Issue date: July 01, 1998

Loose Ends: Woodside resident saves Little Store restaurant Loose Ends: Woodside resident saves Little Store restaurant (July 01, 1998)

LITTLE STORE, BIG DEBUT. Peninsula residents who are still grieving Woodside's Little Store -- which closed last December -- might be celebrating its resurrection as early as July 28.
Woodside resident and restaurant designer James Guaspari, who is one-third of the partnership that bought the restaurant from owners Marcel and Kay Mournay, said the Little Store will reopen and will look the same as it did. The menu, however, might be a little spiffier.
"We're hiring a chef, not a cook," Mr. Guaspari said.
The new owner-operators' pedigrees, too, hint at a more upscale Little Store: Mr. Guaspari designed the restaurants Spago and the short-lived Stars; his partner, Greg St. Claire, counts Palo Alto restaurant Nola among his gustatory interests.
The triumvirate -- which includes James's brother A.J. -- bought the restaurant after plans to convert the 91-year-old building into offices brought cries of protest all the way to the Woodside Planning Commission this past May.

REPORT CARDS ON THE WEB. Check out the Internet to see "report cards" for schools in the Menlo Park City School District -- Laurel, Encinal, Oak Knoll and Hillview Middle. The district promises that by July 1 you can log on to www.mpcsd.k12.ca.us to learn more about school programs, progress and support, and also how Menlo Park students performed on the 1997 California Achievement Tests. No, the students' personal report cards will not be on there. This year is the first time that the state-mandated School Accountability Report Cards have been posted on the Internet.

COOLER KIDS. After years of enduring sultry summer storytimes, perspiring patrons will be glad to hear that the Atherton public library has installed an air conditioning system at last. "We think it will be nice for the children's storytimes," says Mollie Apple, treasurer of the Friends of the Atherton Community Library. "Afternoons used to get pretty sweltering over here." The system was funded by the Friends and contracted in collaboration with the town's building department.