From being named one of America's 20 best small towns by Smithsonian Magazine to more recent love from Conde Nast Traveler, Mill Valley has been on the receiving end of plenty of compliments over the years. But the latest attention to come our way – the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee's "50 Perfect Hours in Mill Valley" – might just make us blush.

Here's the lowdown: The 50th edition of the Super Bowl, the National Football League's championship game and the biggest sporting event in America, is set for February 7, 2016 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. The Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, which is raising the money to put on the Super Bowl and managing all of its planning and production, is celebrating some of the top destination towns and cities in the Bay Area, hoping to get attendees of the big game to spend extra time here before and after.

The committee tasked San Francisco writer Katie Morell with creating digests for a series called "50 Perfect Hours." To date, she's highlighted places like Palo Alto, Pebble Beach, Napa Valley and Walnut Creek. In her story, which has since been picked up 7x7 Magazine, Morell describes Mill Valley as "an idyllic town of 14,000 residents with tons of green spaces and leafy downtown streets filled with one-of-a-kind shops, art galleries and restaurants perfect for strolling at any time of day.... Mill Valley is a magnet for tourists from around the world, many of whom want to move immediately following a visit."

Morell's "perfect way to spend a 50-hour getaway in Mill Valley" begins at the Mill Valley Inn downtown, waking to its delicious complimentary breakfast before heading to the Depot Bookstore & Café before browsing shops like OSKA and and Summer House.

A bike ride around the lower slopes of Mount Tam follows, before a respite and dinner at El Paseo – A Marin Chophouse and some live music at Sweetwater Music Hall. The following day begins with grabbing a picnic lunch at Mill Valley Market and heading off to Muir Woods National Monument and Mount Tam State Park. Morell recommends moving over to the Mountain Home Inn – "a secluded hideaway perched within Mt. Tam" – for the next night. End your Perfect 50 Hours in Mill Valley by rising early to see the sunrise from the balcony before dashing off.

What do you think of "50 Perfect Hours in Mill Valley"? What would you have added? Tell us in the Comments below!

For more than a year as it underwent repairs for water damage and sat vacant, the space formerly occupied by Champagne French Bakery Cafe was at the center of the Mill Valley rumor mill: What was going to move into the prominent space at 41 Throckmorton Ave., where Champagne had been since 2002 and where the legendary deli/cafe Sonapa Farms had been from 1959 to 1995 (with a Noah's Bagels stint from 1998 to 2000 in between)?

Mill Valley has its answer, as Karen Goldberg, whose TamalPie Pizzeria has become a fixture on Miller Avenue since it opened in May 2011, plans to open Playa, a "modern Mexican serving authentic Oaxacan cuisine," Goldberg says. 

Goldberg says she's excited to bring a new restaurant to downtown, particularly into the former Champagne space. 

"I've always loved that space and I feel like it's been under-utilized," she says. "We need healthful, local, organic Mexican food in town – something that is family-friendly and casual yet sophisticated."

The moniker, the Spanish language word for beach, reflects the fact that "when you walk in, you'll feel relaxed and able to just hang out," Goldberg says, noting that she hopes to make some use of the outdoor space behind the building as well. "Put your feet in the sand, have a beer or a margarita (Playa will have a full bar) and a taco and relax."

Goldberg plans to submit a conditional use permit (CUP) application to the City of Mill Valley for the 2,000-square-foot space later this month and hopes to get a hearing within the next two months. 

Goldberg, whose sister Susan Griffin-Black is the co-founder of EO Products, which has a retail shop in downtown Mill Valley, is no newcomer to the restaurant business. More than two decades ago, she opened Rustico restaurant in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill district. A native of Pittsburgh, Pa. who has lived in Mill Valley for nearly 30 years, Goldberg closed Rustico in 1996 and then bought Annabelle’s, in the space that is now Vasco on Throckmorton Ave. at Bernard Street.

“I only had it open and running for a year and then I got pregnant and I couldn’t stand the smell of food,” Goldberg says with laugh. She sold Annabelle’s to chef Chris Majer, who then opened Vasco predecessor the Frog and the Peach.

