Home Care In Ripon, CA

Some old-time Hollywood glamour is coming to Ripon.

The family behind the popular Gold Dust Pizza parlors dotted across the valley and foothills are opening a new restaurant in their hometown. Ripon native Moe Willey is readying Falcon’s Lair, a new small plates and craft cocktails lounge in the former site of the Canal Street Grille.

The new restaurant is named after silent screen-era star Rudolph Valentino’s famed Hollywood Hills estate, where he would throw lavish parties. Willey said she wanted to bring some of that glitzy allure to the valley and give local diners a unique night out.

“(Valentino) hosted a lot of parties at his beautiful mansion. So the idea was when you eat at (Falcon’s Lair) it feels like it would have at a Hollywood party,” she said.

So instead of large entrees and traditional dishes, the new eatery will offer small bites, appetizers and top-shelf cocktails. The menu also will include specialty pizzas (but made in different styles from their existing Gold Dust pies) as well as a burger.

But otherwise expect offerings like oysters on the half shell, lamb lollipops, charcuterie boards and brunch items. Willey said they want to provide high-end offerings while keeping prices more reasonable (starting around $14 for cocktails and plates). Falcon’s Lair will be open for dinner weekdays and for lunch/brunch and dinner Friday through Sunday.

The new establishment is a departure for Willey, whose family has created a mini pizza empire in the region over the years. Willey’s husband, Bob, started Pizza Plus in 1984. Then in 2015, the couple opened their first Gold Dust Pizza location in Oakdale and changed their existing Pizza Plus in Sutter Creek to a Gold Dust at the same time.

They have since sold all their Pizza Plus locations, but now operate four Gold Dust Pizzas: the first Oakdale and Sutter Creek locations plus sites in Copperopolis and Ripon. They opened the Ice Cream Emporium, two doors down from their downtown Ripon pizza shop on Main Street, in 2020.

Willey said her family’s love for Ripon — where their three children Katie, 22, Jeremiah, 21, and Hannah, 19, all went to school, live and help with the business — inspired them to purchase the building to open the restaurant.

“We wanted to bring to Ripon what we’ve seen in other places we really enjoyed visiting like Los Angeles and San Francisco and Las Vegas,” Moe Willey said. “Nowadays they go with a lot of appetizers and craft cocktails. Something that is more about the experience and environment.”

The building’s previous tenant, the steak and chops restaurant Canal Street Grille, had been in the location since 2007. But after the Willey’s closed the deal on the building last September, the Grille closed in early November.

Its Facebook page posted a note to customers announcing the closure and thanking them for their patronage.

“All of us at The Grille are thankful and grateful for the opportunity to serve you, our wonderful customers, for the past 15 years! We are saddened to announce that due to our building being sold, we have no choice but to close our restaurant. We appreciate your loyalty and support over the years!”

It is unknown if the owners plan to reopen elsewhere.

The 6,000-square-foot building has been remodeled and redecorated completely. The Willeys have installed a new bar and turned the old banquet room into a lounge area. The new restaurant can seat about 200, with an outdoor patio bistro area as well.

Following its Hollywood inspiration, Willey said she wanted to emulate a 1920s speakeasy atmosphere, but with upscale bites and decor filled with antique and contemporary touches. There also will be plenty of gold, Willey’s favorite color (which is reflected in the pizza chain’s name based on the Fleetwood Mac classic “Gold Dust Woman” — that also doubles as a Gold Rush-era homage for its foothill locations).

Another area the Willeys want to splash out is on hiring, with a planned staff of 60 to 70. Moe Willey said they are striving to provide “superb customer service,” and allow employees to give customers better attention and care.

By comparison, between their four Gold Dust and one Ice Cream shops the family employs about 150 workers.

“I used to be a waitress when I was young and I know how exhausting it is when you’re working the whole place,” she said. “So I don’t want to overload the servers. I want people to have a great experience.”

The restaurant is still hiring for some front and back of the house positions. Willey said they are aiming for a late March opening.

For more information visit relicincorporated.com.

This story was originally published March 6, 2023, 7:00 AM.

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Ripon Christian volleyball coach Kayla Kootstra uses one word to describe her team during its CIF Northern California Division IV Regional playoff run: Together.

When they were seeded ninth by the seeding committee, the Knights knew there was a good chance they would spend their entire NorCal playoff run on the road.

They spent the first two rounds traveling to San Francisco twice in three days and Cottonwood on Saturday, beating eight-seed Lowell, top-seed Urban and fourth-seed West Valley on their way to the NorCal regional championship against No. 11 Head-Royce of Oakland.

