Sometimes the kids aren’t all right: El Dorado County restaurant has to restrict them
Want more food news? Sign up for the Food & Drink newsletter at sacbee.com/foodnews to get your weekly fill.
As of Sept. 24, there’s an adults-only burger bar in the rural El Dorado County town of Garden Valley. And it’s not even for a fun reason.
The list of alleged offenses, which can be read in full in Red Rooster’s Facebook post, includes smoking marijuana and leaving condoms in the bathroom, squirting condiments onto walls and TVs, throwing fries at employees, smoking and selling e-cigarettes on the property, sticking candy to the ceilings and skateboarding on the patio.
That post brought national media attention from outlets such as Business Insider and the “Today Show” to the restaurant in 2,500-person Garden Valley. Red Rooster Burgers & Brew (no relation to the local Burgers & Brew mini-chain) has banned children and teens with no parental supervision from its dining room.
It’s tempting to draw a connection between this and the recent Tik Tok “devious licks” trend that’s led to vandalism in high schools both locally and nationwide, as The Bee’s Rosalio Ahumada previously reported. Red Rooster is across the street from Golden Sierra High School, after all. But while that might explain a recent uptick, Red Rooster owner Christina Azbill and her staff have begrudgingly dealt with unruly teens for the past two years, according to their Facebook post.
Red Rooster’s ban on unaccompanied underage patrons made me think of the “kids in craft breweries” debate greater Sacramento endured a few years ago. Ultimately, those doe-eyed soda sippers unknowingly molly-whopped adversaries who wanted to drink exclusively around other adults.
Rather than being an annoyance, kids are a huge part of the craft brewery experience today — taprooms have established themselves as family-friendly bars for working professionals who don’t need to get a sitter every time they want to catch up with someone over an IPA. You’d be hard-pressed to find one that doesn’t welcome kids today, knowing they’re tied to their parents’ wallets.
The caveat, of course, is that kids don’t go to taprooms alone. And Red Rooster does allow young ’uns inside with adult accompaniment. Still, it’s a notable difference: One adult-focused concept stretches to accommodate kids who won’t buy much beyond a soda or bag of chips, and another formerly all-ages restaurant now turns away paying customers because of their potential for disruption.
Maybe these teens are bored with their remote surroundings. Maybe being cooped up during the pandemic is making them act out more. In any event, sounds like it’s been a special kind of headache for Red Rooster on top of rising ingredient costs, a labor shortage and COVID-19 restrictions over the past year-and-a-half.
Openings and Closings
Speaking of Davis hotspots, Sudwerk Brewing Co. is gearing up to reopen its 10,500-square-foot restaurant and patio as soon as spring 2022. Owners Trent Yackzan and Ryan Fry should have renderings and more concrete plans by the end of the year. The pioneering craft brewery won Brewery and Brewer of the Year (5,000-15,000 barrels) at the 2021 Great American Beer Festival last month.
Allora owners Deneb Williams and Elizabeth-Rose Mandalou have opened The Atrium at Woodlake, a 3,700-square-foot event space where their Woodlake Tavern restaurant previously stood at 1431 Del Paso Road. From the pictures I’ve seen, it looks to be a gorgeous building full of natural light, including from a retractable roof below a 70-foot oak tree.
Rocklin liquor store Sunset Mart is branching off into a Roseville beer bar and restaurant called The Trax Taproom & Kitchen, according to an Instagram post last week. Follow The Trax’s Instagram for updates as they come.
This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.