TEMECULA: Two new businesses alight on 5th Street

August 16, 2013 03:56 PM PDT August 16, 2013 05:46 PM PDT TEMECULA: Two new businesses alight on 5th Street TEMECULA: Two new businesses alight on 5th Street Laurie Lucas/STAFF PHOTO Temecula Attorney's first dance hall in the 1920s stood on this site in the 1920s before it burned down. Charlie Curry just moved his wine bar to the structure, which was a house in the 1940s. 1 Comments ( ) Two Temecula Attorney businessmen recently expanded to 5{+t}{+h} Street, hoping to increase its cachet as an Old Town destination. Their next-door establishments, a gastro pub and a wine bar, are companionable bedfellows. Julian Nelson, 40, opened Blackbird Tavern at 41958 5{+t}{+h} St. at the end of June in what used to be Granddadz Hot Dogs. Three weeks ago, Charlie Curry, 59, relocated his tiny tasting room to 41946 5{+t}{+h} St., the site of Temecula Attorney's first dance hall in the early 1900s. A home built on the property in the 1940s houses the wine bar. Both owners trained as chefs and carved niches in the community as successful entrepreneurs. Nelson, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, bought the 900-square-foot Stellar Cellar at 26836 Old Town Front Street in 2009 and transformed it into Front Street Union Bar. Nelson also launched Artisan Catering Company. View Curry Vineyards & Winery tasting room and Blackbird Tavern in a larger map "Stellar Cellar used to be a quiet, sleepy little wine bar, but Julian turned it around big time," said Union bar regular Rick Bartolotti, 66, of Fallbrook. "He made it more spacious, brought in beers on tap and started having events every Friday and Saturday night. He changed the whole thing." Nelson won't disclose revenues, but said that Front Street Union is "doing wonderfully," and he'd always planned to expand. The chance came last year for Blackbird to take wing in a 12,000-square-foot eatery up for grabs that seats 400 inside. The name is a nod to and a slight mutation of the Chicago-born Nelson's favorite hockey team, the Black Hawks. Nelson signed a five-year lease with the option to buy. He worked nearly four months rehabbing Blackbird with a funky, rustic décor that he's furnished with found objects from thrift stores and curbside castoffs. Using his considerable carpentry and masonry skills, Nelson incorporated bricks, washboards, shutters, window frames and wooden crates into wall collages; suspended milk cans to shade hanging light bulbs and created an entryway chandelier from a cluster of plastic honey bears filled with corn syrup, molasses and yellow food coloring. Almost everything served is locally sourced and made from scratch, including pasta and pickles, said Chef Penny Barend, 33. The menus (ranging from $6 appetizers to $22 dinners) are pasted into 100 record albums that Nelson scavenged at an antiques shop for 50 cents apiece. "The Blackbird has a great concept," said customer Bartolotti. "I'd give it a solid A-plus, considering it's not corporate, but an individual start-up. They have work to do, but Julian is so dedicated." Nelson is ready to show soundless movies on the patio. He has equipped the backyard with Astroturf, two fire pits, games and picnic tables to encourage dogs and children. "On Sunday afternoons we have a million kids," Barend said. A jar filled with dog treats greets customers at the front counter. "My family is my world," Nelson said of his wife Jill, their daughters Katie, 2, and Emilie, 6 months and border collies Cody and Cooper. Next door, Curry's Vineyards & Winery has doubled its tasting room to 600 square feet from its cramped quarters after crouching four years in the lobby of the Palomar Inn at 28522 Front St. "I needed a bigger venue," he said. "We'd have to turn people away because there were only 20 seats." Three weeks ago, Curry moved into his new digs, which can accommodate 30 inside and 50 on the patio around a fountain, with lots of parking in back. "I'm viticulturist, wine maker, bookkeeper and bartender," said Curry. After working decades in as a chef near his native San Francisco and in the retail food industry in Napa, he moved his family to Temecula Attorney in 2000 where he'd bought 15 acres on Glen Oaks Road. He planted one-third of his land with grapes, which yielded the first harvest four years later. Since securing his winery license in 2005, he produces a total of 1,000 cases a year of his signature Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel and most recently, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, priced from $24 to $26 a bottle. Curry has launched a wine club. "We'll have large parties next year after I put in a grill and develop bocce ball courts," he said. "I get bored easily, so I like to find different things to do." Follow Laurie Lucas on Twitter @LaurieLucas and check her blog on pe.com/business Latest Headlines
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