Trena Madrigal kept coming back to Petit Soleil on Clay Street for the huevos rancheros. When she learned the owner wanted to sell, she told her husband he had better let her buy the place or she would spend money there every day, according to a Napa Valley Register profile of the cafe. She took over in 2022. In February of this year, the Clay Street lease ran out.
That expired lease set off one of several linked moves. Over the past year, a handful of Napa's longtime local restaurants left their old addresses. Most didn't disappear. They moved into rooms other businesses had just left, so the city now has much the same set of regulars spread over a different map.
One Lease, Three Moves
The chain starts on Imola Avenue. The Huckleberry's at 1000 Imola Ave. closed in September 2025, and the building sat empty. It had been a Denny's before that.
Madrigal looked all over Napa after her lease ended and chose that Imola building. Her move left 1408 Clay St. open downtown.
Across town, Nicolas Valencia had run Valencia Market at 1725 W. Imola Ave. for almost 10 years. It was a neighborhood market known for its taqueria, its fresh meat counter and pantry staples. After that lease ended, he rented a food truck and parked it on Central Avenue near Napa High School. Then the owner of the Clay Street building offered to lease him the old Petit Soleil space.
| Business | Where it was | Where it is now |
|---|---|---|
| Petit Soleil | 1408 Clay St., downtown | 1000 Imola Ave., former Huckleberry's |
| Valencia Market, now Valencia Cafe | 1725 W. Imola Ave. | 1408 Clay St., former Petit Soleil |
| Don Perico | 1106 First St. | 1300 First St., Suite 201, former Buckhorn Grill |
So one downtown breakfast spot moved out toward Imola, and a business from the Imola corridor moved downtown into the room it left. Valencia Cafe was open on Clay Street by July 24, 2026, and Petit Soleil was serving on Imola by Sept. 9.
What Each Move Changed at the Table
A new address changed what each business could offer. Each one gained something and gave something up.
Petit Soleil got more room. The Imola building lets the cafe take reservations and book large parties, which it couldn't do on Clay Street. It now has about 21 full- and part-time workers. Madrigal has no immediate menu changes planned and is considering adding off-site and event catering, the Register reported. She told the paper the main complaints have come from customers who miss the outdoor seating and being able to bring their dogs. She also said she believes about 90% of her earlier customers followed her.
The new site came with a neighbor. Petit Soleil sits next to the Best Western Plus Inn at the Vines, and the two offer a breakfast package hotel guests can add to their stay. The Register also covered parking, which came up when the move was announced. There is parking behind the restaurant, and diners can also use the hotel lot. Hours are 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends.
Valencia went from grocery to sit-down restaurant. Valencia Cafe is a full-service restaurant now, with more seating, an outdoor patio and plans for beer, wine and happy hour. The dishes people knew from the market's taqueria made the move: grilled tacos a la plancha, quesabirria tacos, burritos, breakfast plates, shrimp and fish. Most entrees cost $15 to $20, and nothing is over $25. Valencia told the Register the front patio is one of the best things about the new place.
The breakfast regulars moved on to Imola, and a taco and mole crowd took their place at the outdoor tables. Valencia also makes his salsas in-house and rotates specials like mole dishes and fish soup.
Downtown's Shuffle Has a Crane Behind It
Expiring leases explain the Clay Street and Imola moves. Downtown on First Street, the cause is a construction project.
Don Perico opened at 1025 First St. in 1994. After the 2014 South Napa earthquake it moved to 1106 First St. In August 2025 it closed that location because of the hotel and residential development coming to First Street Napa, as the Register reported. After nine months closed, it reopened on June 6 at 1300 First St., Suite 201, inside the First Street Napa retail center. Locals may know that space as the former Buckhorn Grill.
The new room is bigger: about 80 seats in the main dining room, a second dining area for 20 and a 12-seat bar. It has green tile, wood fixtures and design details honoring the Castañeda family's home state of Zacatecas, Mexico. The release from owners Marco and Berenice Castañeda also promised three large parrot figurines, a nod to the restaurant's name.
The Register's food columnist Tracy J. Mayne reviewed the reopened restaurant in The Mayne Menu. He described a bright, airy room with floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open onto indoor-outdoor seating in summer. On price, margaritas run from $11 for the house brand, or $8 at happy hour, up to $19 for the Cadillac, and entrees go from $18 to $30. The restaurant's site lists daily hours starting at 11 a.m. It closes at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
The project that forced the move will be Napa's tallest commercial building. First Street Napa Phase II, from developer 300 Venture Group, sits at First and Main streets. It's two seven-story buildings: a 161-room hotel with a restaurant, spa, pool and ballroom space, and a 78-unit residential building with ground-floor retail. The plans also include rebuilding the Brown Street corridor, new landscaping and public art. The buildings topped out in May. In July, Kameron Klotz of 300 Venture Group told the Register that construction was about 40% done, with opening expected as early as summer 2027. According to state environmental filings, the 2.82-acre site includes the old 1106 First St. address and Dwight Murray Plaza.
Don Perico's new building has a change of its own coming. Riza Plants, at 1300 First St., Suite 355, is closing its retail shop on Nov. 13 to focus on its plant services, according to the Register. The business becomes Riza Indoor Plant Maintenance and Design Studio. A new studio is planned for November.
The Rooms Still Waiting for a Next Tenant
Each move in the chain left an empty room behind, and some of those rooms haven't been filled.
- 1725 W. Imola Ave., Valencia Market's old address, has no new business announced.
- 1335 W. Imola Ave., in the River Park shopping center, has been dark since Clemente's Authentic Italian closed as of Sept. 28, 2026, according to a Register editor's note. The restaurant had opened there in spring 2024 in a former Dickey's Barbecue Pit, serving recipes rooted in the old Depot Restaurant.
- 1340 Trancas St., near Lucky, is where Round Table Pizza is getting ready to reopen. The Register found the site under construction and reported no opening date.
Two businesses are growing in place. Roman Holiday Gelato has opened a counter at Oxbow Public Market, 610 First St., as the Register reported, and Oxbow lists its hours as 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Hestan Napa has announced it will expand its downtown restaurant and go from Thursday through Monday service to seven days a week. No start date has been given.
First Street Napa's planned retail space of up to 30,000 square feet, plus the empty rooms along Imola, means the reshuffle probably isn't over.
November on the New Map
Several upcoming downtown events fall close to the new addresses. Hometown Halloween trick-or-treating runs downtown Saturday, Oct. 31, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and First Street Napa has children's activities from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Napa DÃa de los Muertos is Nov. 7 from 3 to 8 p.m. at Veterans Park on Brown Street, the same street whose corridor Phase II is rebuilding. On Nov. 19, from 5 to 7 p.m., Shop, Sip & Stroll fills SoFi Second Street. Participants pick up a wristband and glass near Jeffries General, then visit businesses around Second, Third, Coombs and Franklin streets. The Merry Meritage ice rink opens the same day, and the free Merry Meritage Tree Lighting, with RSVP, follows on Nov. 21 from 4 to 8 p.m.
Valencia Cafe's Clay Street patio is open daily until 9 p.m., so a taco plate fits before or after any of those evenings. If you're heading to Imola, Petit Soleil serves breakfast in the old Huckleberry's building until 2 p.m. on weekdays.
Our team at The Company Real Estate tracks which Napa corners are changing, from new storefronts to the First Street Napa build, because those changes shape daily life on a block long before a listing does. If you want to talk through what's happening near your street, Contact Us.