In 1998, Goldberg took a break from the restaurant business and started flipping homes – buying houses, remodeling them and selling them. When the bottom dropped out of the real estate market, she eyed a return to the restaurant business.

“The real estate drop forced me to go back to what I really know,” Goldberg said.

Stay tuned for more details on Playa as Goldberg and her team navigate the permit process.

With La Ginestra in the midst of its 50th Anniversary Celebration this week, the Mill Valley City Council honored the restaurant's owners, the Aversa family, with a proclamation at its September 2nd meeting.

“We’re so glad that we can celebrate this with you,” Mayor Stephanie Moulton-Peters told Maria, Fabio, Tino and Ann Aversa Tuesday night before reading the proclamation.

Salvatore and Maria Aversa moved to Mill Valley as a recently married couple after emigrating from Sorrento, Italy. They opened their restaurant in May 1964 and named it La Ginestra after the Scotch broom vegetation that was prevalent in both the wilderness of Mount Tamalpais and in the hills surrounding their hometown.

The couple raised their three children – Lucia, Fabio and Tino – in Mill Valley. Fabio Aversa recounted to the Council a story about the family closing the restaurant briefly in 1965 so they could return to Italy for one month. At the end of the trip, Salvatore Aversa told his wife that he’d go back to Mill Valley to re-open the restaurant, and “that if nobody shows up, I’ll pack everything back up and come back to Italy,” Fabio Aversa said. Instead, he found flowers and welcome back signs and notes outside the restaurant.

“What a testament that is to this community,” Fabio Aversa said. “It’s a great place and we’re so happy to serve all of you and to continue to do so.”

As part of the 50th Anniversary Celebration, La Ginestra has asked its customers to share their memories and tributes to the restaurant on its Facebook page. Here’s a sampling:

Click here to read more tributes and to share your own. 

BooKoo, the popular four-year-old Asian street food restaurant at 25 Miller Ave. downtown, has unveiled its expanded space along with a dazzling new interior design that includes 10 craft beer taps.

BooKoo owner Matt Holmes had been looking to expand the restaurant’s 680-square-foot space almost since its inception. The closure of Henry's Toyshop in the adjacent space in late 2013 provided the perfect opportunity, he says. The expansion more than doubles the restaurant’s square footage to 1,400 and its number of seats to 48.

The expansion also provided BooKoo with an opportunity to change its interior design. Gone are the bright hues that Holmes says were much needed in the previously tiny space. Those pastels and bright colors would’ve made the larger space seem “like the inside of a coloring book,” he says.

“With the expansion of Boo Koo, we had the opportunity to tear away from the pastel hues and multi-colored walls and introduce much broader design elements consistent with our Mill Valley roots and our Asian Street Food style,” says owner, Matt Holmes. 

The new design incorporates the work of San Francisco artist Adam Feibelman, whose “unique ceiling art and bar mural marry the elements of street art, playful themes, and restaurant design” Holmes says.  

Holmes also reached out to San Francisco husband-and-wife team of interior interior designers Parisa O'Connell and Clinton Miller, who sought to transform “the space into a rustic, yet modern attraction, with highly textural elements suggestive of a bustling gritty Bangkok alley.”

To do so, Holmes procured some salvaged barn wood and sheet metal from now-defunct Mill Valley garden retailer Smith & Hawken. The refreshed wood and metal now adorn the new BooKoo’s walls, tabletops, and 26-foot bar/countertop. 

"We wanted to bring a fresh urban appeal to the new space in fun unique way". An oversized custom light fixture was added as well, “fusing together the ever so bright red logo color along with concrete stains and white hex tile to create a beautiful and welcoming Asian-inspired restaurant experience.”

The expansion was critical, Holmes says, to putting all of BooKoo’s operations under one roof. He says “the logistics of running this business were so hard” because of the tight quarters, with him storing paper products in his house and “running out of food almost every day.”

Holmes says that in addition to paving the way for BooKoo’s craft beer program, the larger space allows for an expanded kitchen and thus a soon-to-expand menu that will include organic handmade artisan dumplings and the return of their popular line of Asian chicken wings.

