Sacramento, Yolo restaurants can resume indoor dining. But will some remain closed?
The Pitts Stop closes at noon during the week. Otherwise, Denise Shelton’s staff would have been seating regulars inside on Tuesday.
Shelton’s south Sacramento diner was set to open for indoor dining at 6 a.m. Wednesday after declining coronavirus cases dropped Sacramento and Yolo counties to the state’s “red tier” Tuesday.
A falling number of new cases and lower infection rates mean restaurants in the two counties can open inside at 25% capacity. Restrictions on theaters, schools, houses of worship and fitness centers have also been relaxed.
Staff erected tables and tents in the parking lot The Pitts Stop shares with a tire shop, but customers preferred eating their hash browns and pancakes in a homey booth or at the greasy spoon’s counter, Shelton said. Already not collecting a salary, she worried about what effect incoming winter weather would have on her business.
“I can’t wait to get back indoors,” Shelton said. “I’ve got a lot of regulars and they bellyache about having to go outside, but we kick ‘em on out anyway.”
Restaurateurs in eastern Sacramento County were particularly raring to go after watching their neighbors in Placer and El Dorado counties serve customers indoors for weeks. Folsom restaurants Bacchus House Wine Bar & Bistro, Sutter Street Steakhouse and Rock-N-Fire all opened immediately following Sacramento County health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson’s announcement at noon Tuesday.
The 25% occupancy requirement includes staff and means just nine people can eat inside The Pitts Stop at a time. Shelton will need to keep outdoor dining going to make ends meet, she said.
That limited payoff and indoor dining’s risk of COVID-19 transfer dissuaded Greg Taylor from reopening Iron Grill, which has been fully closed since July. The restaurant sits adjacent to Broadway traffic at 2422 13th St., making outdoor dining tough, and menu staples like steaks, salads and hot appetizers don’t travel particularly well.
Reopening Iron Grill will cost around $10,000 in food and another $10,000 in payroll, Taylor said. He might hold out for 50% capacity allowed in the “orange tier” once Sacramento County gets below four new daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 people and a 5% positive test rate.
He might also close Iron Grill for good and rent the building to another business before then.
“It’s a significant step, and there’s so much uncertainty right now, I don’t think it would be very prudent to make that investment (in reopening) quite yet,” Taylor said. “We’d be waiting on the return on that (investment) slowly and it might happen, might not happen.”
Mayor Darrell Steinberg said the ability to reopen the businesses and other facilities identified in Tuesday’s announcement was “a credit to the community” that has prevented the spread of the virus. However, he warned residents to continue to be extra careful to avoid a spike.
“I think it’s very positive,” Steinberg said. “I couple that sentiment, though, with still some significant worry and concern that we don’t go backward and that even as we are opening indoor spaces, that we be extra, extra diligent about keeping each other safe.”
Steinberg said indoor diners should wear a mask when they are not eating, and should only dine with members of their households, even if those requirements are not in the formal county health order.
“I think that restaurants that can operate exclusively al fresco, that’s a great option,” Steinberg said. “The city is doing everything it can to accommodate that.”
The city has been allowing restaurants to put tables and tents in the street, where parking spaces normally are, in order to expand outdoor dining.
“This is a crucial time,” Steinberg said. “It’s still a deadly virus.”
Willamette Wineworks manager Laura Kotowicz was less concerned with indoor dining than indoor service. The wine bar in Folsom Historic District’s new Roundhouse building was only open for three weeks before COVID-19 halted operations in March.
Seven varietals are hooked up to taps at three stations, from which customers taste, scribble notes and create their own custom blends. Willamette Wineworks will close off the middle station and sanitize after every use when the blending experience (and around 20 seats) open indoors on Wednesday, Kotowicz said.
“We have flights ... and food pairings to show off our wine, but really the blending system is kind of the cornerstone of what makes Willamette Wineworks a really unique, fun and different experience,” Kotowicz said. “It’s really one of the drawing experiences for our business.”
Few people were ready to eat indoors when Giovanni’s Old World New York Pizzeria reopened in June, co-owner John Ruffaine said, until the week before Gov. Gavin Newsom shut restaurants down statewide. He plans to open in the next couple of days and expects another slow start over the next couple weeks before things pick back up — assuming Sacramento County doesn’t slip back into the more restrictive purple tier of coronavirus risk.
Giovanni’s indoor tables are still spaced six feet apart from the July shutdown, and the East Sacramento and South Land Park pizzeria has managed to retain all staff throughout the pandemic, Ruffaine said. Supply chain breakdowns have been problematic, but his biggest reopening worries stem from customers not following COVID-19 safety guidelines.
“Most people are really good, but there’s still a handful out there that come in with no masks,” Ruffaine said. “There’s nothing worse than one person not cooperating and making another customer nervous, and then we have our staff and they get nervous if something like that occurs.”
This story was originally published September 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
