For West Marin foodies, especially those from Inverness, the closing of Saltwater Oyster Depot last summer was a painful loss. Months ago, the restaurant’s logo was replaced with a “restaurant available” sign, a sad substitute for what came before.
Given the labor shortages along the coast, where housing costs are out of reach for all but a privileged or lucky few, many wondered if a new eatery would ever open. But a fresh sign will soon appear.
Roseanne Lavoy, owner of the Coast Café in Bolinas, has leased the space and will be opening a new restaurant there this summer: First Valley Bistro. It’s a joint venture with two of her Coast Café colleagues—Patrick Sullivan, the restaurant manager, and Enrique Hernandez, the head chef.
“If you take the Coast Café menu and the Saltwater menu and kind of mix it in the middle, that’s what it’s going to be,” Ms. Lavoy said, describing her vision as a “California fusion, farm-and-water-to-table hybrid.”
The emphasis, of course, will be on local purveyors, including the Bolinas farmers and fishermen who now supply the Coast Café, but adding new ones from the farms and ranches closer to Tomales Bay.
First Valley Bistro is the second West Marin restaurant to announce this month that it will breathe new life into a previously shuttered dining spot. Earlier this month, Shannon Gregory, owner of the Marshall Store and two Tomales eateries, shared his plans for Bar Auklet, a seafood-forward establishment opening in June at the former site of the Station House Café, which relocated across main street.
A third restaurant is expected to open shortly at the Tomales Bay Resort.
Ms. Lavoy hopes to make the bistro a community hub for Inverness and a destination for the many weekenders and day trippers who pass through enroute to the Point Reyes National Seashore and Tomales Bay State Park. For Ms. Lavoy, who named the place to emphasize its close connection to Inverness, cultivating community ties will be a priority.
“If you alienate your locals here in West Marin, whatever your business is, it’s going to be short-lived,” she said. “You may make some money during the peak times with the non-locals, but that’s not going to carry you through the harshest winters. You need to know the area, know the people, know the purveyors, know the food products and know the culture.”
First Valley Bistro will also offer soft serve, grab-and-go picnic boxes for people heading to the beach, and coffee and pastries at breakfast. There will be brunch on weekends, and pizzas to go. The team is planning a soft opening in June and an official opening on July 6. When the place is fully up and running, the restaurant will offer a locals’ night on Mondays and be open five or six days a week.
Though many West Marin businesses struggle with staffing, Ms. Lavoy believes her experienced team from Bolinas will give First Valley Bistro an advantage. Some will work in both places and help manage, recruit and train new staff. They have already hired some members of the former Saltwater team and hope to bring on more.
Mr. Hernandez, a longtime Point Reyes Station resident whose Mexican-infused dishes are a Coast Café signature, will be head chef. For him, the opening will be a homecoming of sorts. He was the head chef at Priscilla’s, the pizzeria that occupied the space before Saltwater opened 13 years ago.
“I’m really glad to have the opportunity to serve customers in Inverness once again,” he said. “Dreams do come true.”
Mr. Hernandez plans to expand on Saltwater’s shellfish offerings with some innovations of his own, including a chorizo grilled oyster, his twist on oysters Rockefeller, and an ice-cold oyster topped with a seasonal granita made with flavors like tamarind, blood orange or cucumber and lime.
Among the Coast Café favorites he will bring with him are dry-aged steak frites and aguachile—a ceviche-style dish that features shrimp, scallops or finfish served with a chili-lime marinade and garnished with avocado or cucumber.
Mr. Sullivan plans to include a range of price points on the menu, with some modestly priced items along with the more expensive entrees.
“I hope this feels like the kind of place where you can say, ‘Hey, let’s go out to dinner,’ without feeling like you have to check your bank account or think about how many times you’ve been out to dinner that week already,” he said. “I’m really keen to keep the prices generally lower than Saltwater’s entry point.”
The menu will also be adapted to the seasons. “One thing I’m hoping to do, and that Enrique is excited about, is rotating the menu regularly,” Mr. Sullivan said. “We’ll have some core items that are on there for a longer period of time but mix those with new items with a different flavor profile.”
Marshall Livingston co-owns the restaurant building, which also houses the village’s post office and anchors the tiny downtown. He has been seeking a replacement for Saltwater, whose reputation extended beyond West Marin’s borders, for nearly a year. He negotiated with several potential candidates but believes he has settled on just the right one.
“They’re the best we could have asked for because of their experience and their local connections,” he said. “We had a lot of continued interest, so I knew I could be patient and someone good would come along. And they did.”
In Bolinas, Ms. Lavoy owns her space, which she opened 27 years ago. She’s never had a landlord and she, too, wanted to make sure she found the right fit before signing a lease. The team had been looking for a location to expand for over a year before settling on Inverness.
Mr. Livingston’s deep local ties sold her.
“I was interviewing him as much as he was interviewing me,” she said.
Ms. Lavoy said the location didn’t hurt. “This is such a beautiful spot,” she said. “It’s an absolute gem, in terms of its proximity to the bay, its proximity to amazing ingredients and a dedicated local population. And then there’s all the traffic going by in the summertime.”