The Bon Air Corner That Finally Has a Restaurant Again

The building at 340 Bon Air Center stands alone on the outer edge of the shopping center, facing Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. Since spring 2021 it has mostly been a building you drive past. Tipsy Dumpling opened there in August 2026. It is the first restaurant in that space since Patxi's Pizza closed, and the people behind it are not new to Bon Air. Peter Wang and Jessica Li have run Oyama Sushi a few doors away for about ten years. When the corner finally filled, the tenant came from inside the center.

Five Springs Without a Kitchen

The building's recent history shows why the opening matters to anyone who has parked at Bon Air in the last few years.

• Spring 2021. Patxi's Pizza at Bon Air closed. The Marin Independent Journal's 2021 year-end roundup said the restaurant "succumbed to COVID-related trials."
• May 2025. The Marin Rose Society held its 48th annual rose show in the empty space. The Marin IJ's preview described the venue as "the stand-alone building that formerly housed Patxi's Pizza."
• August 2026. Tipsy Dumpling opened. The Marin IJ reported the opening on September 8 and said the restaurant had opened "last month."

That adds up to roughly five years without a restaurant. The space was not sealed the whole time, since the rose show used it for a day. But the building had no kitchen and no one serving dinner from spring 2021 to August 2026.

The Couple From a Few Doors Down

Oyama Sushi sits at 282 Bon Air Center. It has been there for about a decade. An April 2016 review in Redwood High's student paper, the Redwood Bark, called it a "recently opened" Bon Air restaurant. The same owners, Peter Wang and Jessica Li, are behind Tipsy Dumpling.

According to the Marin IJ's opening story, Wang came to the Bay Area from northeast China, where he had worked as a sushi chef. Before opening the new restaurant, the couple traveled to four cities in China and learned dumpling-making techniques from 20 chefs. A September 22 Marin IJ review says the work is divided: Wang runs the kitchen, and Li oversees dumpling production.

Oyama runs on knife work, and Tipsy Dumpling runs on dough. The new restaurant is built around a skill the owners went abroad to learn before opening it.

The Glass Wall Is the Restaurant's Centerpiece

Just inside the entrance, a glass window fills nearly an entire wall. Through it, diners can watch Li and her team knead the dough, then fill, wrap and pleat it into three styles of dumpling. A large screen above the window plays an animated story about a girl making dumplings with her grandmother. It doubles as a lesson in eating soup dumplings: set one on a wide spoon and break it open gently so the hot broth runs out before the first bite.

The Marin IJ reviewer asked to be seated right in front of the window and watched three staff members rolling, filling and pleating each dumpling during the meal. For a restaurant whose owners trained with 20 chefs, the window puts that training on display.

What to Order, and What It Costs

All prices below come from the Marin IJ review published in September 2026.

The steamed and boiled dumplings come with the house sauce, a mix of soy sauce, Shanghai vinegar, sesame oil, chili oil and garlic. The review singled out the steamed corn and pork as the standout. The reviewer's personal favorite was the boiled beef and onion, which they found light rather than heavy.

The rest of the menu mixes traditional dishes with Americanized Chinese standards. Mapo tofu is $18, General Tso's chicken is $22, and Chongqing spicy crispy chicken, served under a pile of dried red chiles and Sichuan peppercorns, is $25. The showpiece is the $48 sweet-and-sour squirrel fish. The whole fish is butterflied and scored so that it curls into a crisp, pinecone-like shape in the fryer, with the head and tail left on.

The bar leans toward Japanese spirits, which fits owners who also run a sushi restaurant. Options include a Sakura Sour made with Roku Gin, a Lucky Lychee Martini made with Haku Vodka, and the Moon Gate, which pairs Suntory Toki whisky with chili ginger syrup. The tequila-based Aloe and Jade costs $15, and wines by the glass run $12 to $21. There are also nonalcoholic beers and wines. The reviewer wrote that prices are often higher than at most San Francisco dumpling spots and that the quality of the ingredients comes through.

The Marin IJ's September 8 story said a daily happy hour was expected to start later that month. We have not seen its start date or details confirmed, so check with the restaurant before planning around it.

A Familiar Bar in a New Room

One thing from the Patxi's years is still there. The backlit liquor shelves at the back, with three televisions above them, were kept from the previous tenant. Nearly everything else was redone: dark green leather chairs, curved banquettes, and a large sculptural light fixture hanging from the exposed-beam ceiling in a casual dining room with 100 seats. If you remember eating pizza in this building, the back wall will look familiar.

The fenced patio adds 45 seats around a fire pit. In early September, sail shades and heat lamps were still being installed. By the time the September 22 review ran, the patio had both heaters and shade, and a wooden fence blocking out the traffic on Sir Francis Drake. The reviewer also mentioned easy parking and called the room one where families and couples on a date would both feel comfortable. Heaters make a difference on October evenings.

Tipsy Dumpling is open 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Online ordering is available at tipsydumpling.com, or call 415-886-8909.

The Rest of the Fall Calendar Nearby

Bon Air's own big fall weekends have already happened this year. The 18th Annual Invitational Car Show was scheduled for September 26, with more than 100 American classic cars registered. The Fall Festival followed on Saturday, October 3, featuring the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, whose instruments are made from discarded materials, as the Marin IJ's photo coverage showed.

For the rest of October, the events are a short drive away at Marin Country Mart near Larkspur Landing:

• Pumpkin patch: daily through October 31.
• Friday movie series: films at 6 p.m. through October 30, with food and drink from Mart businesses.
• Halloween Spectacular: Saturday, October 31, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a costume contest at 11 followed by trick-or-treating at participating shops.
• Farmers' Market: every Saturday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., rain or shine, with live music and children's crafts.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so the Mart's costume contest ends around midday. That leaves the evening for steamed dumplings by the fire pit at Bon Air, open until 9:30 that night.

If you'd like to talk about how local businesses like these shape daily life around Greenbrae and Kentfield, Deborah Cole is always glad to compare notes over a good meal nearby. Let's Connect.