If you hear someone talking about "Napa," you probably think "wine."

Napa Style is something different, though--it's the name of two stores owned by cookbook author, TV personality and winemaker Michael Chiarello. The flagship store is in Yountville and the second store is in downtown Los Gatos at 32 N. Santa Cruz Ave.

The Los Gatos store sells everything from candles to silverware, salt, olive oil and wine glasses. With a desire to pour wine into those glasses, a Napa Style representative appeared before the town council on Dec. 2.

Specifically, Napa Style asked permission to offer wine and beer tastings and to sell room temperature wine and beer for customers to take home. The store also asked to serve wine and beer at private and charitable events that would be held after hours.

"We don't want to turn this into a wine bar," Napa Style's attorney K. Christopher Branch said. "We don't want to turn this into a BevMo!."

The town council held a wide-ranging discussion that included potential parking issues and precedents.

"I would not be opposed to selling bottles of wine in the store because of the name, and I think it's a small addition to their overall merchandise," councilwoman Diane McNutt said. "I do have a lot of problems with the wine tasting because we have many places--grocery stores, drug stores, I think the car wash is selling wine--they're not doing tastings. They manage to move product without tasting things."

McNutt feared letting the wine genie out of the bottle, so to speak, and others on the council concurred. The five members voted unanimously to allow room temperature wine and beer sales during the hours that the store is open to the public. No tastings will be allowed during business hours.

However, Napa Style can serve wine and beer from 6 to 9 p.m. if the store is closed for a private event. Twenty-four such events will be allowed annually.

Another downtown businessman came to the town council asking for permission to increase outdoor seating at Palacio, the restaurant that's located in the historic Coggeshall Mansion.

Dean Devincenzi, who is a co-owner of Palacio, 115 N. Santa Cruz Ave., wants to make better use of the paved patio area that is on the mansion's left side, looking in from N. Santa Cruz Avenue.

"It's a pretty desirable outdoor area," Divencenzi said. "Everybody wants to sit outside and really nobody wants to sit inside."

Divencenzi asked to add 14 seats to the patio, pulling those seats from the mansion's little-used second floor. The restaurant's overall seating would not increase.

Divencenzi also asked for permission to allow patrons to wait for a table outside on the porch.

The town council agreed unanimously to both requests.

The council also approved plans to replace the pathway lighting systems at Live Oak Manor and Blossom Hill parks, and at the Howe's Play Lot. The project will cost about $150,000 and should be completed by next summer.