“In the next few months, you’ll see a big step in our culinary innovation,” he says. “We’re really excited about it.”

The Asian street food restaurant first opened in December 2010 in the former Ino Sushi space as Charlie Hong Kong, a second location of Darryl and Carolyn Rudolph’s popular Santa Cruz restaurant of the same name. In August 2011, the restaurant broke away from that partnership and went through a name change and a tweak of its menu. The BooKoo name is a play on the French “beaucoup” (plentiful, bountiful) and has roots in Vietnamese slang. 

As BooKoo is only taking a portion of the former Henry's Toyshop space, Holmes is looking for a subtenant for the rest of it. Interested parties can contact Holmes, a principal at Retail West, by clicking here. 

The sub-leased space was temporarily occupied by Carolina Boutique, the retail shop owned by Carolina Loiacono, which moved into the space for a few months during a renovation of the building that included Carolina and Sofia Jewelry.

The 411: BooKoo is located at 25 Miller Avenue. It is open Mon.-Tue., 11am-8pm and Wed.-Sun., 11am-9pm. Click here for more info.

The rumor mill has been buzzing for months about the possible closure of Toast Mill Valley, the 11-year-old comfort food eatery at 31 Sunnyside Avenue.

Toast owner Feri Bijan confirmed those rumors this week, saying the restaurant will close on September 1 when its lease is up.

“I was just losing too much money on it,” Bijan says of the Mill Valley location, noting that Toast Novato, her 5-year-old location in downtown Novato, is alive and doing very well. “And the rent was too high.”

Feri Bijan took over ownership of Toast in 2012 from her son Shahram Bijan, the tech entrepreneur-turned-restaurateur who in 2004 also opened the First Crush wine bar and restaurant across the street at 24 Sunnyside, the space that’s now home to Prabh Indian Kitchen. Bijam closed First Crush after two years and tried three more concepts in that same space. Shahram Bijan now runs Blink Design, an apparel design firm in Los Angeles.

Foodies conditioned to heading to 31 Sunnyside for breakfast-brunch-lunch won’t have to wait long for Toast’s successor. Steven Choi, the San Francisco restaurateur whose lineup includes Fred’s Coffee Shop in Sausalito, is set to open Kitchen Sunnyside, a breakfast-lunch spot, in late October or early November, after a renovation of the space.

“It will be a similar menu to what is there now, but a little more upscale,” Choi says. “It will be new American cuisine rather than traditional American cuisine. And it will look a lot nicer inside.”

Choi says most of Toast’s 25 employees will be staying on, as long as they can wait out the projected six-week renovation that will begin in September.

Choi, a San Francisco resident originally from South Korea who plans to buy a house in Tiburon, has built himself something of a brunch mini-empire in recent years. In addition to Fred’s Coffee Shop in Sausalito, he owns Taylor Street Coffee Shop, Sweet Maple (opened in October 2010) and American-Thai fusion restaurant Blackwood (June 2012) in San Francisco. He also opened Kitchen Story, which serves up Asian-influenced California cuisine in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood, in November 2012.

In doing so, according to the Wall Street Journal, Choi, originally a bioengineer, invented what he dubbed "millionaire's bacon," the “thick-sliced, slow-cooked, sugar-and-spice-coated delicacy has since attracted the attention of the Food Network and legions of brunch-goers.

Choi says he had been looking for a larger space in Mill Valley for a while but settled on 31 Sunnyside because of its proximity to downtown and the space’s longtime home as a community restaurant. Before Bijan opened Toast there in 2003, the Sunnyside Café existed there for more than a dozen years.

With current stickers set to expire July 31, City is selling new purple RSVP stickers that allow residents to park at a metered space for free for two hours.

For residents wanting to shop downtown without lugging around change for the parking meters, it’s out with the red and in with the purple.

The City of Mill Valley’s Resident Shopper Vehicle Permit (RSVP) program, which allows 94941 residents to park for free at a metered space as a way to promote downtown businesses, is nearing the end of its fourth year, with new purple stickers on sale now to replace the red stickers of the past year.

