The newest addition to downtown San Juan Cap offers sophisticated shops and restaurants while retaining the city's Western vibe.
Drone footage of the River Street Marketplace campus. Video courtesy of Almquist
It started with a flurry of new restaurants. Heritage Barbecue opened in 2019, followed by chic Mediterranean dining room Mayfield in 2020. That same year, the Inn at the Mission debuted its Spanish dining room.
Then, two venerated restaurateurs moved in: Russ Bendel and partners launched Bloom Restaurant + Bar, a cozy dinner-and-drinks spot in 2022 and David Wilhelm bought Cedar Creek Inn in 2023 and unveiled its makeover, Tavern at the Mission in 2024.
By then it was clear: Downtown San Juan Capistrano was blowing up.
Now she’s the queen of the rodeo with this grand newcomer: River Street Marketplace, a 60,000-square-foot playground by developer Almquist just steps from Los Rios Street opened late last year. Anchor stores include a Hobie Surf Shop and Mendocino Farms, but it’s also home to a Pilates studio and a food hall. The rest of the campus is filling in briskly.
This new complex in the heart of old town has stayed true to the community’s roots. Instead of a slick city feel, River Street Marketplace has been developed with a little bit of a country twang, making it the Rodeo Drive for cowboys and cowgirls in the same way downtown Huntington Beach caters to surfers.
The vibe is rancho days, carefully blended with contemporary California; citrus trees edge the parking lot, buildings resemble barns and farmhouses, open spaces are filled with welcoming green lawns and wide gravel paths, don’t wear those fancy athletic shoes or you’ll be picking pea-sized stones out of the soles.
Instead, pull on your good boots and kick up your heels. Here are five of our favorite hangouts in this new Western wonderland.
Capo Leisure House: PHOTO 1: The bar serve craft beers, wine and cocktails, along with small bites. PHOTO 2: The patio has plenty of seating and a fire pit. PHOTO 3: Servers dress like cowgirls. Photos by Anne Valdespino, Culture OC
Capo Leisure House
We’ve always liked Swallow’s Inn and Trevor’s at the Tracks but this place feels more updated and upscale.
There’s a 40-foot bar and plenty of room on the patio where loads of comfy lounge furniture and a fire pit make you want to set a spell with a cool beverage. Award-winning brewer Max Jones promises that beers will soon be crafted on the premises. The tasty selection includes Mexican lager, German pilsner, hefeweizen, Irish red, hazy IPA, West Coast IPA and double IPA.
There are also premium wines by the glass ($13-$26) and the bottle on Capo’s all-California list with Neyers chardonnay, Justin cabernet and Sojourn Cellars’ rosé of pinot noir leading the list.
Cocktails are all $16 and we love these Wild West twists on the classics. Mexi Cali Negroni is made with blanco tequila, Guajillo-Campari and Carpano Antica vermouth, its sweet notes balancing the bitterness of the Campari. The Mission Margarita is a thirst-quenching blend of plata tequila, Naranja Liqueur, lime and a zippy hibiscus syrup that turns it an appealing pink. Of course, there are whisky drinks and we saw quite a few espresso martinis – they seem to be having a moment now – floating by.
Bites by Capas restaurant in the nearby food hall keep hunger at bay and servers in cute cowgirl outfits of faded jeans, denim shirts and Stetsons keep the drinks coming. Yee haw!
Rodeo River Street is a new food hall in San Juan Capistrano's River Street Marketplace. PHOTO 1: An exterior entrance to the food hall. PHOTO 2: Cookies on display at Hudson's Cookies. PHOTO 3: Giant chocolate brownies at Hudson's. PHOTO 4: A western-themed mural in the dining area. Photos by Anne Valdespino, Culture OC
Rodeo River Street
For the indecisive, there’s a perfect food hall on property. It’s just as eclectic as its sister location Rodeo 39 Public Market in Stanton and the name coincidentally fits the new concept like a deerskin roping glove.
Not everything is open, so keep watching for more rollouts.
There will be a couple of Asian concepts in the hall and Hudson’s Cookies for when your sweet tooth kicks in. Look for Nom, Parana Empanadas, Shootz Hawaiian, Bred Hot Chicken and Kozan Teahouse, too. Italian cuisine by Pastalia, The Sushi Stand and Kebab Craft are coming soon.
We had a taste of Mexican food from Capas at a recent media night. Their small bites consisted of neatly stacked nachos compose – that’s French for not piling a bunch of messy ingredients on top of sloppy cheese sauce. Instead, each one was constructed individually with smoked short rib, seafood and other goodies loaded onto crunchy round tortilla chips. This chuck wagon knows how to dish up some tasty vittles.
