Open market

By VIRGINIE BOONE

Photos by SCOTT MANCHESTER

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Food and Wine magazine proclaimed it "Napa's Best Market," and it hadn't even opened yet. That's how eagerly the food and wine world has anticipated the Ferry Plaza-like Oxbow Public Market, right next to Copia in downtown Napa, which is finally due to show us what it's got.

Portions of it officially opened last Saturday; other vendors are about a week away, some a month away. Opening dates have moved around for months, a testament to how hard a project like this can be -- so many vendors with so many specifications in an area of Napa undergoing major rejuvenation.

Go now and it'll feel like a sneak peek, something you can look back on and say you were among the first to experience.

Oxbow founder and CEO Steve Carlin, who also once ran, then co-owned, the Oakville Grocery, said he's extremely pleased with the mix of tenants Oxbow has been able to attract, and he thinks visitors will be, too.

Inspired by other successful public markets like the Ferry Plaza Marketplace in San Francisco (where Carlin served as project manager) and Seattle's historic Pike Place, the 40,000-square-foot Oxbow Public Market, with 8,000 more feet of wraparound deck for outdoor seating, will feature a diverse range of 30-some local food and wine purveyors, cafes and rotating, seasonal local farm stands, all open daily.

Still pending but planned for are another restaurant, coffee bar, fishmonger and oyster bar.

With the look and feel of an airy, light-filled barn, all exposed beams and ducts, the Oxbow Public Market is divided into 18 stalls ranging from 250 to 400 square feet in size, all of which open onto central walkways. From the entrance, the walkways lead straight through to an outdoor seating area, which should be an inviting place to taste and sip come summer.

Outside, farm stands line the exterior wall facing the Copia parking lot.

A welcome resource for locals, Oxbow Public Market is also geared to tourists, some 4 million of whom pass through Napa each year.

Further luring them into Napa town should be the Westin-Verasa Napa Residences, a combo hotel and condos with a four-star restaurant, wine bar and public spaces that is being built around the corner. It is due to open sometime in 2008.

The Ritz-Carlton, too, has claimed a spot, on the other side of Copia, set for a 2009 debut. A walkable greenbelt and river trail will eventually link them all, forming a revitalized Oxbow District along and near the bend, or oxbow, of the Napa River from which it draws its name.

But it's the market that could immediately change the energy level downtown.

"You can tell a lot about the culture of a community by what its market is like," said Steven Rothfeld, a photographer and Oxbow tenant. Rothfeld has opened Kitchen Library, a collection of prints, books, journals and boxes.

"I see (it) as a gathering place," he continued, "where locals can come to share stories, catch up on life, pass the time of day, a place for people to congregate -- that really is what a public market is about."

The temptations include:

Taylor's Refresher, the classic St. Helena hamburger joint, which also not so coincidentally runs a popular offshoot in the Ferry Plaza Marketplace. Taylor's here will offer 100 seats inside and 100 seats outside at the former site of Valley Tire and Brake, another long-standing and beloved Napa institution. The renovated building has high ceilings, a rotating sign out front and bona fide old-time vibe.

It will also house The Model Bakery, the St. Helena baker known for its artisan breads made with organic stone-ground flours, and The Fatted Calf, a charcuterie and butcher shop. These three -- lovingly nicknamed, "The Butcher, the Baker and the Hamburger Maker" -- will open in early January.

Anette's Chocolate Factory, open now, a mainstay of downtown Napa, the brother-sister-run Anette's does truffles, fudges, creams, brittles, sauces and more.

Fete, also open now, provides provisions for home entertaining.

Five Dot Ranch, set to open this weekend, raises sustainable Angus beef throughout Northern California.

Folio Enoteca & Winery, expected to open this weekend, is Michael Mondavi's micro-winery and tasting room.

Heritage Culinary Artifacts is open now, selling antique kitchenware, mostly American.

Kitchen Library, open now, is Rothfeld's ode to the Old-World kitchen and affiliated collectibles. He'll feature his own works for sale, as well as cookbooks, leather-bound journals, food and wine-related antiques, ceramics, linens and specialty food products.

The Olive Press, the second outpost of the popular olive purveyor based in Sonoma, will remain devoted to California extra virgin olive oils, olives, soaps, bath salts and much more made from olives and olive oil. It's open now.

Oxbow Wine Merchant and Wine Bar, slated for a mid-January opening, is from the same folk who run the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, a hands-on, service-oriented shop for buying, tasting and learning about wine that will also enjoy views of the waterfront and have outdoor seating.

It will also feature an extensive cheese shop, The Oxbow Cheese Merchant, run by two local cheese luminaries, Thalassa Skinner (from the city of Napa's farmers market) and Kate Arding (of Neal's Yard Dairy in the U.K. and Tomales Bay's Cowgirl Creamery).

Pica-Pica Maize Kitchen, slated to open this weekend, is a Venezuelan restaurant offering native ceviches, arepas and more.

Rotisario, opening in January, is the outpost of Roli Roti, which has driven its popular trucks to countless farmers markets for years, the pied-piper of fine grilled meats and poultry.

Three Twins Organic Ice Cream, opening this weekend, is one of only two producers in the United States making certified organic ice creams. It also runs a scoop shop in San Rafael.

Tillerman Tea, led by director of tea culture and education David Wong, focuses on tea education, history and tradition, sourcing teas from China and Taiwan, many of them rare loose-leaf teas. It opened last weekend with an elaborate Taoist cleansing ceremony.

Whole Spice, due to open soon, is run by Petaluma husband-wife team Ronit and Shuli Madmone. Shuli grew up in the spice growing and grinding business in Israel. Sourcing spices from around the world, they'll be easily accessible here, their first retail outlet.

You can reach Staff Writer Virginie Boone at 521-5440 or virginie.boone@pressdemocrat.com.