Next fall in Napa look for the Oxbow Public Market at 600 First St., close by to Copia. The 30,000-square-foot marketplace will mix retail spaces for local artisan foods and wines, farmstands, and restaurants. Confirmed tenants thus far are RoliRoti, The Fatted Calf, Anette's Chocolate Factory, and Taylor's Automatic Refresher. Oxbow's founder and CEO Steve Carlin was project manager during the development of San Francisco's Ferry Building Marketplace. Other key players are Bart Rhoades, recently a board member of the Robert Mondavi Corporation, and real estate investor Rob Mann. • Starting as a line cook in 1998, Polly Lappetito has steadily moved up the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant (St. Helena) ranks. In August she was named exec chef, replacing James Corwell.
Maria Hines, recently Earth & Ocean exec chef, set up her own place in September at 1411 N. 45th Street. Tilth is one of only two restaurants in the U.S. to receive Oregon Tilth Organic certification (the other is Restaurant Nora in Washington, D.C.). 95 percent of all food and dried goods used at Tilth come from organically certified sources. • At Earth & Ocean, sous chef Adam Stevenson was promoted to exec chef, and at press time, the restaurant was still looking for a replacement for pastry chef Sue McCown, who left to open her own place this month, the 48 seat Coco La Ti Da at 806 E. Roy St. • In September Tom Douglas combined the two retail spaces next to Dahlia Lounge and opened a 50 seat pizza parlor, Serious Pie. Dahlia Bakery's head baker Gwen Grande is also chef at Serious Pie. • In September brothers and local restaurateurs Leo, Salvio, and Roberto Varchetta (Mamma Melina) opened Barolo Ristorante (1940 Westlake Ave.), serving Northern Italian fare in a modern setting. Co-exec chefs are Michele Godina and Riccardo Simeone, who cooked recently at Zeffirino Ristorante in Las Vegas.
Michael Symon, chef/owner of the popular Greek/Italian concept Lolita and chef/partner of NYC's Parea, opened the 125 seat Lola in September at 2058 E. Fourth St. Overseeing the sustainable American menu is longtime protégé Frank Rogers. Symon's partner at the Cleveland properties are wife Liz Symon and Doug Petkovic. • Jac's, a 200 seater in the warehouse district (1303 West Sixth St.), opened in October. Exec chef Pete Schellenbach, formerly of Vaccaro's Trattoria (Akron, Ohio), is composing small, medium, and large plates of seasonal Mediterranean fare.
Laurent Katgely, chef/owner of Chez Spencer (San Francisco), teamed with Antoine Alliaume, owner of Curbside Café and Curbside Too (San Francisco), to launch La Terrace at 215 Lincoln Ave. in San Francisco's Presidio (a former army base at the foot of Golden Gate bridge) this month. • Also new to the Presidio last month is Pres a Vi in the Letterman Digital Arts Center, a creation of the team behind Va de Vi in Walnut Creek (Stan Raaen, his son Dale Raaen, and John Walz). The 280 seater has an open kitchen that turns out global small plates. Va de Vi exec chef Kelly Degala, a partner at the new destination, oversees both kitchens. • Bradley Ogden and Michael Dellar's Lark Creek Restaurant Group unveiled a stylish steakhouse in the new addition to the Westfield San Francisco Centre. Chef is Jeremy Bearman, recently exec sous chef at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas, and his menu juggles prime dry-aged beef with artisanally raised veal and lamb, ultrafresh fish, and farm-to-table produce. GM/partner is Michael Kapash (a longtime Lark Creek Restaurant Group partner). • In related news, Jonathan Wright now runs the kitchens at The Lark Creek Inn (Larkspur), replacing Michael Otsuka. Wright comes from Conrad Indianapolis, and before that he was at Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans. • September ushered in Prana restaurant to 540 Howard St. in San Francisco, a groovy spot serving Indian food with a California twang. Exec chef Jamie Lauren (recently of Levende Lounge) integrates "superfoods" (blueberries, salmon, walnuts, et al) through her menu. Pastry chef Debbie Lee, who hails from Pure Food & Wine (NYC), creates East-West desserts such as Trio of Peaches (coriander poached Saturn peach, white peach sorbet, yellow peach chutney, and warm almond financier). Paul Hemming is a first time owner. • Brothers Mitchell and Steven Rosenthal and Doug Washington, who together own San Francisco's Town Hall, opened Salt House, a gastropub at 545 Mission St. (San Francisco) last month. The brothers Rosenthal's menu includes such tavern turn-ons as Scotch eggs, pressed suckling pig, and an upscaled version of the ultimate French Canadian pleb grub, poutine, french fries with short rib reduction and Gorgonzola dolce. • David Gingrass, owner of San Francisco's Hawthorne Lane, plans to close the restaurant at the end of the year for renovations and to reopen (the tentative name is TWO) with simpler, less expensive fare. Bridget Batson will stay on as exec chef, but Gingrass will lend a strong presence to the new menu.
This month Jose Garces, acclaimed chef/owner of Amada, opens another Iberian-themed spot, Tinto, at 114 S. 20th St., specializing in pintxos, Basque-style tapas. Chef de cuisine is Bill Zuchman, formerly of Philly's Morimoto. • In September, Guillermo Pernot turned in his toque at ¡Pasión! but kept his ownership, to become exec concept chef at Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar. Owners Barry Gutin and Larry Cohen, who have locations in Philly and Atlantic City and hope to roll out additional venues nationwide, created the title especially for Pernot. Ben Davison, a longtime ¡Pasión! chef, is helming that kitchen.
