Yountville Goes and No Goes? Bar Florence? Lotsa Salmonella
Carmel’s David Fink, once the GM of the Highlands Inn and developer of the L’Auberge Carmel and its restaurant, Aubergine, is moving efficiently along with the construction in Yountville of his 20-room Hotel Luca (6774 Washington Street). The hotel will also house a 90-seat restaurant called Cantinetta Piero, in homage to his long-time friend, winemaker Piero Antinori.
“The walls have gone up for the spa, workout room, laundry and 14 of the 20 rooms. Coming soon are the rest of the hotel rooms, four apartments and the restaurant, of course,” explains Fink.
In January, Fink sold his eight-year-old Bouchee in Carmel, a French-California high-end dining experience that emphasized wine.
Cantinetta Luca is more informal, has a lower price point or check average, and concentrates on house-made salumi, and house-made pasta and pizza from the word-burning oven.
Yountville’s Cantinetta will be much the same. Fink’s executive chef and partner in the Carmel Cantinetta is Jason Balestrieri, who will oversee Yountville as well. “I’d like to hire a young Italian chef that’s already here to execute our menu,” Fink explains.
Fink’s wife Kathleen of KMF Design in Carmel will decorate the hotel as she did L’Auberge Carmel. “Hotel Luca will have simple but nice detailing including Italian tiles for the roof, wood beams…” he says.
The dining room of the restaurant will be in two parts — one a more intimate space and another with seating for 70 that will spill out onto a courtyard.
“What I have here that I don’t have in Carmel is water and 61 parking spaces,” Fink says with a chuckle.
With Michael Chiarello’s Bottega kicking it down the street, Cantinetta Piero and Hotel Luca coming this fall, and Laura Cunningham and her finance, chef Thomas Keller’s Vita, slated for the old PJ Steak building means Yountville will go from zero Italian restaurants to three in 18 months.
But what’s up with Vita?
“The old PJ Steak’s, which is next door to Hotel Luca, is a very good building and they have big plans,” [read expensive?] says Fink, who also said he would help them in any way he could.
One prominent chef from San Francisco told us that he saw Cunningham and Keller in Europe and they were talking about the difficulty in getting funding. “If Thomas Keller is having trouble…”
We spoke with the realtor involved, Bruce Peters of Portofino Real Estate, and he said they are still in contract, that is, they have signed a lease, for 6725 Washington Street.
“Until they got engaged, Laura [Cunningham] was the point person on this,” explains Peters.
We haven’t heard back from Cunningham, but will update you next week if we do.
With so many projects delayed, I told Peters, I was going to write an article entitled, “Where have all the rich people gone?” He thought that was pretty funny and said, “It’s the wrong time to make restaurant deals.”
Wow! We know you all love the Food Network’s Tyler Florence. And now, he’s all ours since he immigrated to our sunny shores.
He’s kicking it in Mill Valley with wife Tolan and kidlets Hayden and Dorothy. His Tyler FlorenceMill Valley store is a handsome addition to downtown.
But what’s up with Bar Florence that was slated to open last year, and then this spring in the old Plush Room space at 940 Sutter in the Hotel Vertigo?
The former York Hotel, owned by Personality Hotels, underwent a major facelift and recently morphed into the Hotel Vertigo. Personality’s other properties include the Hotel Diva, Hotel Frank, Kensington Park Hotel, and the Hotel Union Square.
Florence called us from the airport in New York and left a message on our voicemail saying that the project was proceeding. Earlier I had spoken with Tolan and she shared that the hotel redo had put Bar Florence behind. Last week she said the contractors were in — always a good sign. But, she added, they might be re-conceptualizing Bar Florence away from fine dining to a bar with small plates.
No doubt, in a nod to the economy.
We didn’t hear back from president and CEO Yvonne Lembi-Detert of Personality Hotels.
I met Lembi-Detert in the 1980s, when I interviewed to be the chef at the Hotel Union Square. I passed because they didn’t have a legal kitchen at that time — just a homestyle-stove.
The Asian community stores have been inundated with calls from the FDA about foods from Union International Food Company of Union City. The government is further expanding the salmonella spice recall of Lian How and Uncle Chen brand retail and institutional products. The recall now is extended to various size packages of all Uncle Chen and Lian How sauces, oils, and oil blends because the products may also be contaminated with salmonella. Forty people in the Western states fell ill.
