Monday, July 12, 2010

Oakland News: ZZA's Enoteca closed; Grand Avenue Monday ghost town

ZZA's Enoteca in Oakland 
This installment of Oakland News, or news about what's going on in Oakland, California from very reliable sources, is a sad one.

ZZA's Enoteca at 550 Grand Avenue in Oakland's Adams Point District and next to Lake Merritt, the popular food and wine bar next to ZZA's Restaurant on Grand Avenue, was closed down by the Oakland, California representative of the State of California Alcohol and Beverage Control (ABC).

The reason that this blogger was given was that it "had something to do with a change or 'unraveling' of ownership" according to a very good, but unnamed source. ZZA's Enoteca has been closed since last Friday.

ZZA's Enoteca was a welcome addition to not just the ZZA's space, but the growing Grand Avenue restaurant scene. It offered something rare: an ability to work online on your computer over a glass of wine. The free WiFi aspect of ZZA's Enoteca made it a must-be-at for this blogger, but the wine offerings at reasonable prices were a plus.

Moreover, the owners and managers of ZZA's Enoteca took great pains to make sure patrons followed the rules regarding wine outdoors, and it has a nice, enclosed area just beyond the door for eating and drinking while enjoying the nice weather of late.

But now that ZZA's Enoteca is closed, and Sidebar is closed on Mondays, that stretch of Grand Avenue from just past Gold's Gym to Euclid Avenue looks like part of a dark ghost town. Let's hope ZZA's Enoteca gets its license back and soon.

What's bothersome is the ABC doesn't care that people need work and were providing a welcome establishment. I know there had to be an alternative; the ABC just didn't want to do it.

Stay tuned.

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