1) The Mission: Occupying the space next door to New Yorker's Buffalo Wings at 659 Valencia (between 16th and 17th) is the Italian restaurant/pizzeria simply dubbed Pizzeria. Signs on the papered windows indicate a December opening, as they are just now beginning to staff up. The rather-spacious interior has looked ready to go for some time now: give or take 20 tables (some seemingly too small for pizza), long counters, pizza ovens, open kitchen. [PLYWOOD]
The Pizzeria interior: small tables for a pizza, right?
2) Bonus Mission: Closer to opening, right up the street at 16th and Albion is Monk's Kettle. A tipster sends some juicy photos of the happenings in the former Racha Thai space, pictured below. Opening was originally set for November, and from the looks of things here at month's end, the gourmet beer/wine tavern seems to be nearing completion. Kevin Kroger will running the kitchen to the tune of gourmet pub fare (salumi, burgers, etc); to fully refresh your memory on Monk's Kettle, do check out its Fall Tracking Report. For now, behold the Kettle as it stands:
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