UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The Tallman Hotel and Blue Wing Saloon Restaurant will close from Jan. 2 through Jan. 25 to completely redo their kitchen facilities and upgrade other aspects of the property.
“We apologize to our loyal customers for the downtime, but the quality of our food and service should be that much better as a result of these upgrades,” said owner Bernie Butcher.
Butcher said a grand reopening of the Blue Wing is planned on Saturday, Jan. 26, culminating with a Concert with Conversation in the Meeting House featuring the reed instrument virtuoso Paul McCandless and the Spanish guitarist Antonio Calogaro.
In addition to new plumbing, flooring and kitchen equipment, the hotel will use the downtime to service its state of the art geo-exchange heating and cooling system and to do a deep cleaning of the entire property.
“The hotel will be fully staffed at all time during the closure to handle questions, future bookings and group reservations,” said hotel manager Susan Mesick.
Mitchell Construction of Lakeport has been chosen as general contractor for the project.
Blue Wing Chef Brian Rebitzke has worked closely with the contractor to come up with the ideal kitchen design and equipment configuration.
“Although most of this won’t be visible to our customers, I think the proof of the pudding will be in better eating,” Rebitzke said.
The Blue Wing Saloon Restaurant in Upper Lake opened for business in 2005 and the adjacent Tallman Hotel a year later.
Through their unique facilities as well as musical and other events, they have become popular locally and helped to attract tourists to Lake County.
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