Popular Dopo spinoff, the eight-year-old salumi-and-cocktails bar Adesso at the end of Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, is calling it quits as Inside Scoop is reporting. They get the news via an email to customers from owner Jon Smulewitz, who opened the place to immediate acclaim in 2009, including high praise from Michael Bauer and a subsequent James Beard semi-finalist nomination for Best New Restaurant in 2010.
Smulewitz says that the business has been sold to new owners, and he now plans to refocus his energy on Dopo, which debuted on Piedmont Avenue 14 years ago.
Smulewitz writes in the announcement, "From its inception and nomination for a James Beard Award in 2009, to the raucous World Cup games in 2014 and the amazing Warriors finals runs the last two seasons, it's truly been a fabulous adventure and we can't thank you all enough for being a part of it. It's truly impossible to overstate how much we appreciate all the employees and customers who have made the past eight years possible."
No date has been set for the restaurant's swan song, and it's not immediate. The next few weeks, Smulewitz promises, will include some closing celebrations, including the return of some dishes from menus past.