What opened, what closed in 2020
The final food column of the year traditionally welcomes the county’s newest restaurants and bids farewell to those that have shuttered.
But to repeat a pervasive, sigh-inducing refrain, the year of the pandemic is different. It has required adapting to an unsustainable business model that runs entirely counter to the essence of hospitality, heavily tipping the scale.
Managing a restaurant has required a whole new set of actions that have no operating instructions or pre- established plan. These include ordering reams of takeout vessels; re-creating menus better suited for transport; erecting roadside parklets; purchasing outdoor appropriate furnishings; bottling craft cocktails; producing at-home meal kits; and selling pantry provisions and baking supplies.
Just before the calendar turned, Woody’s Yogurt Place in the Strawberry Village Shopping Center closed after a 21-year run that began in downtown Tiburon.
At Town Center Corte Madera, frozen yogurt and custard shop Easy Breezy arrived, and 5-year- old, Berkeley-born Fieldwork Brewing Co. moved into the former Marin Pizza spot. Blue Barn expanded its reach from the Town Center and two San Francisco locations to downtown Novato, not foreseeing the substantial advantage of an outdoor space spanning two properties.
After 10 years, neighborhood wine bar 123 Bolinas in Fairfax closed, as did Mexican restaurant and cocktail bar Tamal, which was replaced in June by Stillwater restaurant.
The whimsical ambiance complete with cozy seating nooks and gamefilled bookshelves will have to wait at Pink Owl Coffee that opened in February in San Rafael’s West End Center, but the houseroasted coffee, and mochi muffins and donuts from Berkeley’s Third Culture Bakery are available to-go.
In March, everything changed, decimating dining out as we know it, while simultaneously showcasing the admirable resilience that our local restaurants and food purveyors continue to exhibit in the face of this global crisis.
Closures early on included Vitality Bowls in Marin City, although the Mill Valley location is still open. Foodniks vacated the Cove Shopping Center in Tiburon.
When live televised sports temporarily came to a halt, it became nearly impossible to viably sustain a bar and restaurant devoted to the spirited camaraderie of its fans. Moseley’s Sports Bar in Corte Madera never reopened.
Sadly, the 32-year- old Louie’s Deli in Sausalito, a lunchtime go-to for local residents, laborers and office workers, closed after the death of 52-year- old co- owner Maurice Franjieh, who ran the business alongside his wife, Vivian.
Wildfox restaurant, a Novato mainstay for 20 years, summed up a typical take on the pandemic with a message on its website: “Unfortunately, we cannot proceed as we once were, nor can we continue to chase the new normal … or the next normal.”
Two high-profile restaurants and two bakeries are among the eateries that had to adjust grand opening plans that coincided with the March lockdown. Hog Island Oyster Co. delayed the reveal of its fullservice restaurant and fish market at Marin Country Mart in Larkspur, its first Marin outpost outside of Point Reyes and its fifth in the Bay Area. Instead, although all Hog Island locations are now open for takeout and delivery, it was forced to temporarily close while also enduring reduced wholesale demand from restaurants across the country.
The grand RH Marin design gallery at the Village at Corte Madera opened in July, but the elegant RH Rooftop Restaurant had a limited showing in October when indoor dining restrictions were briefly lifted. Check it out in 2021.
Gluten-free bakery Biscuits & Buns in Terra Linda had to delay its March opening until June, and the whimsically inspired Crown & Crumpet, which had plans early in the year to expand its tearoom concept from San Francisco to Marin, finally opened in Ross Common at the close of summer.
The Mill Valley Lumber Yard added Mon Rêve Chocolate Art Studio to its tenant roster in March, but lost B L Superfood Café in October.
There are now three Marin sources for See’s Candies with the shop’s opening in Montecito
Plaza in San Rafael, adding to locations in Town Center Corte Madera and Vintage Oaks Shopping Center in Novato.
Route One Bakery & Kitchen opened early in the year prior the first pandemic lockdown and reopened in the spring.
Del Rodrigues brought her stuffed Brazilian Breads to San Rafael in May with the opening of her second restaurant. The first is in Berkeley.
