Hospitality Design - March 2011 - 128
sweetÊs implicity A big city feel on a suburban corner By Michael Webb Photography by Sharon Risedorph The owners of Vesu restaurant in Walnut Creek, California, may have been new to the business, but they knew what they wanted. “We were inspired by restaurants in New York and San Francisco to achieve a metropolitan aesthetic and ambience,” says co-owner Melisa Suitos. They were recommended to Arcsine Architecture by the owner of Restaurant 1515, one of a dozen the firm has designed in its seven years of practice in Oakland. Housed in a former piano store on a busy corner of Walnut Creek, an affluent East Bay suburb, the designers outfitted the lofty 2,600-squarefoot space with a bar that flows seamlessly into a fireside lounge and interconnected dining areas seating 80; the kitchen and service areas occupy a low-ceilinged extension to the rear. “Initially we worked on the interior and then did a single sketch of a rounded corner with floor-toceiling glass,” says Arcsine co-principal Daniel Scovill. “The goal was to open up to the street, draw people in from a lively pedestrian zone, and create welcoming spaces for young and old.” 128 hospitalitydesign www.hospitalitydesign.com