California restaurant ordered to close until it regains permit lost over COVID violations
A Northern California restaurant that has operated without a valid health permit for more than 18 months after flouting COVID-19 restrictions has been ordered by a court to cease operations.
An injunction was ordered last Friday in El Dorado County Superior Court against Apple Bistro in Placerville.
It calls for the prohibition of “all operations relating to Apple Bistro until a health permit is obtained,” county officials announced in a Wednesday news release.
The restaurant remains open this week in defiance of the order, according to its social media pages.
El Dorado County in November sued Apple Bistro and another Placerville-area restaurant, Danette’s Brick Oven, seeking court orders to close them until they obtained new permits.
Both restaurants, along with El Dorado Café, had their permits suspended in summer 2020 for violating COVID-19 health restrictions, such as failing to require employees to wear masks.
Danette’s Brick Oven and El Dorado Café have since applied for and received permits, but Apple Bistro remains unpermitted, according to the county.
Apple Bistro owner Jennette Waldow could not be reached for comment Thursday morning. But the restaurant in a Wednesday night Facebook post said it “will be open tomorrow and every day moving forward.”
“The Injunction is not in place at this time due to unlawful due process, and we have filed a complaint to that effect,” Apple Bistro wrote. “Please do not call the Bistro for any information regarding this.”
Last week’s tentative ruling states that Waldow did not file a response to multiple orders to show cause.
She did, however, appear in court without a lawyer for a Jan. 28 hearing on the preliminary injunction, where she “stated she was making a ‘special divine appearance’ for Jennette,” according to the filing.
“When the court asked her to state who she is, she repeated her previous statement.”
The county contends that the preliminary injunction is “effective immediately and remains in place until trial in the lawsuit.”
A civil trial has not yet been scheduled. A trial-setting conference is currently scheduled for March 14.
The injunction applies to Waldow and her company, International Farmers Kitchen LLC, as well as “their ‘agents, employees, representatives, and all persons acting under, in concert with, or for them,’” according to the county news release.
The county said that for Apple Bistro to obtain its permit and end the injunction, it must fill out a new application; pay a $2,313 fine mandatory under state health and safety code for restaurants that operate without a permit; and allow the county to perform a routine inspection, remedying any potential violations found.
“The county pursued the preliminary injunction after the owners failed to take any of these steps,” the news release said. The county in a previous statement said it sent Apple Bistro a cease-and-desist letter in October but received no response.
El Dorado County in its lawsuit also requests that the court assess fines for operating without a permit – which, at a maximum of $500 per day, could eclipse $250,000. The county in Wednesday’s statement said it won’t require Apple Bistro to pay those fines before obtaining a new permit but that it has not waived them.
Apple Bistro faces a separate $108,000 fine by the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, which said Apple Bistro was endangering employees’ health with COVID-19 violations.
Wednesday’s news release also noted that El Dorado County in September 2020 distributed $22,736 to Apple Bistro in funding from the federal CARES Act to help offset the impact of the pandemic and COVID-19 mandates.
The court order and Apple Bistro’s defiance of it mark the latest chapter in a year-and-a-half standoff between the popular restaurant, located across Highway 50 from Apple Hill, and state and local regulators.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the restaurant’s interior and exterior have included signage disparaging COVID-19 safety measures such as mask requirements and social distancing. At one point, the restaurant hung a large banner reading, “No mask allowed,” from its front gate.
The restaurant has yet to close in light of statewide shutdowns on indoor dining, monetary fines, a county-initiated lawsuit and now a court order.
Waldow, via Apple Bistro’s social media accounts and in videos posted to the restaurant’s website, has repeatedly called the government agencies “tyrants” and “bullies.”
In a Tuesday morning Facebook post, Apple Bistro urged local residents to call into that afternoon’s county Board of Supervisors meeting.
“Tell them to stop using our money to bully a business owner who exercised her rights including her right to economic freedom. It’s a human right. And she stood against the tyranny from day 1.”
Several did so. One Placerville woman threatened to launch a recall campaign against the supervisors, calling them “tyrannical” and saying they were “not supporting businesses,” the Mountain Democrat newspaper reported.
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 12:13 PM.
