Confession: After my recent six-month sojourn in Seattle, I was ready to move there and never look back. That city has everything I like. Good, fresh food? Check. Scenery and wildlife? Double check. Well-crafted wines? Everywhere. And then there’s the arts scene, the record stores, the nightlife, the Space Needle…. Stowing several boxes of my stuff in a friend’s attic, I reluctantly left the Emerald City in March with the intention of returning as soon as possible.
But then I got back to Napa. Before a month had passed, Seattle seemed as distant and magical as Oz itself. It seems there’s a difference between feeling at home and truly being home—and Napa, against all expectations, has made itself my home. My first week back, I dropped by the Oxbow Public Market at lunchtime and bumped into some 15 friends and acquaintances, from the market baristas and butchers to the entire staff of Arts Council Napa Valley. My first trip to the supermarket stretched 45 minutes past checkout as I chatted with more folks I hadn’t seen since my impetuous flight north last fall. There’s been a lot to catch up on: The half-year I missed was a busy one for Napa County in virtually every way.
Let’s start at Oxbow, where market merchants are enduring the latest round of traffic inconveniences from flood-control work that’s closed First Street to vehicle access east of Soscol Avenue. As I was writing this column in April, market manager Aram Chakerian noticed on Facebook that I was posting from Ritual Coffee Roasters, and pulled up a chair next to me for a chat.
“We had our best month in quite a while in March, despite the construction,” says Chakerian, who went on to explain some of the recent and upcoming changes at the market: Rotisserie master Thomas Odermatt closed his Rotisario restaurant at the end of December. Once again, Bay Area eaters will only be able to obtain his succulent chickens from the Roli Roti trucks that draw long lines at farmers markets around the region. This news hit me hard, as I’d developed a deep fondness for the Rotisario lamb sandwich, with or without frites, and both the chickens and side dishes were sublime.
But the East Bay-based Odermatt’s departure opened the way for a homegrown Napa operation to move into the space. C Casa, which styles itself “An Innovative Taqueria,” is the latest project from Catherine Bergen, best known for creating the Tulocay’s Made in Napa Valley line of condiments. Bergen enlisted a pair of heavy hitters to anchor the kitchen at her new place: the Jacinto brothers, Pablo and Erasto, who established their careers working with famed restaurateur and cookbook author Cindy Pawlcyn. Sample dishes from the restaurant’s Facebook page include spiced lamb tacos with mint and goat cheese; field greens with cilantro lime dressing, cotija cheese, toasted pumpkin seeds and red bell peppers; and, in a spicy nod to Odermatt, chili-rubbed rotisserie chickens. Beverages include beer, wine and agua frescas, and seating is available both inside the market’s climate-controlled main hall and outside.
Another restaurant has also departed the Oxbow: Folio, owned by the Michael Mondavi family, which struggled to establish an identity but never quite drew the business it needed. In April, Chakerian said negotiations were underway with potential new tenants. Meanwhile, a third establishment is folding its food service and realigning its retail profile. Sometime this summer, Oxbow Wine Merchant and Oxbow Cheese Merchant will move into the main hall opposite Hog Island Oyster Company, in the space that’s been occupied by a bandstand for the musicians that entertain on Tuesday nights and during special events.
In a welcome—and overdue—move, the Napa Farmers Market has relocated from the Wine Train parking lot across McKinstry Street to the Oxbow Public Market main lot just east of the market hall. With plenty of parking still available in the former COPIA lots on both sides of First Street as well as along McKinstry, the farmers market is helping draw shoppers to the Oxbow district despite the First Street closure. It runs Tuesdays and Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. to noon through October. The first Saturday in June should be particularly lively: The city of Napa is partnering with Oxbow merchants to host what Chakerian describes as a “local food festival,” similar to Oakland’s Eat Real festival. “We’re trying to support local, sustainable food in a fun way,” said Chakerian, who’s shown a knack for throwing fun events at the Oxbow. His Carnaval celebration, complete with Mardi Gras beads, face-painting and music, drew a bumper crowd in March.
Finally: How could I fail to mention the strange tale of how Taylor’s became Gott’s? After years of drawing long lines at, first, its emblematic St. Helena burger stand and then its satellites in San Francisco and Napa, the eatery that had styled itself Taylor’s Automatic Refresher suddenly unveiled a new and even more ungainly name in March: Gott’s Roadside Tray Gourmet. Owners Joel and Duncan Gott hired a public-relations firm and threw a series of free-food parties to celebrate their emancipation from the name they’d taken on in 1999 from the Taylor family, which opened the original burger drive-in in 1949. The Gotts’ spin didn’t quite work for a number of Napa Valley denizens—including the octogenarian daughters of the original proprietor, Lloyd Taylor, who expressed outrage and threatened legal action. (Seems they didn’t want the Gotts using the Taylor name to open even more outlets—but never expected to see it removed from the existing restaurants.) Everyday diners may find the switch just confusing and unnecessary, the new name too cutesy by half. But will that keep the lines from forming? I doubt it. Sometimes you just want a burger, and those guys know how to make ‘em.
Next month: Calistoga’s new AVA; Napa’s new music hall; new restaurants all over the place. See you then. It’s good to be back!