“Seedings are what they are,” Kootstra said. “Would we have loved to have a home game before the NorCal finals? Absolutely. But also I think that was the route that we had to take to get here tonight.”

The Knights opened up a quick two set lead at home on the Jayhawks on Tuesday night, but the visitors took the third. After regrouping in the fourth, Ripon Christian took home its second ever NorCal title, 25-15, 25-19, 15-25, 25-21.

The win brings a matchup with a familiar opponent in the state final Saturday at Santiago Canyon College in Orange. Ripon faced Central Valley Christian of Visalia in its season opener. Ripon Christian won, 3-0.

Kootstra has been part of both Northern California championship teams. The Knights won the 1999 Northern California and State championships. She played on the team with her now assistant coach Melissa Blanco.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Kootstra said. “Because it’s been so long since we’ve done it, it makes it that much more exciting for these girls. It’s a special group and to be able to be a part of both of the NorCal championships that we’ve had in different capacities kind of makes it come full circle.”

The Knights dominated the first two sets, but the Jayhawks fought back in the third. They changed up their attacking strategy and Ripon Christian couldn’t find an answer.

“They made a great adjustment and started tipping and roll-shotting, and we weren’t picking it up,” Kootstra said. “From there it was just one thing after another seemed to go against us. Honestly, we haven’t fallen apart like that in a while, so props to them for taking us out of our game and out of our system.”

In the fourth set, things turned around.

Jordan Vander Veen came alive, leading the team on a late run that included eight unanswered points. She had 10 kills in the final set including a kill on match point.

“Our coach told us if we really want to win this game, we need to figure it out with each other and come together,” said Vander Veen who finished with a team high 23 kills and six aces. “She really pushed us.”

Being seeded ninth, behind teams they’ve beaten this season made the Knights hungrier to prove they were better than others thought.

“I would definitely say we felt like underdogs,” Vander Veen said.”I think we came out ready to prove ourselves and we really wanted to beat anyone we faced just to prove that we were the better team.”

Ripon Christian saw it all in its run to the state championship. From sweeping the first overall seed to coming back from down 0-2 in the regional semifinals and on Tuesday, winning a Northern California Regional Championship in front of its home fans in a battle of the “Cinderella” teams.

Kootstra called the past week and a half a “whirlwind of emotions.”

“Every time we stepped into the gym for practice, I was telling the girls like you gotta take it in because this could be our last time on this court,” Kootstra said. “(We’ve been) looking each other in the face knowing that we’re a very good volleyball team, but we had to do it all together and for one another and not for ourselves. They’ve done an amazing job of coming together and overcoming a lot in order to get to this point.”

Kootstra has raved all season about how well rounded this year’s team is and that showed Tuesday night. Setter Megan Weststeyn finished with 36 assists and 10 digs, Avery McMurray led the team with 13 digs and Sydney Hoffman added seven kills.

They hope to take that into Saturday’s championship as they look to bring the school’s second ever state title.

“It’s really exciting because we haven’t done this since our coach was a player,” Vander Veen siad. “So it’s cool to have that for her and honestly, I’m just really excited. I knew we could do it and it’s pretty cool that we actually did it.”

This story was originally published November 16, 2022, 11:16 AM.

Three well-known Valley restaurants have closed recently as the post-pandemic fallout in the area’s dining scene continues.

Downtown Modesto restaurants Ralston’s Goat and Chefs of New York have shuttered, as has high-end Italian eatery Fina by John Surla in Ripon.

Both Ralston’s Goat and Fina have been purchased by new owners, who plan to change the names and restaurant concepts before reopening. Chefs of New York, which moved moved to its larger downtown location two years ago, has gone dark with no update on possible reopening or sale from longtime owner Vinny Altadonna.

Ralston’s Goat, which opened in December 2015, closed in early July after a blowout going-away party for its longtime operator, Mike Shelton. The restaurant and bar was known for its vibrant nightlife and music scene and drew a large audience for its outside patio shows featuring local musicians during the pandemic.

Shelton, who started with the restaurant as general manager, sold to a familiar downtown Modesto face. Former club owner Les Knoll will be returning to 10th street as the new owner of the property. Knoll owned the Copper Rhino on the same street, one block over, from 2004 to 2012. The bar transformed during its run from a place to have a drink and shoot pool to one of the most popular downtown nightspots.

Then in 2017, Knoll returned to city’s bar scene and opened CR2, an ode to the Copper Rhino, at the corner of Oakdale Road and Sylvan Avenue in northeast Modesto. The bar continues today.

