BBQ joint Cork & Batter Roadhouse, Taiwanese chain 85°C Bakery Cafe coming to Simi Valley

Simi Valley's family friendly reputation is literally opening doors to new restaurants.

So says the marketing team from Taiwanese chain 85°C Bakery Cafe, which will bring a litany of unique baked goods and specialty coffee drinks to the east county, and the operator of barbecue joint Cork & Batter, a soon-to-be chain that will add its second location at the Simi Valley Town Center. Both are expected to open in coming weeks.

Here's what we learned about their food, Simi Valley locations, jobs and reasons for setting up shop locally.

85°C Bakery Cafe

The popular chain 85°C Bakery Cafe will start selling its twist on coffee, pastries and breads in Simi Valley with a soft opening later this month and an early September grand opening, company officials said.

"We serve a lot of different products and freshly baked goods like Taiwanese, Japanese and European Danishes and different varieties of bread," said Social Media Specialist Beverly Chow by email.

The company boasts 1,000 cafes worldwide, but this will be Ventura County's first. It joins nearly three dozen already open in California. The bakery cafe started in 2004 in Taiwan and opened its first in the state in Irvine in 2008 with lines winding around the block.

Incidentally, the cafe's name comes from the idea that espresso is best served at 85 degrees Celsius, its website says. 85°C's most famous drink is its sea salt coffee, according to Brand Marketing Supervisor Kaylee Quijada.

The menu carries pastries and breads and even drinks with ingredients better known in Asia like matcha, red bean, taro and ube.

Customers at the nearly open cafe at 3013 Cochran St. Suite D will clamor over goodies like egg tarts, brioche bread and mango creme brulee among its lengthy list of items on offer, Quijada said.

The restaurant's breads and pastries range from about $1 to $3 and the 8-inch cakes between $32 and $35, according to Chow. She said customers frequently buy a tray of taro bread and milk buns.

The Simi Valley location will be a 3,300-square-foot stand alone site and is expected to employ between 25 and 30, Chow said by email.

"We have stores in Northridge and Valencia so we felt like Simi Valley was part of our natural progression moving west," Chow said. "Simi is also a great community and very family-centric, which is a good fit for us."

Cork & Batter Roadhouse

The signs for Cork & Batter Roadhouse have hung on the shuttered Musashi restaurant at the Simi Valley Town Center for weeks.

The chain's second restaurant will be centered on its Texas-style barbecue roots, said Freddy Braidy, operator and a managing partner of Los Angeles-based Boulevard Hospitality Group.

In mid-July, Braidy said he expected to open in late September if all went to plan, but this week the website gives a less precise winter 2023 opening schedule. That may be a more realistic timetable since the 1747 Simi Town Center Way site just a few weeks ago still bore the vestiges of its previous life as a Japanese restaurant — a chain of paper lanterns strewn out front and signs on the door.

Simi Valley's location will serve much of the same fare as Cork & Batter's original in Inglewood, but the vibe will be more of a roadhouse, Braidy said. So patrons can expect items like the $10 charred corn "rib" as a starter to a $28 skirt steak entree. The menu features plenty of salads, flatbreads and sandwiches in between.

The local facility tallies more than 5,000 square feet and will employ between 30 and 50 though it's still a ways off from knowing numbers precisely, Braidy said.

Unlike the Inglewood spot, which lies in the shadow of Sofi Stadium and a stone's throw from the Kia Forum, the Simi Valley eatery will be "restaurant forward and sports secondary," Braidy said.

The differences between the restaurants reflect the communities they're in. As for why Simi Valley was in the company's sights for expansion, Braidy described it as "an underserviced market."

"We're trying to create something family friendly — a place (for people) to just call their own, you know," he said.

Stacie N. Galang is news director of the Ventura County Star. She can be reached at stacie.galang@vcstar.com.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: 85°C Bakery, Cork & Batter Roadhouse to open in Simi Valley