First off, there are changes on Water Street. Il Trullo is changing hands – and soon to become something called Limoncello. The word on the street is that Giovanni di Maiao, chef of the original Cafe Bella Napoli, might be coming back to the kitchen. Mangiamo, and stay tuned!. . . And work continues to progress on the long-awaited reincarnation of Oswald. I talked with Eric Lau yesterday and he admits that the opening date has been pushed back to mid-February. But that yes, Damani and Keet are both be on board as partners. “We’re ready to shift into restaurant mode,” said Lau, who admitted the whole build-out of that corner space at Front and Soquel is “very complicated. There are lots of engineering issues.”
Lau also revealed that the new Oswald will open with a full bar — “and that’s pretty exciting. We’re really striving to create something that can deliver the excitement that Oswald did in 1995,” he said. “We want to grow it and redefine it – polish up the concept a bit.”
I told Lau that we were all getting hungry. . . .
