As per the Marin Independent Journal, El Paseo, Mill Valley's Japanese-owned French restaurant with a Spanish name, will soon be getting a new identity now that it’s been sold to the unlikely bedfellows of TV personality Tyler Florence and Sammy Hagar (yes, he of Van Halen and Cabo Wabo fame, who is also a Mill Valley local). The duo plan to reopen the space under the same name in mid-December as an American tavern with a made-in-Marin menu – think in-house charcuterie, breads, oysters and seasonal dishes, with nothing over $30. It’ll also serve beer, wine and hard cider, but lacking a full liquor license, Hagar’s blue agave tequila will, alas, not be available. Plans are in the works for outside seating, as well as lunch and weekend brunch. This is the first of three forthcoming restaurants from Florence, who hopes to open tWayfarer Tavern (replacing SF’s Rubicon) sometime in February 2010 and an unnamed rotisserie restaurant/kitchen store in Napa's Riverfront later that year (17 Throckmorton Ave.).
As for the previous El Paseo owners – Seigo Tekei and his wife, chef Keiko Takashi – this won’t be the last Bay Area foodies will see of them. The couple is in talks to take over a restaurant venue in San Francisco’s Nob Hill.