Knoll said his plan is to transform the former Ralston’s Goat into a venue more like Copper Rhino’s early days. He called his concept “a bar with food,” and plans to continue to host live music. The space, which is split in the middle by an awkward entrance hallway, also will be changed. The current dining area will be transformed into a game room with pool tables, shuffleboard and pinball machines. The back space will continue to be the bar.

Pending permits, Knoll said his hope is to reopen “in the next few weeks.” He purchased the restaurant, he said, so it wouldn’t become “just another nightclub.” The menu will be similar, with more bar-friendly options, and lunch and dinner will be served daily.

“(Me and my business partner) like the space, we’ve been wanting to get back into doing live music and entertainment,” Knoll said. “We’re going to see if we can keep the overall feel but make it profitable. I’m excited to be back downtown.”

In Ripon, chef and owner Surla has said goodbye to his from-the-ground-up restaurant, Fina. Opened in late summer 2019 about six months before COVID-19 closed restaurants around the world, the striking Italian eatery offered Surla’s upscale menu in a sophisticated setting. The restaurant has a wall-size picture window into its kitchen, giving diners a front-row seat to their meal creation.

The spot has been sold to a new owner, who Surla said wanted to remain anonymous. The eatery’s name will change, as will its menu. Surla said the new owner plans to use the kitchen’s large wood-burning pizza oven in the new venture. Expect it to reopen with its new name and concept in around a month, if all goes smoothly.

Surla, who named Fina after his wife, Josephine, said dining in the region has not returned to what it was before the pandemic, forcing him to make the difficult decision.

“The (post-pandemic) struggle? We felt that,” Surla said. “I’ll miss it truly, deeply, immensely. It’s a bittersweet ending. I’m happy I built it, but sad I have to say goodbye. But you can always meet me at Surla’s.”

The well-known Valley chef is keeping his namesake Modesto restaurant, Surla’s on 12th Street on the edge of downtown. Opened in 2009, the eatery slowly has increased its hours and offerings after long pandemic closures. It is now open Tuesday to Friday for lunch and Wednesday to Saturday for dinner. The spot’s famous Sunday brunch is back once a month.

Some of the Fina favorites, including lobster ravioli, will make their way onto the Surla’s menu.

“It’s a slow return back to the normal numbers, and hopefully consolidating (the businesses) will mean more customers will come out. But I can’t predict the future,” he said. “So support your local small businesses and stop going through the drive-thrus.”

And finally, Chefs of New York appears to be no more. The Italian restaurant known for its generous dishes and gregarious owner has been dark, quite literally, since June. When reached by The Bee, the normally talkative Altadonna gave a “no comment” on the future of the well-loved restaurant.

Since moving to its larger 13th Street space two years ago, Chefs has had a sometimes erratic open schedule with some closures and fitful reopenings. But its latest closure may well be its last, as the restaurant’s front windows have been plastered with “Notice to Pay Rent or Quit” flyers dating June 1 to 30.

A no doubt forlorn former patron has scribbled “Please do not quit!!!” on the door’s paper “Closed” sign next to all of the notices.

Chefs of New York, Ralston’s Goat and Fina join a handful of other Modesto-area eateries to close or sell in the past year. They include Beijing Restaurant in north Modesto, which closed after 28 years late last year; Concetta, which closed last December and reopened this year as Chinn’s International; Bauer’s Downtown Gastropub, which sold in January and has since reopened with new owners; and the Farmacy, which sold its plant-based cafe in May to a new owner who has yet to reopen the space.

The future of downtown Modesto’s beloved vintage A&W Restaurant, which opened in 1957 and is one of only a handful of Graffiti-era drive-in burger joints still operating in the area, also is up in the air. Longtime local owner Johnny Matthews, who has run the site with its rollerskating carhops for the past 26 years, is retiring and has put the site up for sale.

This story was originally published August 2, 2023, 7:30 AM.

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Parents in one California community are fighting for answers after at least seven children were diagnosed with cancer in the past four years. Earlier this year, they fought to remove a cell phone tower from a local elementary school campus. Now, they're focusing on a chemical in their drinking water supply that's linked to cancer. And Ripon, California, is just one of dozens of cities across the country dealing with the possibly harmful chemical.

"Until we figure out what is happening in this town, we won't stop," said Kellie Prime, a mother whose son, Kyle, is one of at least seven kids in Ripon who have been diagnosed with cancer in recent years. Prime and another mother successfully had the cell phone tower removed, and have since shifted focus to the drinking water.

"My gut tells me that something is here that's causing these issues," Prime said.

