D'asaro trattoria to offer authentic Italian food in a handsome setting D'asaro trattoria to offer authentic Italian food in a handsome setting (April 03, 2002)

By Jane Knoerle

Almanac Lifestyles Editor

When D'asaro trattoria opens Friday, April 12, at 1041 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, it becomes restaurant number six for Avenir Restaurant Group at a time when restaurant business is down in San Francisco, and several have closed their doors.

"Our business has been great, really strong," says Avenir's president Greg St. Claire, who grew up in Woodside and Portola Valley.

Since 1993 the group, which specializes in neighborhood restaurants, has also opened: Mistral (regional French with California accent), Redwood Shores; A Tavola (California-Italian, or "Cal-Ital"), San Carlos; Nola (Cajun), Palo Alto; Kingfish (Cajun), San Mateo; and Milagros (Mexican), Redwood City. Last year Kingfish and Milagros opened just a week apart.

"It's not as risky as you think," says Mr. St. Claire. "The reason restaurants fail is anybody can open a restaurant without training or experience. We're professionals and community-based. We don't depend on tourists and we're also very active in the community."

"Greg is not afraid to make changes. He'll rip out a wall, grab a paintbrush, re-do the menu _ whatever it takes to make it work," adds Cindie White of Atherton, whose husband, Phillip, is the group's principal investor.

The new D'asaro, designed to look like a rustic Italian villa, is a large stylish space, seating 95 inside and 100 on the outdoor patio. It is located in the handsome City Center Plaza, only two doors from Milagros (the word means miracles). The restaurants' proximity doesn't bother Mr. St. Claire, since the two have entirely different concepts.

While there are a lot of Mexican restaurants in Redwood City, "Milagros and Chevys are the only local Mexican restaurants where you can get a margarita," he says.

D'asaro fits the firm's policy of choosing emerging neighborhoods. "Redwood City is exploding," says Phil White, noting several large apartment complexes being built in the area. includes an outdoor cafe that will serve specialty coffee drinks and light lunches, starting April 22. There are plans for a three-tiered outdoor fountain with chess tables. "We'd love to put in a bocce court," says Mr. St Claire.

D'asaro is named for the late Steve D'asaro, "a beloved family member" of Sicilian heritage. "We share Steve's passion of (for) great food, wine, family and friends," says the menu.

Black and white photos of the family add an authentic touch. Rob Buelteman's black and white photos of Italy also adorn faux stone walls.

Chris Fernandez, regional executive chef, will oversee D'asaro's opening. Mr. Fernandez, who has worked at Oliveto's in Oakland and Stars in San Francisco, is a graduate of the Western Culinary Institute in Oregon. He promises a seasonal menu that will change according to what looks best in the farmers' markets he visits two or three times a week.

Tim Fabatz, Avenir partner and executive chef, will help open . He has just returned from two months in Italy, where he worked with Francisco Berardinelli, named the top chef in Italy by The Wine Spectator magazine.

The tentative menu offers such antipasti as mussels in saffron tomato broth; asparagus fontina bruschetta; and carpaccio (paper-thin beef) with salsa verde and arugula. Entrees include wood-oven roasted pork loin with white beans; grilled chicken with Italian sausage, escarole and polenta; veal scallopine with parsley tagliolini (pasta) and artichoke sauce; and braised lamb shank with roasted peppers and mashed potatoes.

Of course, there will be pasta, but Mr. Fernandez will prepare it to show off the pasta, not the sauce. "There's a lot of bad pasta out there. Most sauces are too heavy and too strong," he says.

Pasta choices include: pappardelle with roasted chicken and wild mushrooms; sweet pea mascarpone ravioli with brown butter and sage; and fettucine with asparagus, leeks, prosciutto and cream. The restaurant will prepare all pastries and desserts in house.

Appetizers will be in the $5 to $10 range; entrees $9 to $18. "We look on this as a neighborhood restaurant where people can come several times a week. We have many customers (in the other restaurants) who don't cook," says Mr. St. Claire.

The wine list will be 100 percent Italian or wines from domestic growers of Italian heritage.

Robert H. Kirkbride, who opened Kingfish last June and was involved with opening Spago in Palo Alto, is D'asaro's general manager and wine buyer. He and Mr. St. Claire go back to the days when he was a bus boy at Compadres in Palo Alto and Greg was general manager.

Greg St. Claire has been working in restaurants since he was 16. After spending time in Europe, he worked at numerous restaurants in San Francisco before becoming a general manager for Pan Pacific Partners, which owns restaurants in Napa Valley, Palo Alto and Hawaii.

He became general manager of the Village Pub in Woodside when it re-opened in 1991after remodeling. There he met future partner Tim Fabatz, who had just returned from cooking with Michel Guerard in Eugine les Bains, France.

Their dream of owning a restaurant together became a reality when the two opened Mistral in 1993, doing most of the work themselves. Tim and Greg are still sole owners of Mistral. Since A Tavola opened in 1995, former high-tech executive Phil White has become the principal investor/owner.

Avenir's current ownership structure includes: Mr. St. Claire, principal owner/president (handling all design and conceptualization); Katherine Kirkbride, partner, director of operations; Mr. Fabatz, partner, executive chef; Mr. White, principal investor/owner.

"Phil's the greatest investor," says Mr. St. Claire. As a business man, he leaves the day-to-day restaurant operations to the professionals, he says. His only request is that the restaurants stock his favorite San Angelo Pinot Grigio, listed on some menus as "Phil's wine."

Cindie White hopes to eventually supply the restaurant with organic produce grown on the Jellich Ranch in Portola Valley. The Whites purchased the historic property two years ago and are restoring the orchards and planting an extra 100 fruit trees each year.

Mrs. White hopes to put in an extensive organic garden that will supply with heirloom tomatoes, herbs and other produce, and eventually supply organic food to other restaurants. At present, the Whites are donating 60,000 to 80,000 pounds of fruit from their orchard to Second Harvest food bank.

For the past two years Mrs. White has also been working on the curriculum for a summer day camp for children on the ranch.

Any plans for after restaurant number six is launched? "I think it would be fun to do an Asian restaurant," says Mr. St. Claire.

D'asaro opens for dinner April 12; lunch April 29. The cafÈ opens April 22. For more information call 995-9800.