••• San Ysidro Ranch announced that “Plow & Angel will be temporarily closed beginning Monday, March 16,” as a result of Covid-19. But the Stonehouse remains open, with adjustments: “The Stonehouse Restaurant will be accepting reservations and walk-in guests from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. every evening featuring a special menu of Ranch favorites. As we continue to welcome guests to the Ranch, the Stonehouse will continue to serve lunch Monday through Saturday, and Champagne Brunch on Sunday. ” To my knowledge, it was the first instance of a restaurant around here closing because of Covid-19.
••• The second: Field + Fort in Summerland. “We have made the difficult decision to close Field + Fort temporarily out of an abundance of caution for the physical and mental health of our employees, their families, our customers, and our community. Effective Monday morning, March 16, we will be closed for two weeks. We will continue to monitor the evolving situation and reevaluate all over the coming days.”
••• “Restaurant, wine bar and wine retail shop Pico at the Los Alamos General Store is back in the saddle, after taking a moment to retool its eatery and menu concept.” And there’s a “new executive chef, Chef John Wayne Formica, affectionately known as the ‘Traveling Cowboy Chef,’ at the helm. The updated space boasts an enhanced dining room experience and a new tasting lounge for adjacent business, Lumen Wines.” —Santa Ynez Valley News
••• Riviera Bread says you can send it a direct message on Instagram for “for more info [about] contact-less pickup day. I know we’re all concerned about keeping some distance, while still having access to food. Buying direct from small businesses, growers and producers significantly reduces the number of hands in contact with your food. The local food economy needs your continued support in order to ensure their sustainability.”
••• Speaking of bread, Bossie’s Kitchen is selling its sourdough and brioche loaves for $12 each. Order in advance by emailing or calling 805-770-1700. And the restaurant would like you to remember that the whole menu is available to go, “including our rotisserie chicken dinner: dinner for four includes a whole rotisserie chicken and four individual sides for $50; dinner for two includes a half rotisserie chicken and two individual sides for $25.”
••• And at Bree’osh: “Breads available tomorrow at Bree’Osh Montecito with a choice of: country sourdough, rye loaves, baguettes, brioche loaves and buckwheat ciabatta. We also take breads pre order for next week at [email protected] or over the phone 805-969-2500 or by text 805-705-7415.” The post on Instagram details the ways you can order other food from Bree’osh, including via Restaurant Connection delivery starting Tuesday.
••• Takeout and delivery are going to be crucial for many restaurants in coming months. GrubHub Seamless announced that it is “deferring commission fees for impacted independent restaurants,” which is a small step in the right direction from a company that has made very bad decisions in the past. (Slashing the commission fees would mean much more; GrubHub Seamless stands to do very well in an environment where orders are way, way up.) To really help a restaurant, call directly—and not via the phone number listed on GrubHub.
••• Here’s some takeout/delivery inspiration for you: Bettina‘s new English pea pizza. The weather outside says winter, but the peas say otherwise.
••• And just to drill home how much restaurants need us to not just drop out entirely, a note from the owners of Café Ana:
If you follow us—or any local restaurant—on Instagram, then you’ve seen the messages reminding our patrons of our normal standards of cleanliness and our pledge to continue to deliver beyond that. To protect our guests and staff we’ve mandated that anyone experiencing any symptoms of illness go home, increased our regular daily cleaning schedule, and are wiping down door handles, counter tops, table tops, chair backs, etc. after each guest. In addition, we are respecting social distancing protocols by seating guests 6 ft apart from each other.
We are doing all that we can to ensure a healthy and safe environment, however, the impact on our business is apparent and the future of it remains unknown. We are asking you to please help us (and all local businesses) through this difficult time by continuing to patronize our establishment in anyway that you are comfortable with.
Pick-up Orders – We have updated our online menus. Please call us to order for pick-up, we can have your order ready with minimal social contact.
Online Gift Card Purchase – We’ve made it easy to purchase a gift card online so that you can support us now and enjoy us later!
Dine-In – We can offer you a safe and clean space to get out of your house. If you’re comfortable going out, join us! If it’s one of our services where we accept reservations (Brunch and Dinner), please do make one. It helps us anticipate staffing and inventory orders so that we can maximize our margins for the day (every little bit counts right now).
And we ask that you please bear with us, if we’ve decreased our staff for the day due to decreased business and we receive an unexpected bump in business (YAY!) we may be a little slower in delivering than we would normally be. We apologize in advance but it’s very difficult to plan efficiently when the world has been flipped upside down (you feel this too, we know!).
We can all get through this together. Let’s help each other out through this horrible time—if even from a distance. Thank you for your support.
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