The trench is gone from Morena Boulevard, and the first big reopening on the corridor comes from the restaurant family that has been part of Bay Park since 1979. Tony D'Amato and a business partner had sketched out the next few years of dining on Morena. Over the next few weeks his children are expected to open the first piece of that plan.
New places are arriving too. A kabob restaurant has opened at the south end of the boulevard, and a bakery is lined up for Napier Street. But the openings with the clearest dates, and the most ties to the neighborhood's history, all trace back to one man's plans for the street.
The cones came down in stages, and the finish line was August
The City of San Diego's page for the Morena Conveyance South & Middle project lists October 2022 as its anticipated start. It's a Pure Water project that runs a 48-inch wastewater line and a 30-inch brine line from the Morena Pump Station at Sherman and Custer Streets north up Morena Boulevard, Milton, Chicago, Jellett and Denver Streets to Clairemont Drive. On Bay Park's main commercial street, that meant years of lane closures.
By late April 2026, 10News was reporting what the closures were costing businesses. Alexander Sciuto, bar manager at Luce Bar & Kitchen, told the station that business had been down since August, and that the restaurant had cut staff hours because of it. He pointed to the lane closure out front:
"There used to be 10 spots on that side of the street. A lot of our customers come in and if they don't see a parking, they just keep driving."
A few weeks later, on May 14, the City announced that pipeline installation was complete and scheduled final resurfacing in Bay Park for Thursday, May 21 on Jellett Street to Clairemont Drive, and Friday, May 22 on Milton Street to Jellett Street. On August 1, Hoodline covered a City Facebook update saying construction on the project was finished, with only minor work and performance testing left.
The bike lanes are still on the to-do list. The City's project page lists new bikeways on Morena Boulevard, West Morena Boulevard and Clairemont Drive, still shows 2026 as the anticipated completion year, and hasn't posted a construction notice since May 14. If you ride Morena, expect more restoration work before the year is out.
Baci, Luce, and now Tony's
The D'Amato story on Morena spans nearly five decades. Tony D'Amato was born in Porticello, Sicily, came to San Diego as a teenager, and started out washing dishes at Mister A's. In 1979 he opened Baci Ristorante on West Morena Boulevard, and it became one of San Diego's lasting old-school Italian restaurants.
In 2012 he opened Luce Bar & Kitchen as Baci's more casual counterpart. It's a neighborhood gastropub with a California and Italian menu and a drinks list built around wine, craft beer and cocktails. Luce lists its address as 1959 Morena Blvd.
Luce was in the middle of a major remodel and expansion that had mattered a great deal to D'Amato. That work is still going. SanDiegoVille reported on September 20 that the expansion includes Tony's, a new gelato and espresso shop named in his honor. According to the report, D'Amato had long wanted to open a neighborhood shop like the ones he knew in Italy, where locals stop in for gelato and espresso. His children will run Tony's, and it's expected to open alongside the remodeled Luce sometime between late October and early November.
That puts the first big reopening on post-construction Morena about three to four weeks away. Neither SanDiegoVille nor WhatNow said whether Luce has kept serving during the remodel, and the hours on its website aren't dated. Check the restaurant's own channels before you go.
Why the old Old Trieste lot moved down the list
Tony's affects more than one storefront. The Luce expansion is also the reason the most-watched lot on the boulevard got pushed back.
Old Trieste opened at 2335 Morena Boulevard in May 1963. Founder Ramiro "Tommy" Tomicich, a native of Trieste, Italy, and later his son Larry and other family members ran it as an Italian fine-dining room with white tablecloths, servers in tuxedos, martinis, and at one time a jacket requirement. It closed in May 2019 after about 56 years. Joey Vaught bought the property that same year.
Vaught and D'Amato came up with the next restaurant together. It's called The Butcher's Wife, an American restaurant with a full bar under a Type 47 liquor license. It was first expected to be a Verant Group concept, but it's now going ahead as Vaught's own independent project. The plans call for more than a single-restaurant replacement. SanDiegoVille describes a larger, multi-concept destination that expands the property outward and upward.
Vaught paused work on The Butcher's Wife to help the family finish Luce. WhatNow's September 22 report gives Spring 2027 as the current target for completion. So the order is Luce and Tony's this fall, then the old Old Trieste lot in spring. The same partnership is behind both, and they're being done one at a time.
The newcomers are on their own timelines
New arrivals on the corridor have their own schedules, and the first one shows how long a Morena opening can take.
Modern Kabob opened in early September at 1118 Morena Blvd., in the former Greenhaus space. Eater San Diego's heatmap, updated October 1, places that address in Linda Vista, at the south end of the boulevard. The local food blog mmm-yoso reported that it first saw the Modern Kabob sign there the August before, and that the opening took more than a year.
Next is Nutmeg Bakery & Cafe. WhatNow reported in May that the bakery's third location is planned for 4120 Napier Street, Suites A & B. Its application was under review at the time, no exact opening date had been set, and the target was early 2027. As of early October, Nutmeg's website still lists only its Poway and Sabre Springs locations.
Some older announcements turn up in searches and shouldn't be read as current news. A May 2025 report on a King of Padel club at 4656 Morena Boulevard said at the time that the opening date was unclear. The Morena Corridor Specific Plan amendment, which the City Council adopted on December 16, 2025, is a long-range policy document covering the Tecolote and Clairemont Drive trolley station areas. It doesn't schedule any building projects for this season.
October through spring, in order
Along with the restaurant news, the east shore of Mission Bay has a full fall calendar, according to the City's shoreline event schedule updated August 18. Here's the season in date order:
- October 10: The Head for the Cure 5K at Tecolote Shores South, with about 1,000 people expected.
- October 16–18: Mission Bay Fest at Bonita Cove and Mariners, across the bay, with an estimated 15,000 attendees.
- October 24, 8 to 11 a.m.: A free San Diego Bird Alliance birding walk in Tecolote Canyon. Registration is required, and it's capped at 15 people.
- Late October to early November: Tony's and the remodeled Luce Bar & Kitchen are expected to open together at 1959 Morena Blvd.
- October 30: The WCC X-Country Championship at Tecolote Shores South, with about 450 attendees expected.
- By the end of 2026: The bike lanes on Morena Boulevard, West Morena Boulevard and Clairemont Drive, under the City's anticipated completion date for the project.
- Early 2027: The target for Nutmeg Bakery & Cafe at 4120 Napier Street.
- Spring 2027: The completion target for The Butcher's Wife at 2335 Morena Boulevard.
Only the trail and shoreline events have fixed dates. The restaurant openings are reported windows and targets, and they've moved before. The Butcher's Wife slipped while work shifted to Luce this summer.
If you've watched Morena go from trench to fresh pavement and are wondering what the next stretch of openings could mean for your own place in Bay Park, Barbara Huba is glad to talk it through with you. She'll walk through how the corridor's reopening fits with what's happening on your street, with no rush and no obligation.
