Pandemic brings permanent restaurant, bar, brewery closings to the Bay Area
It’s no secret that the pandemic-fueled shutdown has devastated the hospitality industry. Here are some of the restaurants, bars, breweries and other food purveyors that have closed for good during the coronavirus pandemic.
BAMBOO SUSHI >> The San Ramon location of the Portland-based sustainable sushi chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 12, saying in a statement that the coronavirus lockdown limited its ability to generate revenue or get financing to make it through the crisis. The company has also launched a sale process.
BENCHMARK >> “Without a strong to-go business, we are unable to break even and adequately care for our employees,” the note on this Oakland pizzeria’s website read in late April. “The end is nowhere in sight, and it is likely that our industry will be forever changed when this is over. We lack the capital to navigate that future.” Benchmark in Kensington remains open for takeout.
CHOCOLATE DREAM BOX >> The coronavirus dealt a blow to this small Los Gatos business during its normally busy season (Easter, Mother’s Day, teacher gifts) so chocolatier Holly Westbrook closed up shop for good. She had been specializing in Belgianstyle, handcrafted chocolates for 26 years.
CLARKE’S CHARCOAL BROILER >> In early April, the owners of Mountain View’s oldest restaurant, Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler, said they couldn’t weather the coronavirus crisis and shut down the business for good. A rustic throwback, the landmark El Camino Real eatery had been serving burgers, fries, barbecue and milkshakes since 1945. According to the posted history, Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler was established by H.W. Clarke and purchased years later by Jim and Liz Blach.
CLEOPHUS QUEALY BEER COMPANY >> This five-year-old San Leandro brewery and taproom announced it would be closing for good via its blog on March 17, the day after Alameda County ordered the shutdown of all nonessential businesses. “These measures are in the best interest of the public and will surely help to protect us all, but we unfortunately can’t weather the storm ahead,” it read.
EMPEROR NORTON’S >> When this Italian restaurant and pizzeria opened in 1975 in San Jose’s Santa Teresa area, the eatery could count among its neighbors plenty of IBM employees and blossoming orchards. The Emperor outlasted the disk-drive factory and most of the fruit trees. But today’s challenging economic climate for restaurants, worsened by the coronavirus crisis, made the business unsustainable, owners Todd and Lauryce Haney said. The restaurant closed April 26.
INDEPENDENT BREWING CO. >> Owner Stephen Mcdaniel launched his Independent Brewing Co., fittingly, on the Fourth of July seven years ago. This past Fourth, he announced “with much mixed emotion” the permanent closing of the Oakland venture. The brewery was the first to establish itself in the Jack London Square area.
LA GUERRERA’S KITCHEN >> Ofelia Barajas and Reyna Maldonado of La Cocina-backed La Guerrera’s Kitchen will not be reopening their Mexican restaurant that shared its space with Aloha Club in Oakland’s Fruitvale District. But they are looking for a bigger location elsewhere in Oakland, according to Eater SF.
LALIME’S >> Berkeley’s Cal-med restaurant of 35 years announced on April 28 via its website that it would be closing its doors permanently. “Covid-19 has made the decision for us,” the message read. The Krikorian family first opened on Solano Avenue in 1985 before moving it to its Gilman Street location in Berkeley in 1988.
MOMO & CURRY >> The Oakland outpost of this Indo-chinese restaurant closed at the end of April. As first reported by Hoodline, a sign on the window thanked customers, stating that the restaurant was not able to make it through shelter-in-place financially. The Concord location remains open for takeout.
NICK’S NEXT DOOR >> Nick Difu, the popular homegrown chef who was equally at home in the kitchen and the front of the house, decided May 21 to “walk away” from his eponymous Nick’s Next Door restaurant in Los Gatos. “This was never my intention but because we are in unprecedented times, I have been forced to make this difficult decision to close. I hope everybody understands,” he wrote.
PRIMA RISTORANTE >> After 43 years, Walnut Creek’s awardwinning Prima Ristorante — an upscale destination for lovers of fine Italian food and wine since 1977 — will close permanently, a victim of these coronavirus times. The decision was announced in early July to customers in a wrenching note from
John Rittmaster, the wine director who in 2005 bought the restaurant with executive chef Peter Chastain. But the wine-shop side of the business, Prima Vini, will live on.
SINO RESTAURANT + LOUNGE >> After 15 years, the upscale dim sum and cocktail lounge Sino shut down permanently in June at Santana Row, the victim of business uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Yeo restaurant group, headed by Chris and Kelly Yeo and their sons Julian and Andrew, said that Sino’s sister restaurant, Straits, which features Singaporean cuisine, will stay open at that San Jose center.
SPECIALTY’S CAFE & BAKERY >> The COVID-19 era concept of working from home dealt a final blow to this restaurant-catering group founded in the Bay Area 33 years ago. The Pleasanton-based chain, whose specialty was serving sandwiches, salads, soup and freshly baked cookies to the weekday lunch crowd and delivering boxed lunches for office meetings, shut down May 19. More than 50 locations in California, Washington and Illinois were affected.
SWEET TOMATOES >> The 97 restaurants of the Sweet Tomatoes and Souplantation chain — known for their 50-foot-long salad bars and serve-yourself soup, pasta and pizza stations — closed permanently because of the coronavirus crisis. “I’m not sure the health departments are ever going to allow” buffets and salad bars again, CEO John Haywood said May 7.
THE LEDE >> Cal Peternell’s lunch spot, which opened in September in the Oakland coworking-andproduction space Studiotobe, announced via Instagram that the restaurant is closing after the landlord canceled its lease. “We have to close. Thanks for all the support. Here’s to better days,” it says. The Lede is now popping up at Cafe Encina in Oakland on Thursdays and Fridays.
TARTINE >> The San Franciscobased bakery located inside Berkeley’s Graduate Hotel closed in late April 24 after only seven months when employees received a letter telling them that the Graduate Hotel “has ended their contract with Tartine” citing “business decline” and “COVID-19,” according to an Instagram post by tartineunion, a group of employees trying to unionize the bakery’s Bay Area employees. The news was first reported by Berkeleyside’s Nosh.
VIOGNIER >> It’s a rare grocery store that features an elegant restaurant on the second floor. But that’s what the family-owned Draeger’s Market gave Peninsula customers when they opened a store in downtown San Mateo in 1997 with chef Gary Danko at the helm. The family announced the permanent closing in late May, citing the pandemic’s impact on fine dining.
WORTH GROUP >> In June, Tri-valley restaurateur Rodney Worth shuttered Worth Ranch in San Ramon and Prickly Pear Cantina in Danville, citing that the coronavirus pandemic and the state’s “harsh business climate” contributed to his decision. He said that the fallout from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. power shutoffs in late 2019 also contributed to his decision to close.