Most local restaurants to close for Christmas
Annual listing of Butte County restaurant options on holiday takes a big turn this year amid ongoing pandemic.
CHICO » Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, this newspaper runs a list of restaurants open for the holiday meal.
At Thanksgiving, still in the midst of reduced operation, there were a number of restaurants that offered dine-in, take- out and delivery.
But Christmas is another story.
From the list of about a dozen restaurants in the north valley, so far only a couple will be open on Friday. Ginger’s, 2201 Pillsbury Road, in Chico will be open for take out. Feather Falls Brewing Co. in Oroville has Christmas dinner starting at 11 a.m. for dine- in or take out, according to its Facebook page. Rolling Hills Casino’s restaurant in Corning will be open with only togo orders.
Perennial places — like Jack’s, and Cozy Diner in Chico and Cornucopia in Oroville — planned to give their employees a day off.
Denny’s in Chico is going to be closed, according to an employee, which is a first in recent history. The national restaurant is known for its aroundthe- clock, every day service. It wasn’t clear if the Oroville Denny’s would be closed as well. A call left for the manger wasn’t returned, but the restaurant has been operating on shorter hours.
Another holiday perennial, Russell’s Sunrise Cafe had nothing on its Facebook page, but a hand-written sign on the door noted, “Due to COVID-19 we are temporarily closed. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for understanding. Russell’s Sunrise Cafe wait staff.”
Sin of Cortez is regularly open on holidays, with its drive through busy and lines long, but not this year. Owner Danielle Ius said it wasn’t worth the effort to stay open on the holidays, but is looking forward to 2021. Always a popular breakfast and brunch place, the Sin of Cortez offered indoor seating when it was allowed and before that take out.
Ius said this week that all she wanted is normalcy, a wish that likely most businesses are sharing at this point. Worried over her employees, she started a Go Fund Me account in April, saying the money was going directly to the staff many of whom had reduced hours because of reduced operation.
Explore Butte County has a restaurant section on its website www. explorebuttecounty. com, but most don’t seem to be open on Friday, other than the one Oroville casino.
It’s been a tough year for all restaurants, explains Carolyn Denero, executive director of Explore Butte County, the tourism- based program that promotes small businesses from restaurants and lodging to sight seeing locations and activities like birdwatching.
Denero said she’s heard a variety of comments from restaurants, but some are staying closed in order to keep their staffs safe, as well as waiting for restrictions to be lifted so they can operate fully.
Restaurant week
Denero said she was surprised when Explore Butte County started to put together its 2021 Restaurant Week, getting 24 restaurants willing to participate.
“I know some of them may be closed temporarily, but have still committed to open for Restaurant
Week in January for curbside,” Denero said Wednesday
Restaurant Week will run Jan. 22 through 31.
For a flat price — $20.21 — diners can get a specially crafted to-go meal by local chefs. Diners download a pass from the Explore Butte County website that is free (not an app) with a code that the restaurant notes to get the special price. That also enters the diner into a raffle for prize drawings for items like gift cards.
Denero said she and other business- oriented programs hope to promote local restaurants more to help them through the pandemic.