Soif to begin serving bar food at Motiv while renovations are underway, plus a gathering at Gabriella Cafe
Soif is currently closed for its first remodel and expansion in 13 years. “The retail wine shop will be moving to the other side of the restaurant,” says owner Patrice Boyle, which means that the wine shop will occupy most of the former import store space at the corner of Pacific and Walnut avenues. “The wine bar will move to where the retail space has been,” she says, chuckling. “And the current bar will be opened into an expanded kitchen.” Got it? The real impetus for all of this rearrangement, Boyle admits, is that it will enable the expansion of the kitchen—and the menu, too. “It’s going to be great,” says Boyle. “We’ll have a grill, a griddle, a fryer, a plancha—it will allow us to do a lot more things.” Boyle assures me that this does not mean a multi-page menu, “but lots of new dishes, new ideas,” she says.
Inspired in part by every trip she takes, “even to San Francisco,” says Boyle, the remodel—with consultation by original interior architect Mark Primack and kitchen design by Chris Baer—was stimulated by Boyle’s desire to improve Soif’s tiny kitchen. “We’ll have more refrigeration—that’s going to make a giant difference,” she says. New equipment will include a “super cool, variable-speed hood that will be more energy efficient. It’s very exciting.”
Soif regulars will be happy to know that not everything will change. “The entrances will stay the same, one door for the restaurant and another for retail—but when you’re sitting at the wine bar you’ll be able to look across the restaurant as well as out through the windows,” says Boyle. “It will make the wine bar easier for many people. We’ll be able to use the kitchen better, there will be much more prep space.”
The initial dust has to settle by Wednesday, May 13, however, because “that’s when we begin serving bar food at Motiv,” says Boyle. Soif’s chefs—including a new young group for whom Motiv will act as a “culinary incubator”—will be cooking on May 13 up at the former Pearl Alley Bistro space. “We’ve never done bar food,” Boyle says. “Fun finger food, silly things, and we’ll keep doing that as long as it works.”
Meanwhile, Soif’s upstairs will continue to host private events, and the newly expanded shop will add new retail items. “More retail items will be great, and new areas for specialty high-end wines, as well as an area for locally produced wines,” says Boyle. Expect to find trending touches, such as plump, comfy chairs, Wi-Fi, and snacks that will encourage lingering over that glass of wine. (As if we didn’t linger enough already.) “Ideally we’ll re-open at the end of May, with a soft opening for Memorial Day weekend,” says the woman who never sleeps. Soif, expanded and full of surprises, will re-open the last weekend of May: soifwine.com.
Cafe Society
It was a veritable poet’s corner after hours at Gabriella Cafe last Wednesday, when owner Paul Cocking set the big table for friends of poet/author Stephen Kessler after his reading and book signing at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Among the free-flowing wines, the clear favorite was Terra Nova Pinot Noir from Windy Oaks, the perfect partner for salami platters piled high with cheeses, meats and spiced fruit, as well as focaccia and those ultra unctuous Castelvetrano olives. Kessler’s ravioli dish looked pretty tantalizing, too. Thanks to the presence of loquacious literary artists like Joe Stroud, Tai Moses, Robert Sward, Eric Johnson, Alta Ifland, Donna Mekis, Traci Hukill, Frank Galuszka, and Jory and Karen Post, the tone of conversation was as wide-ranging as the delightful meal. When we left at 10:30 p.m., the throngs across the street were still swilling the sweet frozens of the Penny Ice Creamery.
PHOTO: Soif’s executive chef Mark Denham will be expanding the menu as the restaurant expands its kitchen as part of its first remodel. CHIP SCHEUER
