Sneak Peek at Gingham: New Year Opens With Newest Village Restaurant

Window signs said PRIVATE PARTY and Closed to the public.  But 20 minutes until midnight, one could waltz into the New Year’s Eve “pre-opening bash” of Gingham with no issues. The successor restaurant to Gio’s served no food, but bartenders kept busy pouring champagne and other drinks to 60 low-key revelers mostly in their 20s and 30s.

On an otherwise quiet La Mesa Boulevard still lit with Christmas lights, recorded music played at Gingham as T-shirted employees scurried about, branded with the slogan “Feast in the East.” A Western motif dominated the décor.

Upstairs, assistant general manager Matt Cope, 30, stood next to a railing and lowered a sparkling sphere, the size of a basketball, with a yellow rope. Party-goers drawn by Twitter and Facebook postings counted down the last 10 seconds of the years, cheered and toasted 2012.

Cope—a Golden Hill resident who formerly worked at Kensington’s Bleu Bohème and downtown’s Oceanaire Seafood Room—then got a kiss from girlfriend Jennifer Bennett.

A sign announced: Coming Soon, Early January!