Willow Street Wood-Fired Pizza has deep roots in the Silicon Valley restaurant scene. Its journey began in 1991 in Willow Glen, introducing gourmet wood-fired pizza in a small brick building where its flagship remains.
Its success led to a Los Gatos expansion two years later and other locations, since closed, at the Westgate shopping center on San Jose’s west side, and in San Francisco and San Rafael.
On Nov. 15, the restaurant will celebrate three decades of being a local fixture in the town of the cats.
Willow Street’s Los Gatos location, within Lyndon Plaza, provides views of downtown Los Gatos and Town Plaza Park.
Its menu features a diverse array of creatively crafted pizzas, salads, sandwiches and a signature burger.
In the midst of its 30-year milestone, Willow Street is spicing things up with the arrival of a new executive chef, Hisham Abdelfattah, whose kitchen expertise and personable ways earned him a spot on the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 2023 “40 under 40” list.
“With this move into Willow Street, this award sets a standard for me to live up to,” the chef said. “I feel like a new quarterback joining an already successful team.”
Beginning his career as a prep cook and dishwasher at 15 years old in order to help support his family, he also cooked at home for himself and his mother.
By age 20, he had already become an assistant sous chef and taken on management responsibilities. By 28, he had helped open seven different restaurant concepts.
Hisham is also the creative force behind El Halal Amigos, launched in 2020 and incorporating Halal ingredients and flavors into Mexican cuisine. Now, Abdelfattah’s current focus is on enhancing the wood-fired pizza experience at Willow Street.
“[Willow Street’s] been here for over 30 years,” he said. “I’m not here to reinvent the wheel, I’m here to put rims on it.”
The alliance was made possible with the support of Ed Rathmann, a founder of Willow Street Pizza, who also brought an early California cuisine restaurant, Eulipia, to downtown San Jose in the early 1980s.
The partnership allowed him to turn his vision of the Halal Taco truck into a reality, which started as a food truck and quickly expanded to include a storefront in Willow Glen and a concession stand at San Jose’s SAP Center. The transition marked a turning point, propelling Abdelfattah’s culinary influence, which led to appearances on Food Network’s “Guy’s Grocery Games” and “Battle of the Decades.”
“We try to make fine dining accessible to everyone at a good price,” Abdelfattah said.
While the chef plans to keep many of the menu staples, his Spicy Steak Fajita pizza has quickly gained popularity. Another dish he is looking forward to releasing in upcoming months is the hearty oxtail osso buco served over a bed of mashed potatoes, combining the Italian classic with Willow Street’s New American flair.
Willow Street Wood-Fired Pizza is located at 20 S. Santa Cruz Ave. in Los Gatos and 1072 Willow St. in San Jose. It will commemorate its 30th anniversary on Nov. 15 at both locations by offering 30% off the entire menu all day.
