68 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM tables outside Bistro Vida, that includes a barrier-lined bike lane to keep cycling students safer. Now students from Hillview and St. Raymond and high schoolers from Sacred Heart, Menlo and Menlo-Atherton have a place to meet their friends. “The kids, they call it the French Quarter,” Ali smiles. By turning his downtown block into a community hub, Ali has brought a bit of his childhood home to his adopted community of 30-plus years. In Cairo, “the barber, the bread guy, the gasoline guy, they all know who I am. They know my father. They know my family,” he describes. “Everybody was involved in everybody’s business.” Patrons of Bar Loretta and Bistro Vida can expect the same. “I know where you work. I know who you are,” he says of his regulars. When it comes to all things Menlo Park, Ali’s your guy. “The last time I went to Palo Alto was maybe three years ago,” he chuckles. Why would he go to another city? “I have everything that I need around, really … This is where I want to be.” sipping pretty 635 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park After opening, Ali was approached by a Deadhead who told him that Jerry Garcia’s grandmother had a parrot named Loretta. Grandma Tillie found the parrot wandering the streets after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Talk about serendipity. {food coloring}
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