Too soon? Packed patios, no symptom checks as Sacramento restaurants reopen for service
It was a good evening to have an outdoor patio.
Temperatures slowly dropped from the low 80s to high 70s Friday as the sun went down on the first day Sacramento County restaurants reopened for dine-in service since the shelter-in-place order was issued in mid-March. More than 100 area restaurants started seating customers Friday after receiving the green light from county health director Dr. Peter Beilenson at noon.
Finding an outdoor table in midtown Sacramento proved difficult by 5 p.m., as the limited-occupancy patios filled up at Kupros Craft House, Red Rabbit Kitchen & Bar, Karma Brew and others. Most restaurants around Downtown Commons and the Capitol remained closed, but Burgers & Brew, Mas Taco Bar and Iron Horse Tavern had begun greeting customers seeking relief from the coronavirus pandemic along the R Street Corridor.
Ace Of Spades concerts, which remain canceled or postponed, usually boost R Street Corridor business. That wasn’t necessary Friday night. Iron Horse Tavern was quoting a 25-minute wait by 6:30 p.m., an interlude R.J. Mercado and Monica Avery were content to ride out sitting on a curb.
“(We’ve) definitely been at home getting a little stir-crazy, so the first chance we got to go out, we were jumping at it,” Mercado said. “I’ve been eating so much junk food lately that a salad, oddly, sounds really good to me.”
Sacramento County’s health order instructs people who don’t live in the same dwelling to keep a minimum of six feet apart. More broadly, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office released a 12-page, 99-point state list of safety measures restaurants are advised or required to follow as restaurants began opening in other counties earlier this month.
For all the 12-page document’s directives and “musts,” Sacramento County restaurants are not facing as much oversight as they did before the pandemic. Even routine health inspections were replaced by check-in phone calls at the start of the shelter-in-place order.
And so when a woman sidled up to Barwest’s bar for an AMF made by a bartender with his mask around his chin, that was her prerogative. When a group of eight people sat down at one of Iron Horse Tavern’s long picnic tables, no one questioned if they all lived under the same roof. When customers weren’t screened for COVID-19 symptoms or required to wear masks while not eating, that was business as usual (some spots had signs on the door asking customers who were sick to not enter).
People are anxious to go out, no doubt. What’s questionable is whether those places that flung open their doors at the first opportunity are ready to safely receive them.
People are ready to eat out
Many restaurant owners and managers think they’re being careful because they’ve made sacrifices to socially distance customers, just as customers feel they’ve been safe while conceding so many parts of their normal lives over the last two months. But individual standards differ.
“Honestly, I think everyone’s either been exposed to (coronavirus) or at this point, it’s like, if you’re going to get it you’re going to get it,” Mercado said. “As long as restaurants and people have been safe (like they have) so far in keeping the social distancing and being smart about it, I think we’ll be okay.”
One guideline being rigorously followed is requiring alcoholic drinks be paired with a food purchase, as bars won’t be approved to reopen until Phase 3. Why? Because a violation carries the threat of California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control sanctions up to and including revocation of a liquor license.
Food trucks, commonly seen at breweries and taprooms before shelter-in-place, are now essential for the beer bars to open. Bob’s Club, a longtime Elk Grove dive bar, is including complimentary bags of popcorn with every purchase. At Barwest, the kitchen will stay running until 1 a.m. on weekend nights — two hours later than it did prior to shelter-in-place — to keep the bar legally operating, though Barwest manager Sara Beyer said she thought it would stay under control.
“We had to pull out tables ... to not have people sit so close together,” Beyer said. “I’m confident in my staff that we can regulate it.”
Roberto Flores, 31, was more content during shelter-in-place. A self-described “home person,” he’s enjoyed having more time to read and watch TV.
Flores chose a solo beer and quesadilla on Azul Mexican Food & Tequila Bar’s patio for the ambiance as much as the meal itself. With nearby bars like Faces, The Depot and LowBrau lacking their usual weekend crowds, the MARRS Building on 20th Street and its surrounding area took on a rare air of tranquility.
