Great Wine Country Tasting Rooms for Architecture Enthusiasts

An architectural tour of wineries in Napa and Sonoma

Curbed has a killer guide to wine country’s most enticing, exciting tasting rooms — setting aside the wine. From an architectural perspective, wineries like Opus One, Ashes & Diamonds, and Artesa, are capturing attention for their unique blend of California modernism and contemporary comfort.

A pop-up food alley for Telegraph Ave

A new series of vendor stalls, Kono Food Alley, is now serving the many healthcare workers nearby 3188 Telegraph Avenue. The pop-up food market — with vendors like an Argentine empanadas trailer called Javi’s Cooking, tacos stand Tacos y Chelas, and La Vida Boba, a horchata and agua fresca plus boba vendor — runs on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. through October 11, the Chronicle reports. It’s the project of George Dy, who runs a group of commercial kitchens in Oakland and is also developing a food hall, called Common Grounds, for nearby. Common Grounds will open at 3200 Telegraph Avenue in 2021, Dy hopes.

Fourth Taco Bell with beer opens in the Bay Area

Another boozy taco bell is beckoning in San Jose, according to the Mercury News. It’s the fourth Taco Bell “Cantina” in the Bay Area — SF, Berkeley, and Pacifica already know its charms, which are basically the same ones as a regular taco bell, but with beer and tequila. San Jose’s newcomer is downtown, on Market Street near Santa Clara Street.

Frjtz’s landlord demands thousands in allegedly unpaid rent

Frjtz closed for dine-in business this spring after 20 years of Belgian-style fries, burgers, and crepes in the Mission, moving to delivery-only. Now, according to Mission Local, Frjtz owner Santiago Rodriguez needs to pay $11,300 in three days to his landlord, the owner of next door taqueria El Toro, who posted a notice on Frjtz’s door. Rodriguez told the publication he had already paid, and the El Toro owner declined to comment on the matter.

Tony’s reflects on a decade in North Beach

Award-winning pizzaiolo Tony Gemignani talked to Hoodline about his 10 years of business in North Beach. He’s now the proprietor of 22 businesses in Northern California and Las Vegas. When Gemignani opened at the corner of Washington Square Park, the space was declared “jinxed,” and the economy was suffering. Now, Tony’s is thriving — but the rest of the neighborhood is suffering from high rents and retail vacancies.

Reem Assil on the privilege of failure

At Eater’s Young Guns Summit in Brooklyn last month, Oakland chef Reem Assil (Reem’s California) delivered a talk on her career thus far. “Most people on the outside were talking about Reem’s as this meteoric rise to success,” she says. “They’re not talking about the 10 years that I put in to get there. There were a whole slew of mistakes, failures, and challenges.“ A lightly edited transcript of her remarks is here.