Vita ia now VAMOOSE. Laura Cunningham announced nearly three years ago she was opening a new Yountville restaurant, Vita, where she would use her grandmother’s favorite recipes and the French Laundry Group would be handle the kitchen is now a big void. The former site of Mama Ninas; Frankie, Johnnie & Luigi too; and P. J. Steak now is a big empty lot. Laura, tore the existing building down about 6 months ago and even received a $750,000 SBA loan before throwing in the apron.
“Vita faced developmental challenges in the end that we were, and are, currently unable to overcome,” Cunningham wrote via e-mail, adding that even though the current location has fallen through, she’ll consider other options down the road. From The San Francisco Chronicle
This is one of the first big setbacks for the restaurant scene here in Yountville. With R & D Kitchens going full steam in their opening in the former site of the Napa Valley Grille and the opening approximately a year ago of Hotel Luca and their restaurant, Cantinetta Piero, plus the anticipation of Vita, it was finally accepted that the North end of Town was beginning to bloom. Even though Piero is struggling a bit, now with Vita’s demise, I think it is a bit early to say what will happen on this end of Town. I now the R & D Kitchen Group is a great chain and will do well but until the big hole where Vita was suppose to be is filled, there still will exist the feelings of the past. I will let you know what goes there as soon as I find out.
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