Recalls have been successfully completed at the markets we spoke to. At
99 Ranch in Dublin, manager Daniel Li said they removed four pallets of Uncle Chen and Lian How products. Kevin Wong, manager of New May Wah, 547 Clement Street, said they had pulled about a pallet of product off the shelves. Alex Ling of the tiny Asian Market, 5 Mary Street, San Rafael, said they stopped doing business with Union International Food 10 years ago. Lucky guy.
I was surprised to read that salmonella was found in white pepper. I associate it with poultry and eggs. It was Salmonella Rissen — a rare but dangerous strain of salmonella. From the FDA report: “Officials are investigating a multistate salmonella outbreak (and have) isolated salmonella from an open container of Lian How White Pepper, which was found at a restaurant where some outbreak victims ate.”
You can find the complete list of products recalled by clicking
By now, everyone’s heard that Postrio is closing mid-June for a facelift after 20 years. Gone will be the Pat Kuleto signature light fixtures as well as the gigantic modern painting that dominates the dining room. I’ll take that Rauschenberg if no one else wants it.
But even more interesting than a redo of a 20-year-old restaurant is the new bilevel concept that Puck is rolling out. As reported in the Nation’s Restaurant News by Lisa Jennings, the casual-dining division is planning an aggressive rollout of a new three-day part-bistro concept that would break new ground with a hybrid service model that’s fast-casual at breakfast and lunch and full-service at dinner.
First developed in downtown Los Angeles and recently opened in suburban Charlotte, N.C., and with more branches planned for both markets, the bistro is an alternative to the company’s fully fast-casual Wolfgang Puck Express
But critics say such dual-personality hybrids pose operational challenges, not the least of which is convincing diners to pay more and tip for a full-service dining experience after they may have eaten cheaper, faster food from the same kitchen earlier in the day.
Fast-casual by day and full service at dinner, the concept is called Wolfgang Puck Carolina Bistro in Charlotte, N.C.
And the beat goes on.
One event I try not to miss is the Wild Game Week at the Big 4 restaurant high atop Nob hill in the Huntington Hotel. It runs May 12–16, so make your reservations early. On the menu there is usually alligator, elk, moose and this year, Brazilian Piranha — hold the teeth, please. As usual, long-time chef Gloria Ciccarone-Nehls pulls out all the stops.
On a sad note, we got an e-mail from Josiah Slone, owner-chef of Sent Sovi restaurant in Saratoga. With great sadness and shock, Slone reported the death early Sunday morning of Javier Barriga, an important member of the Sent Sovi family. Javier was their lead server from 2003–08, and also worked at Tapestry, Trevese, and Nick’s on Main.
Barriga, a Los Gatos resident at the time of his passing, was born in Peru and trained in Strasburg, Austria. Only 50 years old, he was a devoted single father and leaves behind his 12-year-old daughter, Mikaela.
Please send an e-mail to javiermemorial@sentsovi.com if you wish to be informed about memorial plans as they become available.
The restaurant has also set up the Javier Barriga Memorial Fund to be used for Javier’s funeral arrangements and for the needs and education of his daughter. You can make donations (not tax-deductible) in any of the following ways:
Yountville’s Cantinetta will be much the same. Fink’s executive chef and partner in the Carmel Cantinetta is Jason Balestrieri, who will oversee Yountville as well. “I’d like to hire a young Italian chef that’s already here to execute our menu,” Fink explains.
Wow! We know you all love the Food Network’s Tyler Florence. And now, he’s all ours since he immigrated to our sunny shores. 
The Asian community stores have been inundated with calls from the FDA about foods from Union International Food Company of Union City. The government is further expanding the salmonella spice recall of Lian How and Uncle Chen brand retail and institutional products. The recall now is extended to various size packages of all Uncle Chen and Lian How sauces, oils, and oil blends because the products may also be contaminated with salmonella. Forty people in the Western states fell ill. 
First developed in downtown Los Angeles and recently opened in suburban Charlotte, N.C., and with more branches planned for both markets, the bistro is an alternative to the company’s fully fast-casual Wolfgang Puck Express
On a sad note, we got an e-mail from Josiah Slone, owner-chef of 