The current RSVP stickers expire on July 31. The popular program regularly sells around 3,000 stickers per year, according to City officials.

Just like the past two years, the stickers are $40 for the first two vehicles, $60 each for a third or fourth permit for 94941 residents. For residents of zip codes 94965, 94920 and 94925, all permits are $60. The city accepts check or cash at the Public Safety Building (1 Hamilton Drive) during business hours, and permits can be purchased online here.

In an effort spur RSVP sales, the Mill Valley Market offers any of its customers who spends $350 or more at the market in the month of July a $30 discount on the purchase of an RSVP sticker. Participants can bring their market receipts totaling $350 from purchases within July, along with their receipt for their RSVP sticker purchase, to the Mill Valley Market and get a $30 discount on their next purchase.

You can purchase the parking stickers various ways:

• Online
  
• Mail application and check to: MVPD, 1 Hamilton Drive, Mill Valley, CA 94941
  
• Fax application to: 415-389-4148
  
• In person at 1 Hamilton Drive (across from Hauke Park) 8-5 Monday - Thursday and 8-4 Friday
  

All RSVP stickers must be permanently  attached to the left rear driver's side bumper or lower left rear window. Stickers on vehicles not placed in the proper location will be cited and vehicles parked longer than time limit for the parking space will also be ticketed!

For more information, visit the RSVP FAQ page or call 389-4100.

Lovers of gourmet food, fantastic wine and finely crafted beer found paradise on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in downtown Mill Valley on June 22, as the 33rd Annual Mill Valley Market Wine, Beer and Gourmet Food Tasting served up yet another landmark edition of the event’s rich history.

With wine from more than 50 premium wineries, beer from 10 breweries and food from more than 20 gourmet food purveyors – with attendees clamoring for the tasty fare from 10 local restaurants and chefs – the event was a smashing success. Throngs descended on the Depot Plaza on June 22 for one of Mill Valley’s biggest events of the year, with proceeds benefitting Kiddo!, the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation and the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce.

“You simply couldn’t ask for a higher quality event for foodies and wine and beer aficionados than this one,” said Paula Reynolds, board chair of the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce. “And frankly, we’re thrilled at the enthusiasm and the sophistication of our audience. Thanks to everyone who made it happen, particularly our sponsors, and to the hundreds and hundreds who attended despite a weekend packed with great events right in the middle of the World Cup!”

“Our Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting continues to be a top shelf event,” says Doug Canepa, co-owner of the Mill Valley Market that has curated the event since its inception. “It’s unmatched in the quality of its ingredients – beer, wine, food, restaurants, volunteers, sponsors and local organizations – and it all came together again this to make it a wonderful afternoon.”

"We're very grateful to be a part of such a wonderful community event," says Bill Lampl, executive director of Kiddo!, the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation. The samplings of savory and sweet foods, wine, and beer were just amazing as well as having great live music. And what a beautiful day!”

The 33rd Annual Mill Valley Wine, Beer and Gourmet Food Tasting was presented by Bank of the West with co-sponsors Pacific Union Real Estate, PG&E, Bradley Real Estate, Marin Modern Real Estate and Mini of Marin. Supporting sponsors include Urban Sitter for the KidZone, Tam Bikes for complimentary bicycle parking and Mill Valley Refuse.

Lindsay Webb, a brand ambassador for MINI of Marin, says that her team had some trepidation at the beginning of the day about being first-time sponsors of an event with a 33-year history. As they position their MINI in the Depot Plaza prior to the event, they wondered, “Like the new kid on their first day of class, will they all like me?” Webb says.

“But as the day was underway, it became clear that we were going to fit in just fine. Like getting picked for dodge ball, we could exhale. We noticed that many of these smiling faces enjoying their sips and eats were not only becoming our friends, but had always been. It was a wonderful mix. Those we knew, those we didn’t, and those we got acquainted with. It was a pleasure to participate in an event for the first time, and feel as though we had been there all along.”

