After nearly a three-year absence from the streets of Oakdale, Most Wanted Wine Company has opened Most Wanted Wine Bar and Wood Fired Oven offering pizzas, skillet dishes, and other cuisine along with, of course, wine.
The new location at 732 N. Yosemite Ave. has its wine bar in a renovated 19th century cottage that was once the home of a railroad conductor from the 1880s when the Oakdale station was operational.
On Friday, May 1, Most Wanted had its grand opening with its owners Mark Garcia manning the oven and wife Angela assisting in the kitchen.
“This is really exciting,” said Angela. “Wine is such a culture that brings people together.”
With Frank Sinatra tunes in the background, the warm, glowing flame and scent of a wood fire elevated the ambiance of those gathered sipping wine, some munching pizzas, all sitting in the back patio area that surrounded the brick oven. The words “Swirl,” “Sip,” and “Savor” decorated the back fence.
Italian brick ovens — used especially to re-create pizza like that made in Naples — have been crossing the Atlantic with a growing momentum recently, as more U.S. restaurants and wineries tap into offering a traditional pizza style. Although it might be more convenient to pick up pizza to take home, brick oven pizzas are best eaten right out of the oven.
Inside in the air-conditioned wine bar, Brittany Pong of Modesto and Sonya Rodriguez of Oakdale were sipping and enjoying.
“It’s going to be great to have a nice place like this to hang out and relax,” Pong said.
The Garcias said the project to refurbish the structure and make all the necessary upgrades to the property took about three years, off-and-on, after they made the decision to leave their tasting room which had been at 154 S Yosemite Ave.
The new establishment offers over 20 different wines by the glass or bottle along with craft beers from the area.
Aside from three different pizzas, the menu offers a sizable salad, and two “skillets,” one with lamb chops and another red potato dish.
Most Wanted’s 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon won a gold medal in the 2010 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition where it competed against better known wineries from nearly 5000 entries. At the 2011 competition, the 2008 Cabernet won a silver medal, up against stiff competition from many upper-scale Napa and Sonoma wines.