“You can be really relaxed and comfortable, so I like that,” Flores said. “It’s perfect to get the food and sit out here.”
In Fair Oaks, Richard Madrigal and Cliff Lunetta took their wives out for dinner to Carmelita’s Mexican Restaurant.
It was the first time Lunetta, 71, had sat down for a meal inside a restaurant since February. He and his wife had plenty of takeout from Carmelita’s over the past couple months, he said, but were ready to sit down and enjoy combination plates at the 58-year-old restaurant.
“It’s just a nice escape to get out of the house,” Lunetta said.
Madrigal, 74, also had ordered plenty of takeout in the past few months. When the county allowed restaurants to reopen for dine-in service, one meal wasn’t enough.
Madrigal and his wife had lunch at Perko’s Cafe & Grill in Rosemont before dinner at Carmelita’s. The Madrigals said eating out is better, because you don’t have to cook or do the dishes.
Before they arrived at Carmelita’s, Madrigal called to find out the process. The couples waited in line wearing masks, six feet apart from others and ordered their meals and drinks at the front counter. Then, they waited at a booth table for their dinners to be served.
“It’s different than normal, but the whole thing is getting out,” Madrigal said.
The four friends frequently dined together before the pandemic, but stopped meeting up after the shelter-in-place order was issued. They recently began seeing each other again, though, as restrictions started to loosen and Sacramento County moved into Phase 2 of Newsom’s four-step recovery plan.
Can restaurants keep diners healthy?
Boulevard Bistro’s intimate, upscale space in a renovated 1908 farmhouse has been an Elk Grove dining landmark since opening Valentine’s Day 2006. But chef and owner Brett Boehmann said reopening feels like starting from scratch. Assistance from the federal Paycheck Protection Program has helped and he’s been able to retain staff thanks to to-go service. But he plans to take some time to reopen and is reconciling his own concerns. Boulevard will begin taking reservations Wednesday, he said.
“It’s going to be a difficult thing. We don’t want anybody to get sick,” he said.
A large part of that difficulty is in the bottom line. Boulevard Bistro seats 30 people. Boehmann had to pull three two-tops — six chairs — from the floor to adhere to physical distancing. That adds up to 20 percent of a business that already runs on a restaurant’s tight margin.
“That’s going to hurt. We figure what every chair brings in (in income). It hurts to remove it. It’s going to take a transition,” he said. “It reminds me of the early days getting started, running on a tight budget. It’s like starting over again.”
But he’s also seen how the health crisis and the stay-at-home order has affected people in the city and says that will translate to the dining room.
“People are nice, understanding, they’re aware of their surroundings,” Boehmann said. “I’m looking forward to plating on plates instead of boxes. It was nice, but I’m ready.”
At Rao Thai Eatery, tucked into a corner of Whitelock Parkway shopping center in Elk Grove, owner Sammi Sirisawaddi wondered aloud if the county is moving too quickly to reopen.
He sees himself as a rule follower and plans to reopen for dine-in service, but he worries about his customers, his staff, Rao’s tight confines and whether people — while anxious to get back to their routines — are not taking the ongoing contagion seriously enough. Sirisawaddi anticipates a rebound in coronavirus infection rates once more people head outside in large numbers.
“Personally, I think it’s a little too soon. I’m afraid of the servers and customers getting infected. The virus is still going on. I understand business needs to go on, but the lifting of this (order) is too soon,” he said. “I want to do dine-in, but safely and efficiently and to get back to the way things used to be. A restaurant is where people eat. You go because you don’t want to cook yourself and you want to be served. You need to have it sanitary and not worry.”
Sirisawaddi is also concerned about the costs to retool his business to adjust to a new dining reality and says his customers are “50-50” on returning to dine-in service.
It’s an adjustment that restaurateurs and customers alike are navigating together.
“Restaurants are trying to adapt. I’m OK doing to-go and we will go to outdoor seating (but) this is a new era to me,” he said. “We need to adapt to the changes but it’s too fast. It’s a new change people have to adapt to.”
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