The husband-and-wife team of Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani, who own Ame at the St. Regis and Terra/Bar Terra in St. Helena, have inked a deal to take over the former Wo Hing General Store space at 584 Valencia Street which was also formerly the original home of Slanted Door. As Inside Scoop reports, it's going to be a modern California bistro focused on fine ingredients, and the name will be Urchin. Doumani found inspiration for the name from a nostalgic idea of children running around freely.
[We grew up in] the time when kids were allowed to run free... The Mission gives us that feeling of adventure, of not having boundaries, being urchins again. Allowed to roam freely and experience everything. The people that live in and go to the Mission area are the same, without restrictions, curious.
It should be noted that Sone and Doumani already have two Michelin stars under their belts, one at Ame and one at Terra. Here's Michael Bauer's 2011 rave review of Bar Terra, which probably will bear the most similarity to Urchin. He said that Bar Terra "is able to navigate the more rough-and-tumble cocktail culture where heavy-handed flavors and fried food are king and replace them with the sophistication of fine dining."
The two-level Valencia Street space has been vacant since Wo Hing's abrupt closure last spring, and has been vacant for the bulk of the last decade. Construction is underway and it's unclear how many modifications will be made to the space, which many noted felt a little sterile and corporate after the Wo Hing remodel.
Urchin is expected to open by late summer.