The September opening of David Bouley Evolution (Miami Beach) was deferred until late last month, not due to construction delays or errant permits, but love. In September, David Bouley married NYC artist Nicole Bartelme. The nuptials were celebrated in Tours, France, followed by five days of feasting. Check out next issue for restaurant details. • This month Johnny Vinczencz, chef/owner of Johnny V Las Olas (Fort Lauderdale), returned to Hotel Astor, where he made his name in the mid-1990s, to open Johnny V South Beach in the space once claimed by Astor Place and later Metro Kitchen & Bar. Las Olas chef de cuisine Dwayne Adams is helping with the South Beach spot, and Kelly Sheehan, late of Ouest in NYC, will be chef de cuisine in South Beach. Las Olas pastry chef Malka Espinel is doing the South Beach dessert menu. • Also this month Michael Schwartz, the former chef/owner of Nemo who recently worked at Afterglo (both in South Beach), opened Michael's Genuine Food & Drink in Miami at 130 N.E. 40th St. The unpretentious venture seats 90 indoors and out and serves well-priced American fare.
Alain Ducasse will leave the Essex House in January for the St. Regis Hotel, where he will reopen his Michelin three-star restaurant next spring in the space that has laid fallow since Lespinasse closed three years ago. • Last month Chodorow and partner Charlie Walk, president of Epic Records, morphed the former home of Mix into Kobe Club, specializing in imported Japanese Kobe beef. The talented Josh DeChellis, who was opening chef at Jovia and is still consulting chef at Sumile, is exec chef. • Next month Simon Oren's Tour de Force Restaurant Group will turn the former home of Brothers Bar-B-Cue (225 Varick St.) into a French country steakhouse dubbed La Moelle (French for "bone marrow," to be the signature garnish on every plate). • In related news, Port Authority Bus Terminal, once a culinary desert, finally has some good eats thanks to Oren and partner Steve Tenedios, owner of the Café Metro chain. In September the duo opened a 100 seat brasserie and a prepared food shop, Metro Marché. Simon Glenn, formerly of Spice Market, is exec chef. • Craftbar alum Akhtar Nawab is now chef/owner of Allen & Delancey (115 Allen St.), which opened last month with a seasonal American menu. • Last month Omni Berkshire Place hotel transformed Kokachin into Fireside, a clubby retreat warmed by a quartet of fireplaces. This marks the return of exec chef Sam DeMarco to Manhattan, after a cooking stint in Las Vegas. • In September Oceo in the Time Hotel morphed into 7Square, an American chophouse serving things like root beer—braised short ribs. Owner Alvaro Perez is president of Tokyo-based restaurant company Metro met. Shane McBride, the Lespinasse alum who was recently top toque at Oceo, is exec chef. Plans are in the works to export the concept to Tokyo in 2007. • The Blue Ribbon empire is expanding. Blue Ribbon Bar (34 Downing St.) opened opposite Blue Ribbon Bakery last month, and Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill is slated to open in the West Park Hotel by the end of the year. • Michael Anthony, who was the opening exec chef of Blue Hill at Stone Barns (Pocantico Hills, NY), stepped in as exec chef at Gramercy Tavern last month and will roll out a new menu in January. Anthony replaces Tom Colicchio, no longer Gramercy Tavern chef/partner. • Great Performances and its culinary vp Katy Sparks are doing food for Comix (353 W. 14th St.), a comedy club owned by businessmen Harlan Halper and Michael Palitz and comedian Bobby Collins that opened in September. • Mark Lugo, formerly a cellar sommelier at Per Se, is now sommelier at BLT Fish. He replaces Jen Lordan, who relocated to Washington, D.C., to handle wines at the BLT Steak that opens there this month. • The first New York outpost of Ted Turner and George McKerrow's Ted's Montana Grill opened in September at 110 W. 51st St., in the Time-Life Building. The "from scratch…to order" menu of burgers, steaks, seafood, and salads is overseen by exec chef Luca Bettini.
The Philadelphia-based mega-restaurateur Stephen Starr cloned his high-energy Buddakan (the original is in Philly, the first spin-off in NYC) and Philly hot spot The Continental at The Pier at Caesars in Atlantic City last month. Steve Mannino, recently exec chef at Olives in Las Vegas, is now Atlantic City regional chef, overseeing both kitchens. Barry Sullivan and Sean Joyce, both Starr vets, are exec chefs at Buddakan and The Continental, respectively. Daniel Pino, who was exec pastry chef at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, is pastry chef at both restaurants. • Five more dining spots opened at The Pier in October. A spin-off of the Boston's Lyons Group heat generating Sonsie opened with Martin Doyle, most recently at Susanna Foo's Suilan at the Borgata, at the helm. The Baltimore-based Phillips family of restaurants opened Phillips Seafood and their first Asian spot, Souzai Sushi & Sake, both in collaboration with consulting chef Robbin Haas. Game On, a state-of-the-art sports bar, and Trinity Pub and Carvery, an Irish joint, represent The Pier's more casual options. Both are owned by Lyons Group. And next year look for two venues by New York City restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow. • In October restaurateur/hotelier Marc Cooperman, a New Jersey native who recently worked with Raven Hotel Management in Miami Beach, and his father, Alan S. Cooperman, M.D., opened Restaurant.MC at 57 Main St. in Millburn. Consulting chef/partner is Jersey boy David Burke; exec chef is his longtime protégé Steve Permaul. The menu pairs Burke classics with new dishes cooked in a wood-burning oven. • Last month the Haddonfield, New Jersey–based P.J.W. Restaurant Group (which owns The ChopHouse in Gibbsboro, among others) opened Kitchen 233 at 233 Haddon Ave. in Haddon Township. Exec chef Christopher Painter, an alum of the Starr Restaurant Organization, is doing seasonal American with Mediterranean accents.
