Dining picture still evolving as pandemic restrictions ease
The staff at Taub Family Outpost off the Sonoma Plaza barely had time to serve their first heirloom grain breakfast bowl before COVID-19 forced them to shut down their dining space last March.
They canceled their grand opening party planned for later that month. The new restaurant, spirits lounge, wine shop and gourmet market shrunk to takeout food sales, online shopping and curbside pickup.
Through the year, Taub, like all other restaurants in the region, struggled to navigate confusing twists and turns in health regulations, with patio dining opening up, then closing and inside dining opening up, then closing. Staff donned masks and gloves and kept 6 feet away from everyone. Menus were laminated for easy cleaning with disinfectant and tables were spread out for social distancing. Many restaurants, like Gravenstein Grill in Sebastopol, turned to abbreviated menus of burgers and pizzas instead of more labor-intensive fine fare.
Now, with Sonoma County in the red tier stage of reopening as of March 14, restaurants can welcome diners inside at 25% of their full capacity. As employees slowly return to work, furniture is set up again and customers start venturing back in, we’re left to wonder — what will the restaurant world look like going forward?
Certainly the pandemic has left its mark, as some area favorites and longtime spots were forced to close for good with the added financial pressure of the past year. Among them were Bollywood, Bruno’s and Bistro 29 in Santa Rosa, Whisper Sisters in downtown Petaluma and Brass Rabbit on Healdsburg Plaza.
But many restaurateurs are hopeful 2021 will see the return of full service, without another pandemic surge. Perhaps surprisingly, some of the safety measures they have had to implement over the past year will remain, as consumers have adapted to and now even appreciate the new structures.
On the top of that “keeper” list is enhanced patio dining, much in demand thanks to Wine Country’s generally mild climate. Taub General Manager Martín Gobbée said the pandemic actually brought the restaurant a bonus — the discovery of a secret patio behind a former pottery store next door.
Taub leased the space and added an open-sided tent and heaters for winter weather. They’ve been so successful with dinner and brunch service there that they’re going to keep it going.
That segues to another likely permanent feature — more breathing room for diners. The Taub patio seats about 50, with tables socially distanced, and Gobbée said there’s no plan to cram in more diners as probably would have been done in the past.
“We’re not New York, where some restaurants are so tightly packed you have to move your table just to get to your chair,” he said.
What other COVID-19 contemporary dining amenities can we expect to continue? For one, paper menus might become a thing of the past.
Electronic menus
At first, restaurateurs scrambled to add online ordering applications to their websites. The move turned out to be a hit with diners who preferred the ease of simply clicking, paying virtually and grabbing takeout without having to wait or dressing up for a meal. Customers found they could add special instructions (no onions on that burger, please) with greater guarantee that the restaurant would get the order right.
Now, dine-in meals are getting that tech touch, too. At the new Wit & Wisdom in Sonoma, guests get a laminated QR code card to scan with their phone to see the menu, including everything from appetizers to desserts to cocktails and the extensive wine list. To see an old-fashioned, simple paper printout, customers must ask for one.
Print may go away, all around. At the new Ippinn Sushi & Ramen in Santa Rosa, restaurant owner Frank Wu was constantly updating his menu to reflect changing fish market pricing and specials. Rather than constantly eating up paper stock, he introduced tablets placed at every table, so customers can send orders directly to the kitchen. It’s fun for the guests, he said, and much more efficient for staff.
Parklets
Improvised al fresco spots sprung up quickly last year, taking over parking spaces and sidewalks as restaurateurs built temporary, open-sided seating areas. A three-block section of Fourth Street in Santa Rosa was shut down to accommodate dining tables.
Diners have responded positively to these stylish gathering cubbies, which feel cosmopolitan and are great for people-watching, so restaurateurs are hoping they last for the long term.
“Talking to our community, there is an overwhelming demand for us to maintain our outdoor dining venue for those at risk and those that are not quite comfortable with dining indoors,” said Dustin Valette, who built a 44-seat, reservations-only covered parklet last July in front of his Healdsburg restaurant. “We usually have a two-week waiting list, and we have been working with the city of Healdsburg to see how long we will be permitted to have the area.”
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