Eateries find new stomping grounds in grape country

Nation's Restaurant News, Nov 18, 1996 by Carolyn Walkup

NAPA VALLEY, Calif. - Two veteran restaurateurs from the big cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco are trying a change of pace with country bistros in the heart of California's vineyards.

Joachim and Christine Splichal of Patina and Pinot fame in the Los Angeles Bistro basin and Al Falchi of San Francisco's Waterfront are vying for Napa Valley's appetites in close proximity to each other on Highway 29 - the valley's main road. The Splichals and 73 investors are watching sales results at Pinot Blanc in St. Helena, while Falchi and partner Don Kelleher are doing the same with Brix.

The newcomers are joining the ranks of Napa Valley's small but impressive collection of upscale independent restaurants, which includes French Laundry, Tra Vigne, Brava Terrace and Catahoula. Splichal and executive chef Sean Knight have brought Splichal's signature Franco-California cuisine to the valley. Falchi and Kelleher, along with their executive chef, Tod Kawachi, have introduced fusion cuisine with a lot of Hawaiian influence.

"Napa is a very important move because it's our first outside of our area," Splichal said. "It's a very good market for a restaurant of our caliber because it's a food-and-wine market." He added that it took a little while to fine-tune Pinot Blanc, but since making some changes "sales are falling into place."

"My idea was we shouldn't do another Italian, California cuisine or French restaurant because there was too much of that already. Seafood and eclectic were missing," Falchi said.

Kawachi had been executive chef at Roy's Kahana Bar & Grill in Maui, one of Roy Yamaguchi's restaurants that Falchi and Kelleher like a great deal. "Just by chance, Tod was available and wanted to move back to the mainland," Falchi said.

Proprietors of both restaurants, which opened last spring, said business so far has been at or above projections. "We will see how winter treats us," said Falchi, who expects a slowdown in January and February.

Splichal priced his menu so that it would be accessible to locals who are not dining on expense accounts. Pinot Blanc's dinner checks average about $35, while Brix's dinner check is closer to $40. Checks vary dramatically, depending on purchases from both restaurants' extensive wine lists.

Pinot Blanc's dinner menu includes "back door farmer's salad," reflecting the freshness of just-picked produce grown nearby; "high cholesterol foie gras with roasted mission figs and port wine"; local squab with roasted brioche, root vegetables and squab jus; and roasted suckling pig with mashed potatoes and mustard jus.

Napa Valley wines account for about 75 percent of the wine list at Pinot Blanc as well as at most of Splichal's eight restaurants. Falchi noted that the wine industry has been quite supportive of Brix.

Dinner choices at Brix might include rare seared ahi tuna with wasabi aioli; soy-glazed salmon medallion, soba noodle roll and hot mustard sauce; and Thai pesto-smoked rack of lamb with spicy peanut sate and Zinfandel glaze.

Menus at most Napa Valley restaurants change frequently to take advantage of the many locally produced fresh ingridients. Both restaurants have vineyard views in the daytime and patio seating when weather permits. The 100-seat Brix has an exhibition kitchen, a wine shop and a market.

Pinot Blanc, featuring dark woods, carpeting and draperies that can be drawn to divide room, also has three private wine-tasting, rooms.

Operators of both new restaurants foresee attracting pretty good private-party business, particularly from the wine industry. Although tourism thins out between November and March, local residents and business travelers are year-round customers.