Taste of the Valley: And now for something new and different...

Ubuntu Restaurant and Yoga Studio is on track to open in mid-August on Main Street. According to a press release, ubuntu means “humanity toward others,” the world view that is the basis of this community-focused restaurant and yoga studio.

Ubuntu owner, Sandy Lawrence,  her team of architects, Michael Bauschke and David Berman, designer T Beller and restaurant consultant Michael Dellar, share the vision of a neighborhood restaurant that sources the majority of its food locally to serving vegetable inspired meals, innovative cuisine for both omnivores and herbivores.

Chef Jeremy Fox, formerly of Manresa in Los Gatos, will run the restaurant. “I’m really excited to have the chance to do something that hasn’t been done before,” Fox said. “This project has the distinction of being a vegetable restaurant rather than a vegetarian restaurant. We’re not offering a philosophy of ‘no meat,’ we are celebrating what comes from the gardens, what shows up at the door and our relationships with farms in Napa — all new rules for what people expect.”

Fox will showcase his considerable talents and knowledge of the best in farm-to-table cuisines, fine-tuned from his time at Charles Nob Hill and Rubicon prior to four years as chef de cuisine at celebrated Manresa. Much of the produce will come from Ubuntu’s own biodynamic gardens, created by master gardener, Jeff Dawson, who served as curator of gardens at Copia. The bar will feature 200 wines, a majority produced from sustainably farmed grapes.

The 19th-century building in the heart of downtown Napa’s restaurant row at 1140 Main St. is being transformed into a model of “green” design. Reclaimed wood has been hand-crafted by local artisans into flooring and wooden furnishings in the dining room, which extends to a garden patio with recycled chairs from the ’40s.

 Veronica Vidal will direct the yoga studio in the loft above the restaurant where 25 teachers will conduct 42  classes per week in different disciplines of training for yoga enthusiasts of all levels. Vidal is certified by Sri Dharma Mittra, of New York, where she continues her studies and teaching.

 For more information, call 251-5656 or go to www.ubuntunapa.com.

Pilar Sanchez continues her cooking classes at her Napa restaurant at 807 Main St. this summer on the first Saturday of each month, at 11:30 a.m. Her next class — on  Saturday — celebrates Bastille Day by cooking up classic French fare. On the menu: Lapin a la Moutarde (Braised rabbit in whole grain mustard sauce); Pommes Chateau (fancy French potatoes); Madeleines (the cake-like almond cookies favored by Marcel Proust).

The price is $35 and that includes the sit-down lunch following class. Folks can reserve a spot by phoning the restaurant: 252-4474.

Napa Valley Register Copyright © 2009