On Sunday, June 22, 2014, Mill Valley held the 33rd Annual Mill Valley Wine, Beer and Gourmet Food Tasting, with proceeds going to the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce and Kiddo!, the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation. Hundreds turned out on a gorgeous sunny day to taste some of the best wine, beer and food the Bay Area has to offer.

About the Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting:
Hosted by Mill Valley Market since 1981, this special North Bay event brings together all the best aspects of California living into one exciting afternoon set against the backdrop of beautiful Mill Valley. The Mill Valley Wine & Gourmet Food Tasting featured Known for a wide selection of hard to find wines, this event is not to be missed by anyone who is a fan of finely crafted beverages and foods.

About the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce:
Whether it is a large corporation, a retail business, a service provider or an independent professional, the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce is here to advocate for and provide your business with an array of unique marketing opportunities to reach both residents and visitors. We have a strong relationship with the City of Mill Valley, a dedicated Board of Directors, talented staff and growing membership, and we welcome you.

About Kiddo!:
Kiddo!, the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation, is a non-profit 501(c3) organization made up of parents, teachers, business people, and active members of the community who raise funds to supplement limited school budgets. Kiddo! funds vital programs and teachers for K-8 schools – including art, music, drama, poetry, dance, P.E., technology, classroom aides and library aides.

About Mill Valley Market:
Since 1929 Mill Valley Market has been owned and operated by the founding Canepa family. We specialize in artisan foods including restaurant-quality prepared foods, local produce, choice meats, poultry and seafood. We will even enhance your meals with the perfect wine. Quality is our passion.

Equator Coffee & Teas, which has made Mill Valley the centerpiece of its foray into cafes and retail shops, has signed the lease on the company's first San Francisco café. The café is expected to open in the fall at 986 Market Street, between Fifth and Sixth streets, adjacent to Lowes Warfield—an historic space with roots as a vaudeville theater, and later as the iconic venue for acts such as Bob Dylan, The Clash, and Louis Armstrong.

Equator is working with the award-winning firm Boor Bridges Architecture to design a space that is as much rooted in the area's history as it is in the company's modern approach to coffee. The firm will blend a sleek and modern look with the building's rich history, integrating state-of-the-art brewing technology and outdoor seating.

The café will be Equator's third, after Proof Lab Surf Shop and the long-awaited café at 2 Miller Avenue in downtown Mill Valley, which is expected to open in late August.

Equator CEO Helen Russell said the decision to open in San Francisco's burgeoning Mid-Market corridor is inspired by the company's own origins as well as the area's dynamic, blossoming culture. 

"The confluence of art, technology and start-ups in Mid-Market makes it dynamic and attractive to us,” she says. “We want to be in the mix. There is such a vibrant culture in San Francisco and we are circling back to our roots in coffee where we started 20 years ago with a coffee kiosk at 60 Spear Street.”

Equator launched in a garage in Corte Madera in 1995, later moving into a 5,400-square-foot warehouse near Davidson Middle School in San Rafael. The company has been primarily wholesale, with more than 250 customers that include chef Thomas Keller’s French Laundry and Tyler Florence’s El Paseo in Mill Valley. For the fast few years they’ve also been operating in San Francisco International Airport’s Terminal 2 at Napa Farms, which features other sustainable purveyors from Marin and the North Bay.

Russell says that Equator continues to make progress on its café at 2 Miller, which faced a number of permitting delays but is now projected to open in late August. 

Hungry?

If the answer is no, we're about to change that.

On the eve of the 33rd Annual Mill Valley Market Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting, set for June 22 from 1–4pm in the Depot Plaza downtown, with proceeds going to the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce and Kiddo!, the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation, we're about to get your taste buds a teaser of what they can expect from the 11 fantastic local restaurants who'll be showcasing their menus on Sunday.

This landmark event is all about consuming some of the best wine, beer and food you'll find anywhere in the Bay Area or beyond. For the 2014 edition of the event, which has been hosted by Mill Valley Market since 1981, wine from 60 premium wineries, beer from nine craft breweries (including Mill Valley's own Beerworks and Headlands Brewing Co.) and food from more than 20 food purveyors and 11 local restaurants and chefs.

