Old Towne Orange's Next Restaurants Are Mostly Still on Paper. Here's Where Each One Stands.

The northeast corner of Chapman Avenue and Lemon Street has two small utilitarian buildings around an oddly shaped asphalt lot. Standard Oil built it as a "superstation" in 1924. One building was the filling station and had two canopies. The other, at the back, handled auto service. Most people in Old Towne know the site as the former Hoffman Radiator. If its current plans go through, it will become the largest restaurant project near the Plaza, with 225 outdoor dining seats and 16 bar seats.

That corner shows what 2026 has looked like in Old Towne. Very little has been built from the ground up. The new places are moving into buildings that are already there, often buildings listed as contributors to the historic district. So the pace isn't set by framing crews. It's set by design review, conditional use permits and California's alcohol licensing process. Each step is on the public record, so you can see how far along each project is.

Where Each Project Stood as of Early October 2026

The two shops that have actually opened sell ice cream. The three bigger restaurant projects are each at a different point in the approval process, and the rest of this post goes through them from furthest along to least.

The Old Radiator Shop Has Its City Approvals. Its State License Is Still Pending.

The Win~Dow began as a walk-up burger window in Venice in 2019. Its menu is short: smashburgers, fried chicken sandwiches and hand-spun shakes. Orange will be its first Orange County location. The plan here is much bigger than a window. According to the city staff report, the restaurant would rehabilitate both historic buildings and keep the walk-up window service, adding a full bar and an activity and play area for customers. Every seat would be outdoors.

The staff report lists the proposed hours this way:

"The hours of operation for The Win~Dow are Sunday through Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m."

Those hours would make the Chapman and Lemon corner one of the later-closing places on the west side of the Plaza. It already has restaurant neighbors. The same report notes a restaurant in the historic building across the street at 240 W. Chapman and a restaurant and bar next door at 223 W. Chapman.

Here is how far the project has gotten through the approval steps:

1. Design review. The Design Review Committee approved the adaptive reuse of the two vacant historic buildings on June 3, 2026.
2. Conditional use permit. On July 6, 2026, the Planning Commission approved Conditional Use Permit No. 25-0014, which covers on-site alcohol sales with the outdoor seating.
3. State liquor license. The Type 47 license, which allows beer, wine and spirits at a bona fide eating place, still shows as pending in the California ABC license lookup.

When the Orange County Register wrote about the project on July 2, it was in early planning and had no opening date. No later announcement has been made. Rehabilitating a 1924 service station also involves real construction, and that work hasn't been scheduled publicly. The city's approvals don't put a date on it.

109 S. Glassell Changed Hands on a Faster Track

The former O Sea space on Glassell is moving on a different path, and it's a quicker one.

O Sea ended service earlier than planned, on Saturday, April 18, 2026. The Register reported that King's Seafood Company had bought the brand. By July, WhatNow had found an ABC filing for a new concept at the address, Sabor y Ole' Fusion, which applied for an on-sale beer and wine license. The menu hasn't been announced. WhatNow also corrected an earlier version of its story to say that Tabu Shabu is still operating in Old Towne.

The state license record shows why this site is moving faster than the corner at Chapman and Lemon. Sabor y Ole' is transferring an existing beer and wine license, number 41-615495, instead of starting a new one. The transfer is pending as of July 6, 2026. A four-month temporary permit was issued August 20, 2026 and expires December 17, 2026.

The ABC record proves the license is moving forward. It doesn't say when the doors open, and nothing published so far gives an opening date. The building was a working restaurant until April, so this project doesn't involve turning an old service bay into a dining room the way The Win~Dow does.

What Actually Opened This Year Was Ice Cream

For all of the year's pending licenses and hearings, the two openings people can visit today are dessert shops about 300 feet apart on the Plaza.

Paradis Ice Cream is a Danish creamery that started in Copenhagen. It opened at 30 Plaza Square in the former Plaza Barbershop space, next door to where Felix Continental Cafe used to be. Its style is lighter and close to gelato. Flavors include Earl Grey, black currant brownie cheesecake and avocado and lime, along with rotating vegan options.

Owner Jorge Prado opened The Ice Cream Shack in late April at 238 W. Chapman Ave., #100. It sells scoops and paletas, with flavors like tres leches, Abuelita chocolate, cajeta and rice pudding, plus mangonada and chamoy apples.

Neither one needed a new liquor license or a public hearing to adapt a historic building. A full-service restaurant with a bar needs both, which explains why two scoop shops are the only finished projects on the year's list. On a map, The Ice Cream Shack's address is directly across Chapman from The Win~Dow site. So the block between the Plaza and Lemon Street already has one finished project and one that's approved but not yet open.

Reminisce Is Furthest Out and Has the Least Public Detail

The project that has drawn the most attention outside Orange is also the least defined on paper. On October 6, 2026, the Register reported that Reminisce is aiming for early 2027 in Old Towne. It will be a restaurant, bakery and coffee roastery owned by Art and Olea Zelaya, with Noma co-founder Mads Refslund as culinary director.

The plans call for a wood-fire kitchen and about 200 seats, decorated with cars, artwork and vintage lighting from the owners' personal collections. Dinner will start first, followed by breakfast and lunch. The owners haven't announced an official location. The Register reports that planning records point to Almond Avenue near the Plaza.

Reminisce's roughly 200 seats and The Win~Dow's 225 dining seats would add two of the largest dining rooms near the Plaza within a block or two of each other. Both are still at the stage where the public record shows a plan and no opening date.

Oct. 29 Puts the Plaza Back on a Fixed Date

While the restaurant projects wait on approvals, at least one Plaza date is set. Orange Plaza Traditions lists Treats in the Streets for Thursday, October 29, 2026, from 4 to 7 p.m., centered on Plaza Park. The event footprint generally runs along Chapman from Grand to Lemon and along Glassell from Almond to Maple. The City of Orange has paused events it traditionally sponsored, and the city's special events page names Orange Plaza Traditions as the host.

The Chapman stretch of that route passes Paradis and The Ice Cream Shack and ends at Lemon Street. The 1924 Standard Oil station sits on that corner, approved for 241 seats and still waiting on its state liquor license.

Turning a 1924 service station or an older storefront into a working restaurant is construction work as much as design work, and the same issues come up when a historic Old Towne home gets renovated or sold. If you own property in the district and want to know how its age, condition and renovation potential affect value, Teicheira Team can go through it with you in practical terms. Request a Home Valuation or Auction Consultation.

Thinking about buying or selling in Orange? Explore our Orange, CA real estate guide for neighborhood insights and homes for sale, or connect with the Teicheira Team, your local Orange realtors.