Peninsula’s Rise Woodfire restaurant expanding to Santa Clara

Restaurateur Omid Zahedi, who transformed the historic San Mateo train station into a huge eatery and bar with outside dining during the pandemic, is turning his sights to the South Bay.

He’s opening his second Rise Woodfire restaurant — with wood-fired rotisserie chicken, salmon, ribs, prime rib and pizza — at Rivermark Plaza in Santa Clara. There will be house-baked pies too.

After a big renovation, look for a summer debut in the center’s largest restaurant space, the former home of Piatti. That longtime restaurant closed last year, leaving NorCal locations in Danville, Mill Valley and Sacramento.

Zahedi grew up in the fast-food pizza business — his Iranian immigrant father opened pizzerias after coming to this country — but chose the financial services field for his career. Years later, he developed a passion for “the new wave of fine pizza” and built a brick oven on a trailer to practice on family, friends and serve at charity events.

Once the recipes were perfected, he and wife Susan Payrovi launched their first eatery, Rise Pizzeria, in downtown Burlingame in 2017.

Follow the progress on the 3905 Rivermark Plaza restaurant at www.risewoodfire.com.