Has it been 10 years?

Ten years ago this month, Chef Greg Cole and his wife, Beth Fairbairn, opened Celadon restaurant in the back of the Main Street Exchange Building, next to the creek. The early buzz was good and the food even better, and the small restaurant had a waiting line for the 40 or so seats it held almost from the day it opened.

Today, many people think of the opening of Celadon as the beginning of the fine dining scene downtown and credit Cole with its birth.

When he opened the restaurant, however, many people thought he had taken leave of his senses.

"People thought we crazy," smiled Cole. "The fine dining scene was barely alive, but we knew we were getting in at the beginning of something big. Our goal, then as now, was to serve great food in a friendly setting to our friends, local residents and out of town guests."

A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, Cole came to the Napa Valley in 1985 to work with Chef Philippe Jeanty in the kitchen of Domaine Chandon.

He went on to chef positions at Pasta Prego and Ristorante Piatti.

In 1990 Cole joined the winemaking team of Robert Sinskey Vineyards. In addition to cellar work, he promoted wine sales throughout the country. Cole cooked and hosted dinners pairing food and wine in top restaurants and cooking schools nationwide.

Celadon features Cole's style of "Global Comfort Food

' and awards began pouring in almost as soon as he opened. The Wine Spectator selected Cole as one of the 24 "hottest young chefs" in America.

Celadon received a three star rating in the San Francisco Examiner and four stars in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

USA TODAY selected Celadon as one of the "ten great places to dine at the bar."

Celadon has received the Zagat Survey "Award of Distinction" and has been a Wine Spectator

'Award of Excellence" recipient for its innovative and food-friendly wine list since 1997.

Cole's Chop House opened in March 2000 and the accolades continued. Celadon moved to a larger location in the Historic Napa Mill in 2002, and is still one of downtown's most popular restaurants.

Today, downtown Napa has more than 40 restaurants, almost 40 percent of which are Zagat rated.

Cole loves the growth, and sees it as just the beginning.

"There are so many great places to choose from downtown. This is not an easy business and I admire all the people who have chosen to locate in downtown Napa. I think that downtown's reputation for fine dining will continue to grow."

Happy Birthday to a founding father!

OopsŠ

All I have to do to find out if people are reading my column is to make a mistake. I made one the last time, and George Elicker caught it.

Elicker is an interesting and knowledgeable man. His great grandfather moved to Napa in 1869.

Elicker is Napa born and bred, and is a self proclaimed researcher specializing in Napa history.

Over the years Elicker has given me tidbits of information about old businesses and buildings downtown, many of which no longer exist.

He corrected me about the history of Safeway here in town. Turns out the first Safeway in Napa opened in 1925, across the street from what is now Cole's Chop House. It occupied the Merrill's Building for a while.

Safeway then bought out the Piggly Wiggly, located where the District Attorney's office now stands and broke ground in a new location -- the soon to be Rossi-Zeller Building.

It closed the other two stores and opened in the new site on Feb, 2, 1936.

Thanks for the correction, George.

See you downtown!

Craig Smith is the executive director of the Napa Downtown Association and can be reached at craig@napadowntown.com