the date now, and check the program closer to December.

Planning a late-October Sunday around the closures

The corner's Sunday schedule still works this month if you plan around the gaps. Highwire is back on Mountain Blvd. for coffee and pastries. The market opens at 9. On October 25, the plaza event starts at 10. The Shop on La Salle is a block away. For a Sunday sandwich, the old Grinders counter is still closed. Go Banh Mi's catering orders are the only way to get its food from that address right now.

If your Sunday starts on a trail, check the current trail notices from the East Bay Regional Park District before heading uphill. At Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park, repairs on Stream Trail began August 24 between Trail's End and Fern Trail. The park page also warned of a section closure at the Old Church Picnic Site in late September and early October. Part of the Golden Spike Trail, reached from Monteiro Trail, is closed October 5 through 16 for FEMA-funded work. At Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve, fallen trees block the lower loop of Lower Huckleberry Trail about 300 feet from the Skyline Boulevard staging-area parking lot, and the notice doesn't give a reopening date.

The park district also has guided walks on the calendar. A Redwood Loop walk leaves from the Trudeau Center on Wednesday, October 14, at 9 a.m., and "Hikes for Tykes: Redwood" is set for Tuesday, October 20, at 10:30 a.m. The "Green Friday Hike Amongst the Trees" at Reinhardt Redwood is on November 27, the day after Thanksgiving, at 9 a.m.

Back on Antioch Court, the next update depends on one inspection. Once the Fire Department signs off, Piggie's can start brunch at 6200 Antioch St., and Go Banh Mi's walk-up opening is the other one still to come.

At East Bay Digs, Sharon Alva follows openings and closings in Montclair Village season by season, including spaces that sit empty for a while. If you're curious how this year's changes around Antioch Court compare with the rest of the hills, or what they mean for your part of Montclair, get a free neighborhood consultation.