Here are the 11 local restaurants and the fantastic food they'll be showcasing at the 33rd Annual Mill Valley Market Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting:

• Balboa Café – Grilled Corn on the Cob w/ roasted garlic aoli, parmesan cheese and smoked sea salt.
  
• Beerworks – Roasted Indian eggplant w/ smoked tomato relish.
  
• Beth's Community Kitchen – Mini Brioche Sandwiches (egg salad, tuna, BLT), along with pastries, pizzette and ginger snaps.
  
• Bungalow 44 – The restaurant's famous Kobe beef and Lamb meat balls.
  
• La Ginestra – Polpette alla Napoletana (Neapolitan meatballs).
  
• Molina – A selection of Chef Todd Shoberg’s market-based fare, including produce pulled from the ground that morning from local farmers, fish caught with lines in nearby rivers and ocean waters and hand-picked oysters and shellfish, as well as local meats like rabbit, pig, quail and cattle that Shoberg feels are raised in a truthfully humane manner.
  
• O Baby Bar – Vegan brittle with coconut sugar and a tavern nut bar.
  
• Pasta Pomodoro – Insalata de Faro (Ancient Italian grain tossed with roasted vegetables, salsa verde and pecorino cheese), as well as Polenta Farcita (Polenta rolled and stuffed with organic spinach and provolone cheese, topped with brown butter and crispy sage).
  
• Piazza D'Angelo – Capunti do Grano Arso, a burnt wheat pasta from Southern Italy, in a lamb ragu with goat cheese from Achadinha Cheese Company in Petaluma.
  
• Prabh Indian Kitchen – Chicken Tikka Masala and Chicken Naan.
  
• Tony Tutto Pizza – A variety of vegetarian pizzas, including both menu favorites and market-driven specials just for the event.
  

The 33rd Annual Mill Valley Wine, Beer and Gourmet Food Tasting is presented by Bank of the West with co-sponsors Pacific Union Real Estate, PG&E, Bradley Real Estate, Marin Modern Real Estate and Mini of Marin. Supporting sponsors include Urban Sitter for the KidZone, Tam Bikes for complimentary bicycle parking and Mill Valley Refuse. 

Record attendance of more than 1,000 participants is expected this year. Tickets are $50 in advance and $60 on the day of the event. 

Click here for more info and to buy tickets.

The newest wrinkle of the 33rd Annual Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting presents both short- and long-term benefits for parents attending the event, set for June 22 from 1­4pm in the Depot Plaza.

The short-term win from the first-time inclusion of the KidZone is the ability to attend the event with the peace of mind that your children will be in safe, fun, creative and nurturing place just a few dozen yards way from you as you enjoy some of the best food and drink the Bay Area has to offer.

The long-term gain is the possibility of finding your favorite babysitter, as KidZone sponsor Urban Sitter operates an online system by which you can access 250 babysitters in southern Marin, using your own friends (and their friends) for recommendations.

“Urban Sitter is a website that connects babysitters and families and connects them through people you know,” says Colette Perachiotti, Urban Sitter’s community manager for Marin. “Parents can find a sitter and the site will show them who their friends have used. So you’re not just going online and finding a random sitter but finding those who your friends have used.”

The three-year-old site also gives users the ability to focus on specific criteria for sitters, such as CPR training, languages spoken

“And you can pay by credit card and not have to go to the ATM before you come home,” Perachiotti adds.

A number of sitters hired by event organizers through Urban Sitter will be in the KidZone leading crafts like “make your own bandanas.” Marin Theatre Company staff will also be on hand with their “Dramativity” booth, leading a “make your own Play” workshop featuring a “rack of costumes and props and easy things kids can throw on and off to make their own characters,” according to Mariel Rossman, MTC’s education coordinator.

Kids will engage in theater games, with staff using a script and calling on characters and have them act out what’s happening, Rossman says. “It moves quickly and it’s really fun,” she adds.

Click here for more info and to buy tickets for the 2014 Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting.