Charleen Badman and Pavle Milic to Open FnB on Craftsman Court on Tuesday

By Nikki Buchanan Mon., Jan. 7 2013 at 10:18 AM

Categories: Buchanan, News

Continued from page 1

Buchanan

Hand-cast concrete blocks made by Yolanda Esquer

On the wall near the kitchen (pictured above) can be found a display of hand-cast concrete blocks -- created by local artist Yolanda Esquer. It reads like a menu of Badman's exotica -- vadouvan (the French interpretation of Indian masala), dukka (an Egyptian spice blend used as a table condiment) and socca (an unleavened chickpea pancake and specialty of Nice). Very cool.

Courtesy of Pavle Milic

The new FnB takes shape.

Meanwhile, the rest of the long narrow space will be dining room, as will be the larger middle space, which was originally Baratin. Milic says he doesn't want to jam people together, so the new operation will seat around 56 people, compared to the original space's 48. Not much different -- although the high ceilinged rooms will surely feel different from the tiny, low ceilinged original space.

The small bar near the back of the main dining room will feature four AZ wines on tap, which eliminates waste and guarantees that every wine by the glass will be fresh.

There will be a big, substantial table near the window, and another in the breezeway leading to Bodega/AZ Wine Merchants, which Milic says might be used as a community lunch table. In addition, the smaller dining room may be rented out for private parties.
However, we can definitely expect a resumption of Badman's popular late-night meals on Saturdays, 10 p.m. to midnight, very soon. As for the Bodega -- that will be run by Marianne Belardi, former PR/marketing person and Gal Friday for Peter Kasperski.

Not everything is etched in stone just yet. The two partners are waiting to see how the space evolves. But one thing seems pretty clear: FnB will still be FnB.

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