Vintage Press Restaurante

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Family Vision, Six Decades in the Making

Restaurateur John Vartanian opened The Vintage Press in 1966 with a clear ambition: a fresh approach to traditional dining in the heart of Visalia. More than fifty years on, the restaurant remains family-owned and operated, guided by his sons Greg and David. That continuity is not incidental — it is the engine behind everything the kitchen produces.

Greg Vartanian, trained at Le Cordon Bleu, led the kitchen for thirty years and shaped the restaurant's commitment to creative, farm-to-fork American cuisine long before that phrase became fashionable. As Greg himself puts it: "Over the years, we've seen trends come and go, and have been at the forefront of the locally-grown and farm2fork ideas before they became 'movements.'" He has since moved into the role of Strategic Director, focusing on food and beverage innovation, while his brother David Vartanian — now chef and co-owner — runs the kitchen day to day.

The Rooms

The Vintage Press is not a single dining room but four distinct spaces, each with its own character. The Rose Room lounge centers on a historic Brunswick Bar and hums with easy conviviality. The Garden Room is anchored by a 100-year-old mural. The Savoy Room offers four exclusive booths available on request. And the Main Dining Room, with its wall-to-wall mirrors and hand-painted frescos, reflects the full weight of the restaurant's history.

The Wine Cellar

The wine program is, by any measure, extraordinary. With more than 900 selections spanning domestic and imported whites and reds, sparkling wines, Champagne, dessert wines, and large-format bottles, it earned Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence — a recognition the magazine reserves for lists it considers among the best in the world. A sommelier is on hand to guide choices, and the cellar forms the backbone of the restaurant's regular Winemaker's Dinners, where multi-course American cuisine menus are built course by course around specific producers and their wines.

Recipe Club and Special Events

Chef David Vartanian hosts Recipe Club events where guests watch the preparation of signature dishes, then sit down to eat them alongside paired wines. It is an unusually direct way to understand what the kitchen values. The restaurant also accommodates private parties across its four rooms, and its catering operation extends that hospitality beyond the dining room.

The LA Times has called The Vintage Press "a bastion of culinary merit," and Fodor's has singled it out for its wine selection. For visitors to Central California, it stands as one of the region's most serious and enduring addresses for American dining.