When outdoor dining restarted in early June, it didn’t take long for diners to populate newly erected outdoor structures, from the make-shift to the elaborate, and feel a sense of community during nighttime and weekend street closures. The reopening of indoor dining rooms at reduced capacity followed
later in the month, but it was short-lived. Five days later, on July 5, the indoor ban was back in place.
Bistro Viz in San Anselmo had been closed for two years, making its reopening in June all the more rousing. But in November, just as the restaurant was about to unveil a patio update, the owners decided to err on the side of caution and close until at least March.
It wasn’t the pandemic that closed the Sand Dollar, the oldest restaurant in downtown Stinson Beach, in June but damages from an early-morning explosion at a neighboring building. The century- old restaurant remains closed.
The Siren Canteen, set on the dunes above Stinson Beach, has been closed all year but, according to the restaurant’s website, will open again in “a few years” after a large-scale renovation in accordance with the National Park Service.
Sabor a Mexico opened on Fourth Street in San Rafael and was able to take advantage of an uptick in foot traffic from
San Rafael’s Dining Under the Lights on Thursday and Friday evenings. The event helped to revive restaurants along that corridor but nevertheless, Yuzu Ramen & Taproom closed. Tam Commons is on a temporary hold and Iron Springs Public House closed. Iron Springs in Fairfax remains open.
At Larkspur’s Marin Country Mart, Belcampo is no more. And the pandemic pushed Three Twins Ice Cream over the edge. In April, the walk-up shop closed and freezer shelves at grocery stores nationwide were emptied. Wise Sons bagelry is also closed for now.
Cake Art, a dreamy source for all confectioncreating needs for 57 years, cleared out its San Rafael space in July. Checker NY Deli in Novato also closed.
In August, Corte
Madera welcomed organic, fast food and all-vegetarian restaurant Amy’s Drive Thru.
There was action to be found in Tam Junction with two openings. The Junction, an outdoor pizzeria and beer garden, opened its expansive landscaped courtyard over the summer and Red Whale Coffee replaced Starbucks.
At the end of August, Point Reyes Station took a bit hit with the loss of Osteria Stellina, a farmto-table restaurant that sourced from surrounding farms and purveyors for 11 years. An open letter on the website stated, “Due to the COVID virus, as well as many other challenges, including seemingly every natural disaster short of a volcanic eruption, we have made the exceedingly difficult and emotional decision to move on.”
Benissimo had served up classic Italian dishes and pizza across from the town square in Corte Madera for 30 years until it shuttered.
Don Antonio in Tiburon closed, but the Larkspur location remains open.
Boca Tavern in Novato became Crave in early September, a non- COVID-related reinvention from a classic steakhouse menu to locally driven California cuisine.
The team behind the trio of acclaimed Amélie wine bars in San Francisco and New York’s West Village and Upper West Side chose Fairfax to debut their fourth in the former Taste Café space.
Jerry’s Delicatessen & BBQ opened in Novato, but although the backyard beer garden was a draw in the fall, the shift to takeout in early December prompted its temporary closure.
Via Piccola Trattoria replaced Milano’s in the Cove Shopping Center in Tiburon and Bootjack Bakery replaced Bootjack Wood Fired in Mill Valley.
Candy, chocolate and gift boutique SweetE Organic chose to close when its lease ended in Strawberry Village at the end of October.
D.G. Café, a fitting acronym for Defying the Gravity of a pandemic, opened on San Anselmo Avenue.
December brought weather that was relatively conducive to outdoor dining but also a new stay-at-home order that will remain in effect until at least Jan. 4. This squelched hopes for offsetting some of the year’s lost revenue with holiday dining. Let’s hope the temporary closures that resulted don’t become permanent.
With changes happening at a rapid clip, please email me with local updates and follow the Real Deal Marin on Instagram for news on the reveal of a Marin County restaurant search tool that will provide a centralized source for choosing where to eat.
Best wishes for a happy new year that brings government aid and virus-free vitality to the restaurants that feed us so much more than food.
Leanne Battelle is a freelance food writer. Please email her at ij.lbattelle@gmail. com with local food and restaurant news or follow the Marin dining scene at instagram.com/ therealdealmarin.