Wine Spectator-Certified SF Cheese and Wine Bar Expanding to Mill Valley

West Coast Wine and Cheese heads to Mill Valley

Chris and Lindsey Wanner’s Cow Hollow wine bar West Coast Wine and Cheese is getting ready to unveil a second location in downtown Mill Valley at 31 Sunnyside Avenue. As in San Francisco, where their California, Oregon, and Washington-focused wine program has been recognized by Wine Spectator, in Mill Valley, they’ll pour a rotating list of wines by the glass. The location is a 700-square foot space with room for about 28 patrons, and in addition to wine, the Wanners will stock cheese and charcuterie. They’re targeting an early April opening.

Nico eyes mid-March opening

Nico, which earned a Michelin star for its French brasserie fare in Laurel Heights, is completing a move downtown to the old Bocadillos space at the foot of the Transamerica building (3228 Sacramento). Now, co-owner Andrea Delaroque says she and her husband, chef Nicolas Delaroque, will open in mid-March, starting with lunch and weekend dinner.

Umami Mart now stocking shōchū

Oakland’s one-stop shop for Japanese snacks, beer, and sake, Umami Mart (815 Broadway) is now a go-to for shōchū — traditional liquor distilled from rice, barley, and sweet potato — thanks to its recently upgraded liquor license. They’ll also stock Japanese whisky, like Suntory and Nikka, with more options and online ordering ahead.

How many clams for chowder at Alioto’s?

A 1936 menu from the longtime SF restaurant Alioto’s has sparked lots of discussion on the SF ephemera Facebook group “SF Remembered.” Citing prices like 15 cent clam chowder, some say they wish they could go back to the good old days. While seemingly cheap, factoring inflation into the price puts that bowl of chowder at about $2.70 —a pretty penny when you further consider that average annual income in the country that year was between $1,500 and $2,000. Nostalgia, to paraphrase SF scribe Herb Caen, ain’t what it used to be — it was way more affordable back in the day.

SF Remembered/Facebook

Flotsam and jetsam rescued from the Gangway

Speaking of ephemera, a group of preservationists who are seeking to resurrect the recently closed, long-running gay bar the Gangway, have retrieved memorabilia from the bar, placing it in storage courtesy of the Q Foundation. That includes the nautically-themed bar’s masthead, a literal a ship protruding from above the doorway.

Live in a former gay bar!

And, while we’re reminiscing, the former home of leafy, dimly-lit gay bar the Lion Pub on Divisadero could be yours! The space, housed in the first floor of a circa-1900 Victorian home, is all on the market as a single family building for $5.9 million.