Indoor dining resumes in Napa and Marin counties

NAPA — For many Napa County restaurants, getting the go-ahead to resume indoor dining late last month couldn’t have come at a better time.

As they began hosting guests again inside on Aug. 31, smoke from the Hennessey and Walbridge fires still hung over Wine Country. And by the following week, new wildfires burning up and down the West Coast had fouled the air so badly in the area that continuing outdoor food and beverage service was for the most part not feasible.

“With the smoke, it was really nice to have that option for our guests again,” said Allison Hallum, general manager at Eiko’s Sushi and Napa Noodles. “To be able to offer an indoor option definitely made a difference in the business.”

While only able to operate indoors at 25% seating capacity, and with no more than 100 customers, restaurants in North Bay counties that have advanced to the second stage of the state’s new business reopening plan during the pandemic have begun taking advantage of the relaxed restrictions. With still widespread virus transmission in Sonoma County, restaurateurs remain limited to only serving outside.

Restaurant owners and managers in Napa and in Marin County, which got the green light for indoor dining on Tuesday, say there’s a steady stream of consumers eager to dine inside despite risks posed by the highly contagious virus. But many eateries still are relying on to-go orders and outdoor patios to make up for limited indoor seating.

The recent loosening of restrictions on indoor dining in parts of the North Bay came as new evidence pointed to restaurants as a potential hot spot for virus transmission. A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that COVID-19 patients were twice as likely to have visited a restaurant in the past two weeks before becoming ill than those who had not tested positive for the virus. The report didn’t distinguish between indoor and outdoor dining.

In anticipation of resuming indoor service in June ― when pandemic restrictions were briefly lifted before a spike of virus infections led Gov. Gavin Newsom to halt indoor dining throughout most of the state ― Hallum invested about $15,000 in Japanese shoji-style partitions at Eikos to help protect diners from being to close to other tables. Since opening its dining room about two weeks ago, the restaurant can now host up to 37 people inside, down from 143 before the pandemic, in addition to 56 guests outdoors.

“It’s still not where we want to be, but we are grateful to have the option and to be able to split it up,” Hallum said of serving inside and outside. “We’re really happy to have the combination of both, because there are still people who aren’t ready to dine inside but want to support restaurants.”

On Wednesday at lunchtime in downtown Napa, it appeared nearly all restaurants along First and Main streets had their dining rooms open for indoor dining. Many also offered outdoor seating, with tables and chairs on the sidewalks. It was a warm late summer day and the wildfire smoke finally had cleared, so it seemed most people opted to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.

Allison Gottwalt, general manager of the Rutherford Grill in the Napa Valley, said the upscale restaurant’s limited indoor tables have been filling up since reopening. Still, takeout orders remain a crucial part of its business.

“This is much better than the alternative, than what we were doing during shelter-in-place,” Gottwalt said of the months of having to rely only on takeout and outdoor service.

Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase declined to give an estimate of when the county can suppress the spread of COVID-19 enough to be able to progress to further commercial reopening and join neighboring Napa and Marin counties in the resumption of indoor food and drink service at eateries, wineries and brewpubs.

Napa County Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Relucio attributed her county’s progress in tamping down the coronavirus in part to the region’s relatively low population density. Also, she said most local businesses and residents have been mindful to follow public health regulations.

“We have a lot of residents who wear face coverings, practice physical distancing and are minimizing mixing,” Relucio said in email.

Sam Joens, a lawyer who works in downtown Napa, was glad to be able to eat lunch inside at Taqueria Rosarita near his office, when the air quality in the area recently deteriorated because of smoke from wildland blazes. He said diners at the family Mexican establishment dutifully wear masks, when they’re not eating, and are respectful of keeping enough distance apart.

“Everywhere I go, everyone’s really cautious about spacing,” Joens said of dining out in the Napa area.

Mick Salyer, owner of Zuzu and La Taberna in downtown Napa, said he’s noticed a difference in attitude toward public health rules between locals and tourists, who have been returning to Wine Country despite the recent fires and smoky air.

“Some people from Texas or Florida get annoyed,” Salyer said, of mask wearing and other public health mandates. “But most people agree, even if they don’t like it.”

Marin County just days ago allowed restaurants, gyms, hair salons and other businesses to resume indoors with modifications. County Public Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis said local officials will do contact tracing to determine if those who test positive for COVID-19 have recently eaten at restaurants. Willis said he is prepared to enforce “selective closures” of businesses if they’re found to be the site of virus outbreaks.

“If I have any concerns as a public officer about the progress of moving from Tier 1 to Tier 2 (of business reopenings), it’s that people might misunderstand that progress as freedom to relax when actually we even have more responsibility now to do everything we can to limit transmission,” Willis said, adding he is confident most local residents will continue to follow public health rules.

Susan Anderson, manager at Rickey’s Restaurant in Novato, said she’s hopeful this time reopening indoor dining will endure. Anderson said Rickey’s is continuing its patio service, while serving up to 40 people in its dining room and bar area.

“We, like restaurant owners everywhere, are worried about rules changing, but we’re cautiously optimistic we’ll be able to stay open (by following local and state public health protocols),” Anderson said.

Salyer, the restaurant owner in downtown Napa, has been cautious about reopening indoors, waiting until after the Labor Day weekend to set up a handful of tables inside his two restaurants. The city has allowed Salyer to expand the restaurants’ patio service onto the sidewalks, which helps bring in more business. But he’s unsure how much longer he can count on serving most guests outside.

“We have just such a small window, though, because this is a wind corridor, and it does get cold here,” he said. “So we’ll see what happens this winter.”

You can reach Staff Writer Ethan Varian at ethan.varian@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5412. On Twitter @ethanvarian