Marengo Confirmed; Bakesale Betty Open Tomorrow; MORE!

MARINA - This craiglist ad drew our attention to a new "Wine & Whiskey" concept, and then owners, James Gruettner and Kevin Toomajian, confirmed it's the old Marengo we referenced back in November. The concept is indeed moving in at 1980 Union Street above Bar None in the former U Street Lounge space. The name will actually be Marengo on Union and there will be burgers, ahem, sliders involved. Quoth Mr. Toomajian: "We will have about 10 different Sliders ranging from Beef to Chicken to Pork to Lamb to Seafood to Vegetarian. We will have a variety of Appetizers and a substantial amount of entree size Salads. Our wine list will be about 65% Domestic and 35% International. We will offer Whiskeys from all over the world, including Japan and India." The vibe is to be fun and casual and the chef will be Kevin's wife Rayna. We are waiting to hear on the projected opening date. [Update: The owners are shooting for a mid-May opening.] [EaterWire]

OAKLAND - The Plywood has almost lifted on Bakesale Betty's new Downtown Oakland location as they’ll be soft-opening tomorrow at 2228 Broadway with a limited menu of strawberry shortcake, lemonade, and, of course, the fried chicken sandwich. Owned by Alison Barakat and Michael Camp, the breakfast and lunch stop that has become infamous for loong lines at its location on Telegraph, will help create quite the little gourmet mecca in its new locale...what with Pican, Ozumo, and Luka's Taproom right by its side. They're rolling things out slowly for now, but the prospect of eating scones off of an ironing board in the sunshine -- as loyals love to do in Temescal -- looms in the future. [EaterWire]

RUSSIAN HILL - Remember when Cossu, the exotic Moroccan-Asian-Californian restaurant that replaced the Moroccan Pasha restaurant, went down on Polk and Broadway after just 12 months? Well a brave soul has stepped up to the plate: Red Stick Enterprises applied for a liquor license at 1516 Broadway, and who's to say whether they'll be carrying on the theme of both its predecessors or not? If you know what the Red Stick folks are up to, do fill us in , and then do what someone should have for Cossu: advise them to open on a date that's not cursed with a cuisine genre that's not so totally whack ambitious. [Polk Sheet]

THE MISSION -The record must be set straight on the impending project from Craig Stoll in the Las Ramblas space. Stoll (we've gotta hand it to you, you trickster) threw the public off the scent of his new concept with a fake-out tweet alluding to a little Mexico R&D. Well, now he’s come clean to both 7x7 and Lady Hopstress in the past week that the new spot will be Roman in theme and pasta-centric. He’s thinking -- ABC-willing -- they'll open in fall, and it may be called Locanda or some version thereof. [Bits & Bites, Tablehopper]