All stories about "Napa"

THE MISSION—According to this listing, Valencia Street's popular Phoenix Irish Pub—technically its building—is on the market. The asking price? A cool $1.55 million for the 2,000 square-foot space, which works out to about $775 per square foot. It's a buyer's market and the 19th/Valencia area gets tons of foot traffic. As we understand it, the bar is a tenant, not the current owner, so its fate probably lies with the next owners. [MLS]

SOMA—We'll have a little Top Chef/Jennifer round-up tomorrow, but for those wondering about Jen's whereabouts, she's still at Coco500 and in an exit interview with Cutty, she drops some hints on her future: "I’m going to leave at the end of May. I'm working on a project with a friend: We're going to open up a little restaurant pretty soon as well ... We've got this cool location; it's definitely a nighttime spot. We want it to be a super-cool, dark, speakeasy kind of place with kick-ass cocktails that are using a lot of seasonal ingredients and just great seasonal foods." [Cutlets]

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· The Best Secret at the Ferry Building: Front and Center [eGullet]
· The Best Dish at Zuni Cafe, Non-Chicken Division [CH]
· The San Francisco Zagat Discussion Board Hits Record Highs [Zagat]
· Looking For Hotness, Authenticity and Cliches in Napa [Yelp]
· Chefs Sponsoring Chains: Never Looked Upon Highly [CH]

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Every once in a while, because its restaurant scene does indeed go beyond one Thomas Keller (well, sometimes), we're happy to venture north to bring you latest happenings in the ever-evolving Wine Country. Napa folk, your news from Napa, Kellerville and such is always very much appreciated to the tip line.

As promised earlier, we're happy to share our first look at the new Taylor's Refresher in Napa's Oxbow Market. Our man on the scene was brave enough to weather the opening day chaos last Friday and reported much ado about burgers during lunchtime rush (though no free giveaways). The menu and design are largely the same as the other locations in St. Helena and San Francisco, with ~150 seats between the indoor booths, outdoor picnic tables and the counter stools. Also notable: early returns have the lines reputed to be much more manageable than the behemoths at the St. Helena location, at least for now.
· Napa Dispatch: Taylor's Opens Friday, More From Oxbow [~ESF~]

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1) The latest from the third branch of Taylor's Automatic Refresher is that it will open tomorrow morning for lunch service. Located in the growing Oxbow Public Market, Taylor's 3.0 will scatter 150 seats among indoor booths, barstool seating and outdoor picnic tables. The menu, for the most part, will closely mirror the St. Helena and Ferry Building locations. Bonus unconfirmed rumor: word on the tree-lined Napa streets is that Taylor's might—might!—be testing out the kitchen today and giving out free samples. 644 First Street, at McKinstry Street, Napa; Open daily: 10:30 am-8:30 pm, (707) 224-690; website [EaterWire]

2) Elsewhere in Oxbow, Daily Candy has it that Pica Pica Maize Kitchen has officially opened, and has carved itself a nice little niche: "The corn-centric fast food joint is the only place in Northern California where you'll find authentic Venezuelan grub." All of Northern California? 610 First Street, between McKinstry and Juarez, Napa; (707) 251-3757; website [Daily Candy]

3) And finally, if that wasn't enough Oxbow news for your afternoon enjoyment, the grand opening ceremony for the whole shebang is set for next weekend, February 23-24. Among the festivities: Cindy Pawlcyn, Nancy Silverton, giveaways, book signings, etc etc, plus all current and future vendors will be on hand and in celebration mode. Further reading on the Oxbow website. [Official Site]

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All news and notes EaterWire. Have some juice? The tip jar awaits.

SOMA—In the wake of a false alarm or two, tonight is finally opening night for Local Kitchen & Wine Merchant by Ola Fendert, Mark Bright and crew. Calls to Local have been met with a cheery affirmative that they are indeed open for business right now, but a resy might be tough to come by. Plenty of further details on Local can be had in the Eater Archives, Thrillist and Daily Candy. [EaterWire]

COFFEETOWN—27 years after arrival, John Weaver is leaving his post as the Master Roaster at Peet's Coffee & Tea to start his own business, aptly named Weaver's Coffee & Tea: "Weaver co-founded Wild Card Roasters in September with Michael Brown and Bruce Inouye with hopes of making coffee even more artisanal than Peet's brews. Weaver will personally taste every batch of Weaver's that is produced." He must be totally wired by the end of the day, no? [SFBT]

NAPA—The Oxbow Public Market—Wine Country's version of the Ferry Building—is on tap to debut this weekend. In addition to a seven-day-a-week farmers market and various other vendors, some notable Ferry Building faves will open new branches up north. Among others: "In separate buildings adjacent to the main market will be the Fatted Calf's full-service butcher shop, Model Bakery and a third outlet of St. Helena's ever-popular hamburger stand Taylor's Automatic Refresher." [LA Times, via Eater LA]

NAPA—Napa proper finally gets a high-end restaurant as Zagat Buzz reports that the third incarnation of Ken Frank's La Toque will mosey on into the new Napa Westin. The design will be done by Cass Calder Smith (LuLu, Perbacco) and is due in September 2008: "It will retain some of that restaurant's design details—the indoor/outdoor fireplace, wine bar and windows into the kitchen—but will additionally feature a casual bar area overlooking the pool and banks of the Napa River as well as a second bar in the hotel's lobby." [Zagat Buzz]

FINANCIAL DISTRICT—The downtown holiday lunch watch continues, this time down in Gold Alley, where Bix—possessor of some of the better signage in town, pictured—has extended its usual Friday lunch service to each and every weekday until Christmas. [EaterWire Inbox]

CYBERSPACE—On the same day we received an anonymous comment linking to their site, the folks at FoodieBytes.com would like to inform everyone of their San Francisco launch: "Please visit FoodieBytes ... and type in your favorite food into the search box - you will be surprised at the results." We are surprised that there are local restaurants serving crap and human. [EaterWire Inbox]

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It's a week of special occasions for Gavin Newsom and the PlumpJack empire. Not only did the dear mayor ring in his fortieth birthday on Wednesday, the PlumpJack Winery is celebrating its 10th anniversary this fall.

To commemorate the decade of success, the PlumpJackers and founding partner Gordon Getty invited a small group to blind taste a pair of samplings from their best wine, the '97 reserve cabernet sauvignon. The twist: one sample would be from a traditional corked bottle, whereas the other stemmed from PlumpJack's pioneering screw cap bottle:

Truth be told, there were very subtle differences in the two wines. This sipper felt Glass A benefited from more aromatic notes, while Glass B seemed to have better integrated flavors. I preferred Glass A; Getty said he liked B, but only by a hair.

And it seemed that tasters were pretty evenly divided over which wine was preferred. Turned out Glass A contained the cab poured from a bottle with screw cap, Glass B the cork closure.

Upshot, I guess, was that both wines were excellent, and Getty and winemaker Tony Biagi could take heart in knowing that the screw cap was not all folly.

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A pair of EaterWire items from the weekend that was ...

WINE COUNTRY—In honor of its first anniversary, Thomas Keller's casual gem Ad Hoc will now be open for dinner seven nights a week. Originally slated to be a temporary restaurant, Ad Hoc's runaway popularity has made it a Yountville mainstay. Dinner will now be served from 5pm to 9pm Monday through Saturday, and from 3pm to 8pm for Sunday supper. [Napa Valley Register]