One year, one crisis, two restaurants
Two views of eateries coping with the pandemic, from a veteran and a newcomer
James Brown sounds pensive as he mused on how the pandemic may affect the psychology of his customers. “There’s going to be people that just really don’t want to be around people, at least at first. They want restaurant food, but are too nervous to sit down and eat it there. Others have told me they’re super excited to know that we’re reopening, they want to sit inside and feel like they’re getting the dining experience again.
They dream of watching a Dodger or Laker game in a convivial environment.”
James opened San Pedro Brewing 22 years ago and developed a sufficiently loyal customer following that the restaurant has stayed open with to-go business. That’s a feat for a sports bar, a style of dining more associated with grub that is just good enough to be enjoyed while distracted by the game. James has offered a higher standard than that and reconsidered his menu items for the take-out environment, but he only made one major change.
“We have a really nice bone-in ribeye steak, our most expensive item, but it just doesn’t travel well. If you get it medium rare, which is the way that I like them, they’re cold by the time you get home … We made some other changes in packaging, like boxes that vent steam so the fries would arrive crisp, and I investigated all sorts of other technologies. I saw a program on Channel 5, the tech guy, and he interviewed some engineer that invented this little disk that you put in to go boxes, and it sucks up all the moisture and keeps your things crispy. I called them up and asked for a sample and they said no, and the minimum order was 10,000 at 25 cents each. OK, good luck, man. We just assume that when people order fries to go and they have a long drive, there’s that risk.”
Outdoor dining was a lifeline, but people didn’t spend money the way they had before.
“In normal times we do 50% food, 50% alcohol. This past year it was 70/30, because we don’t have people coming up in ordering at the bar, getting shots and sitting around with friends. It wasn’t uncommon that people would be there for two hours watching a game, but now we’re having to ask them to move on after 90 minutes. One bright spot is that we’ve been selling a lot of growlers of our beer, 32 ounces to go. A lot of people have been drinking at home and wanted our fresh beer, and I hope they developed a taste for that.”
The other bright spot is that the move into the streets has made downtown lively and given it a stylish uniform look.
“We have 17 parklets now, built to the same specifications, and I think it looks as good as any other town around. If you drive down Second Street in Long Beach they’re all different, and I think it doesn’t look that great. The Property Business Improvement District was smart to do that, spend a good amount of money building these parklets and keep them uniform.”
While James Brown’s customers who were missing sports could tune in a rerun at home, Jae Woo’s had no such outlet. Jae opened sushi specialist Otosan in Belmont Shore during the pandemic, and had to figure out how to operate without a pivotal component of a high-end establishment.
“That experience where you sit at the counter and interact with the chef, develop that relationship, get something that’s fresh that day, that’s off the table in this environment. In lieu
of that we focused on creating a very thoughtful experience even at home. We chose items that we thought would survive the trip home. For our noodle soups, we separate the noodles from the broth so that the noodles don’t get soggy on the trip. We tried offering omakase (chef’s choice) meals but had to stop, because with sushi, temperature is such an important element. It’s not the same if the rice isn’t warm, and the fish is not the right temperature, the way it is when you eat it within 15 seconds of it being made.”
Since the restaurant opened during the pandemic, Jae’s servers have never had the experience that draws people to a high-end sushi bar. Instead, they have had to cope with service patterns that are unpredictable.
“One day we’d have a lot of staff and never get busy, so everyone’s bored and unmotivated. The next day you think you’re going to be slow, and then all of a sudden, it gets crazy and stressful. Having people that can be flexible on your team is probably the biggest piece of our success.”
Jae hasn’t had to ask people to vacate tables, but organized the menu subtly so she wouldn’t have to.
“We don’t have any happy hour where people would be sitting for a long time, and
I’d like to have coffee service and a dessert program, but those have to wait. We had to stay aware of the fact that right now the only thing we can accommodate is people eating full meals and then taking off right after that. Our customers seem pretty mindful of what’s going on and know we have pretty limited space. I was concerned about that, but it hasn’t really been a huge problem.”
Like James, Jae knows that some people may not feel comfortable dining out for some time, but she strikes an optimistic note.
“It’s going to take a long time before people are mentally where they were at pre-pandemic.
Even with precautions, even after they’re vaccinated. I’m hoping that the people that are excited to dine out will offset the portion of the population that is reluctant to do that yet. I think that when people start feeling comfortable in public, they’re going to go back to what they love. They’re gonna snap right back to it. I think so. I hope so.”
Otosan, 6460 Pacific Coast Highway, #140, Long Beach
Details: otosan-sushi.com, 562-431-1334
San Pedro Brewing Company, 331 W. 6th St., San Pedro.
Details: sanpedrobrewing.com, 310-831-5663