Winter openings and closings

[jacquesf]

The Boston Chowhounders have a great tradition of doing monthly threads keep track of soon-to-open and just-opened restaurants in the area. It was a great way for new and old hounds alike to get to know the restaurant scene in the area. I think it started as a seasonal thread before that got unmanageable, and then moved to a monthly thread.

So, what's new or about to go away this winter in the bay area?

[jacquesf]

It looks like Pastis is now open in Palo Alto, where Joanie's used to be on California Ave. They're doing French bistro style food and are run by the same people who run Joanie's.

No menu online yet, but they do have a twitter feed: http://twitter.com/pastispaloalto. Given my wife's love of cassoulet, we'll probably check it out soon.

[Melanie Wong]

I put Pastis Bistro into the Restaurants and Bars database, and included links to its website and FB page.

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Pastis Bistro
447 S California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94306

[Robert Lauriston]

There are so many openings around here that such topics wouldn't make a lot of sense, especially since openings have a way of being repeatedly postponed. On this board soon-to-open places usually get their own topics.

[Atomica]

Tablehopper and Eater SF both do a really job with just this thing.

[Robert Lauriston]

Also Inside Scoop and Grubstreet. They all pick up on each other's scoops.

[Melanie Wong]

While I do agree with the others that the publications mentioned do a good job of keeping up with openings and closings, their focus is on San Francisco and not much outside the City limits. Also they're skewed towards the places that have publicists to send out press releases. I hope that we can hear more about new spots that haven't fed into the pre-opening hype machine yet and especially those located outside San Francisco.

I'll mention Babette Cafe that opened on Tuesday at the Berkeley Art Museum, serving breakfast, lunch, Ritual Coffee, and snacks thoughout the day. Joan Ellis of Augergine Catering is behind it. I met her three years ago at a Berkeley party where she served this apple tart. It was so gorgeous I took a photo of it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniew...

I've not been to Babette myself, and probably won't until it has weekend hours, but I hope she will be baking there as well.

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Babette Cafe
2625 Durant Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704

[jacquesf]

That's exactly what I meant. Thanks!

[Robert Lauriston]

Starting a new topic called Babette Cafe - Berkeley Art Museum would draw more attention.

[Melanie Wong]

Yes, it would. But I think that's too much attention when I don't have a first hand eating experience to offer or any info on the menu. If someone has a chance to try it, please do start a new topic.

[Paul H]

I think it is fairly significant that The Moss Room closed New Year's Day.

[ceekskat]

Not exactly surprising, but the Christmas time closing of longstanding Chevy's in Redwood City did seem sudden.

Thanks to a little digging prompted by this thread, discovered that quite a few businesses are throwing their hats into the ring that is downtown RWC. From the RedwoodCityPatch:

"New restaurants and cafes in Redwood City over the past year include the American-style comfort food of Redwood Creek Grill, a new Old Spaghetti Factory, Yoppi Yogurt, Sakura Teppanyaki's Japanese food, sandwiches from Ike's Lair and The Sandwich Spot, gourmet cupcakes from SweetCakes, and more."

Looks like I can finally get to see what all the Ike's fuss is about.

[bbulkow]

Someday there will be a teppanyaki that's not a stupid benihana ripoff

[ceekskat]

And the last new eatery in Menlo Park? Subway...sigh. Wait, I take that back. There is the Restaurant Mitsunobu.

Did you hear of the temporary demise of the British Bankers Club? Had no idea there were such problems.

http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/...

[jacquesf]

I never got that vibe on my visits, but those were mostly weeknights and lunch on the weekends. It's really too bad... not many bars like BBC in the area.