Ripon was once home to a Nestle plant that used trichloroethylene, or TCE, to decaffeinate coffee until the 1970s. Nestle discharged the plant's wastewater into the city's sewers. TCE was recently found in one of five city drinking water wells.

The city of Ripon said TCE levels reached 90% of the EPA maximum allowed in drinking water last summer. The well was turned off four months later. The city says the water "meets all established drinking water standards," and Nestle said that for more than 30 years, the company has "implemented... cleanup and water protection measures to ensure... levels... do not exceed California standards."

But University of California San Francisco scientist Veena Singla said that when it comes to chemicals like TCE, there are no safe levels of exposure.

"Drinking water standards and guidelines that we have now are many decades old, and they don't account for the latest science that shows pregnant women and children are more susceptible to TCE," Singla said.

Millions of pounds of TCE are used every year for manufacturing and degreasing. The chemical can migrate from industrial sites into surrounding communities through the soil and water, and can even turn into a clear, odorless vapor that moves up into the homes above.

"We know it can cause cancer by any route of exposure," Singla said. "So what that means is whether you breathe it in, whether you drink it in contaminated water… we're concerned about all those exposures."

When asked if she thinks TCE exposure could have caused her son's cancer, Prime said that "I think it needs to be looked into, for sure."

Last year, CBS News visited Franklin, Indiana, where dozens of kids were diagnosed with cancer. A non-profit found high levels of toxins, including TCE vapor, in homes near an old manufacturing site. Clean up and testing under the EPA is ongoing.

"We used our kids as the canary in the coal mine in our town," said Kari Rhinehart, who lost her daughter to brain cancer.

In White Bear Township, Minnesota, community members diagnosed with cancer and their loved ones were outraged after learning a company that makes fishing sinkers and battery terminal posts admitted TCE had been leaking into the air for years, at points reaching seven times what was allowed.

In Ripon, families are calling for additional vapor testing. "We have a lot more questions than we do answers -- so until we get those answers to those questions, we are very concerned," Prime said.

Regulators say potential health effects from TCE depend on the amount and length of exposure, and it can be difficult to trace the cause of any one cancer diagnosis. But Prime says after seeing her son's battle firsthand, she'll do anything to prevent other parents from experiencing the same pain.

"It was hell… it was life-altering," Prime said. "He's sick every day, losing weight, losing his hair."

Her son is now in remission – but Prime is determined to keep pushing forward. She said she's motivated by "the fight these kids have in them."

"We have to show them that we will fight for them," she said.

The regional water board has asked Nestle to do additional vapor testing to ensure TCE levels are within new, stricter guidelines set by the state. Nestle says the work plan has been submitted and approved by the water board.

RIPON, Calif. — As almond blossoms begin to bloom across the Central Valley, Ripon is kicking off its 60th annual Almond Blossom Festival this weekend.

The Almond Blossom Festival is Ripon's largest tradition, celebrating the small town's agricultural roots with a weekend full of events.

"There are roughly 50,000 acres of almonds grown in Ripon and the surrounding areas," Kelly Donohue the president of the Ripon Chamber of Commerce said. "The blossom itself is a Central Valley hallmark since the Valley is one of a few places in the world where almonds can grow."

The festival, held by the Ripon of Chamber of Commerce, begins on Thursday, Feb. 24 and runs through Sunday, Feb. 27.

"All of our local non-profits and community organizations pull together to put on a variety of events, combining everything you'd want in a big festival with small-town charm," Donohue said.

The festival features a carnival at Mistlin Sports Park where community members can enjoy rides, food, art and crafts vendors, live music, pony rides, petting zoos, and more.

Admission to the festival is free, but parking on the festival grounds is $5 and guests will need to purchase a $25 wristband if they wish to ride the carnival rides.

According to Donohue, proceeds will go to their local non-profit volunteers.

Thursday, Feb. 24:

Friday, Feb. 25

Saturday, Feb. 26

Sunday, Feb. 27:

Roadways will be closing down around 11:45 a.m. for Saturday's parade, which starts at East Main Street and Stockton Avenue and make its way to the Community Center of West Fourth Street.

West Main Street at Acacia Avenue and West Fourth Street at South Acacia Avenue will be open until the parade starts for north and southbound traffic. Second Street at Vera Avenue will be open for east and westbound traffic until the parade starts.

With some roads closing down, impacts are to be expected. For a live look at traffic conditions, view the Waze map below.

For more information about the Ripon Almond Blossom Festival, visit the Ripon Chamber of Commerce website or Facebook.