After 27 years, yesterday was the final day for Narsi's Hof Brau.

Owner Narsi Samii spent two years fighting an eviction from to 60's-era Coddingtown Mall, which is going through major renovations and seeking out tenants with a larger draw. According to the Press Democrat, a proposed Whole Foods will open in the center next October. Restaurants like The Cheesecake Factory have been rumored to be possible fits for the new face of the aging mall. So far, however, there have been no official new tenants named in the restaurant category.

The impending closure has sparked mixed feelings from the community -- long-time fans of the diner are lamenting it while others see an opportunity for something new.

Samii hopes to find a new spot for his restaurant and loyal following, but so far says he doesn't have the financing or location to make that dream a reality.

What's your take? Time to move on, or a tragic loss?

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
Narsi's Hof-Brau Fights On

Vegan food always seems like a punishment rather than a lifestyle choice. Like wearing a hair shirt or flogging yourself with a cat 'o nine tails. I mean, go for it if that's what you're into, but leave me out of it. Because humans are natural omnivores. We have canine teeth for a reason and bacon wasn't invented because it tasted bad.

But here's the thing: There is something to be said for eating more fruits and vegetables. For limiting that big old carbon footprint, taking a more humane approach to life, and knowing that your meal came from the ground rather than a feedlot. So, yeah, I get it.

I just don't wanna eat it.

So it should come as no surprise that I've been foot-dragging on the latest entrant into the vegan restaurant game, The Garden (90 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa). Suffice to say that before cautiously embarking, I made sure that nearby Cricklewood would be open and standing by with a steak should things go south.

Despite some ambivalence about the whole thing, they didn't.

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Why are all those Irish eyes a-smilin? It's almost St. Patrick's Day, the one holiday each year where drinking, pinching and a wee bit o' hijinks are the order of the day. Taps turn green, beef gets corned and everyone's a McSomeone on Wednesday, March 17th this year. BiteClub leads you to your own pot of gold, or at least mug of beer, at the end of the rainbow.

Irish(ish) Pubs

Murphy's Irish Pub: You can take the high road or the low road, but all roads lead to Sonoma when it comes to annual St. Paddy's parties. Just off the town square, this pub has one of the rip-roarin-est parties in the county, with plenty of Emerald Isle brews, whiskeys and cock o'tails. Music and dancing start at 3pm with Celctic harps and fiddles, Irish step dancing and the Cartunes at 7pm. On the menu: Corned beef and cabbage with colcannon, Irish beef stew and bread pudding with whiskey caramel sauce. Because no meal is complete without whiskey. 464 First St. East, Sonoma, 935-0660.

Friar Tuck's Pub: Let the bromance flow as costumed bagpipers belt out Danny Boy and other Irish tunes throughout the day, green beer flows and 500 pounds of corned beef steam at this Cotati pub. Because if you can endure all that without an "I love you man," there isn't an ounce of Irish in ya. $10 for the corned beef dinner buffet, noon to 9pm. 8201 Old Redwood Hwy, Cotati, 792.9847

Nutty Irishman: Each St. Patrick's Day, the shamrock-hat and beer-goggle crowd overrun this usually-quiet local bar to the bemusement of regulars. Not that they're not glad to see you. The bar puts out a spread of green beer and corned beef and cabbage for everybody, because, as one staffer says, "We're all Irish here." 995 Piner Rd., Santa Rosa, 544-1447.
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Former Bistro V chef/owners Rick Vargas and Meekk Shelef are returning to their former Sebastopol stomping grounds. But don't call their new venture a restaurant.

The two (who are no longer a couple, but remain close friends) will be the front/back house staff for an new outpost of the Sonoma Wine Shop, a custom wine club on the Sonoma Square owned by Bryan Cooper.

Housed in the former Bistro V/Restaurant Eloise location on Gravenstein Hwy, the space has once again been transformed -- this time into a tasting room and eatery. But Meekk is careful to point out that its not a restaurant. There will be no waitstaff, but instead, a collection of sofas and casual tables where club members and the general public can come in, select from a menu of pasta, duck confit, pizzas, ribs or local cheeses, and be served family-style with a glass or flight of wine. The "club" (as Meekk refers to it) will also offer fresh pastas (made on site), wines and cheeses to go, as well as serving as a pick-up site for wine club members.

Details are still emerging as to exactly what's on the menu at the new location, wines, tasting fees, prices, etc. (so stay tuned). The Sonoma Wine Shop in Sebastopol will be open Thursday through Monday from around 10:30am to 7pm (slightly later on weekends) at 2295 Gravenstein Highway South, Sebastopol.

Wondering how this all came about? After closing Bistro V in 2007 (which later become the now-shuttered Restaurant Eloise), Meekk and Vargas all but vanished from the food scene. The reason given for the restaurant's closure was Meekk's serious illness, but says she's since recovered ("I'm alive," she says.) In the interim, Vargas resurfaced briefly at Sebastopol's Aubergine, but for the last year, both he and Meekk, have been manning Cooper's popular cheese & pasta annex to the wine shop, La Bodega.

As La Bodega expanded exponentially over the last year, and the wine/cheese/pasta shop started running out of room and Cooper saw an opportunity in revamping the couple's former Sebastopol restaurant as an outpost for his operations.

"It was like an unplanned pregnancy," said both Cooper (in an email) and Meekk (by phone) in explaining the unexpected, but ultimately happy sequence of events that led the three back to the former Bistro V. "At first you're like 'Ahhh!', but then it  feels good," Meekk said of returning.

Be careful what you wish for, cause it just might happen. Twice.

It was announced yesterday that a private developer is proposing a $10 million year-round(ish) public market a la Pike Place Market for the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. According to the Press Democrat, the MarketHall is proposing 70,000 square feet of space, 140 vendors and 100 permanent jobs. The man behind it is a former developer for Harrod's food hall. Nice.

In the meantime, the folks who've been working on the proposed public market in Railroad Square since, um, well, a long time, say they're still moving forward as well. From the PD: The public market proposed for Railroad Square would be somewhere around 25,000 to 30,000 square feet. That project would have a total of nearly 90,000 square feet of commercial space and 279 housing units, said John Stewart, one of the project's partners.

Wow. That's a lot of markets in little old Santa Rosa. Which seems like too much of a good thing, especially considering that similar projects haven't exactly, uh, taken off.

In 2008, Plaza Farms in Healdsburg shuttered. The upscale Oxbow Public Market has, let's be honest, hit its share of bumps with a soft economy, the closure of next-door Copia and ongoing construction of a massive hotel -- but looks toward a vibrant Oxbow district in the future. The Ferry Building in San Francisco is going through a major shuffle, with several original vendors departing over lease disputes. And Oakland's Jack London Market, set to open in mid-2010, has faced numerous setbacks, and questions are even now being raised as to whether it can be successful.

Hmmmm. Aside from that, there's just the little issue of, well, the fact that everyday people just aren't buying their food from farmer's markets. Yet.
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