Narsai David

 

100

799

Toni M.

El Cerrito, CA

5/5/2008

For shame!  The building Narsai owns has been largely derelict for the past 5 or 10 years, since Porto Brasil closed.  It's shabby w/ peeling paint.  It blights the block.  Thirty-five years ago the space housed Narsai's eponymous restaurant.  It was a destination, w/ an elegant facade, warm woods inside and a beautiful, long bar.  The food was fabulous.  It was a peer of Chez Panisse.  Across the street is the original Semifreddi's.  Adjacent to the restaurant, where the thriving Kensington Circus Pub now lives, was Narsai's Market, as much a culinary joy as the restaurant.  It predated Market Hall and offered the best croissants this side of town as well as a large assortment of Belgian chocolates, cheeses, meats, his signature duck liver pate in little oval dishes and a general array of wonderful foodstuffs.  And wines.  How could I forget the wines?  It was almost always crowded and it was a pleasure just to be in there.  I'm not privy to the reasons for the closing of both places but you can imagine my sadness when they did.  And because they were such an exceptional couple of places it makes me very angry that Narsai should have allowed the building that housed the restaurant  to remain empty so long and to have become so deteriorated.  Last year the little Kensington newsletter seemed to promise that there would be some development and rehabilitation of that building, but I haven't seen any signs of progress.

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