Napa Valley Heavyweights To Open French Blue in May

Press restaurant owner and vintner personality Leslie Rudd has teamed up with architect mogul Howard Backen and former Teatro ZinZanni partner Stanely Morris to open a new all day restaurant called French Blue in St. Helena. See it rendered above, complete with ladies who lunch. Named after the blue doors that graced the address' former occupant, Vanderbilt's home furnishing store, French Blue will also include a retail operation, selling artisan-made specialty foods. The rest of the press release reads as one might expect from such pedigreed owners: open kitchen, wood-burning oven and grill, menu idyllically sourced from Rudd Farm and Orchards on nearby Mt. Veeder, etc. etc. Phillip Wang, who's exec cheffed at Merriman's on Maui and Carneros Inn in the Napa Valley, will head up the kitchen. At this point, French Blue says they'll be opening in May.

· All St. Helena Coverage [~ ESF ~]