Those from around here may be familiar with the historic Fagiani’s Liquor Store & Bar at 813 Main Street in downtown Napa, which was the site of a gruesome sexual assault and murder in 1974 that has haunted the town for decades (speaking of restaurant crime scenes). The bar, which originally opened in 1945, has sat dark and dusty ever since, and two years ago, shortly after the unsolved murder of Anita Andrews was solved, we heard rumblings that the family who still owned it was trying to reopen it as The Bar. That project never came together, but today the Chron brings the news that the place will be reborn as early as August at the hands of New York-based AvroKO Hospitality Group.
It will remain Fagiani’s, and they’re bringing in chef-partner Brad Farmerie (of Public in New York, which has a Michelin star) to do the menu. “Our biggest goal is to do something that speaks to that history.” There will be three levels to the place, with the historic bar on the ground floor, dining on the second, and a big terrace on the roof overlooking the town and the Napa River. And, of course, it will be getting a high-end cocktail program.
Sounds pretty exciting, for Napa.
Update: The Scoop reprints the sordid story of Andrews’s 1974 murder at Fagiani’s via a 1989 Chronicle piece. [Scoop]
Historic Fagiani’s in Napa to reopen [Chron]
Earlier: Napa Bar Set to Reopen After a Murder Closed It 36 Years Ago
