Saw this article about one of my palo alto restaurants considering closing due to COVID.
( Pasting the original link instead of Eater because eater picked it up a day later )
Anyone else hear about permanent closures in this direction?
I wouldn’t be surprised if more follows. I went twice to Noodle King in downtown Mountain View recently on Saturday evenings. Barely anybody in the dining room. And they said the line was out the door before the news started ramping up.
And I needed to post about them too, the food deserves some love.
I think Chinese restaurants are especially hard hit because the Chinese population is particularly sensitive to the news given the lockdown in Wuhan.
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I am now making a point to order all my take-out from chinese places.
Don’t know what I would do if Crouching Tiger or Edgewood Chef Zhao folded. I mean, there’s a few more that could take up the slack, but I really like Crouching Tiger. The menu is broad enough to not be boring, slightly americanized so as not to be a challenge every time, and they have big dishes, a moderate price, and parking right near the back door so I can sneak in and sneak out without hassle ( I like that about Blue Line on Castro too… you can do pick-ups from the back door ).
I have heard a rumor that Zen Peninsula is closing? It seems they have just a 3-star on Yelp which always makes things harder.
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Girlfriend says we hit Ramen Nagi soon, with the theory that a Ramen place might get swept up in the hysteria. ( Just so you don’t take it the wrong way, she knows Japan and China are really really really different, she has a low opinion of the general population, suggesting most people would confuse Japan and China ).
If you’re still eating out, now’s the time to hit up places that might have had long lines before but are now walk-ins with no line. We enjoyed a meal at DTF the other day, without waiting. Ramen Nagi in the mall (not the PA location) still had a very long line the other day. Some places seem immune to this all.
When you have a chance, would you mind starting a Crouching Tiger thread, listing some of your favorite things? BTW, combing through ABC documents, I learned they also own Hidden Sichuan in Elk Grove and one of the places in the Fremont area too.
The Chron is linking the Peony closure in Oakland to COVID, saying that the “circumstances” for the “hiatus” are that.
My local cafe, Zoe, has move to take-out only, will shorten their hours a bit, and cancel all their evening events. I think I read Cafe Barrone is doing short hours as well.
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A bunch of places have or will temporarily close soon.
I am thinking that any restaurants who were already struggling before COVID are probably going to call it quits these days, with COVID being the final nail in the coffin.
Great China in Berkeley is closed for dine-in, but silver lining: they’re still doing take-out (limited hours) and they’re now on Caviar for delivery too (enjoying lunch now): https://www.trycaviar.com/m/great-china-18413
ETA: just saw that the subject says Palo Alto. Feel free to move this or break out into a new thread. I’d love a list of restaurants we can support with delivery or who have changed their dining models due to COVID-19 so that we can support them while we’re practicing social distancing with the kids at home (our schools/extracurriculars, etc. are all closed for three weeks…)
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@bbulkow can we change the heading so its not specific to Palo Alto? Since the closures are probably applicable to the entire industry.
Great China on Caviar was short-lived. They suspended all operations, as of today - Tuesday, March 17th. We had it for lunch on Saturday, great while it lasted.
On the bright side, Mägo Restaurant in Piedmont just opened for takeout/delivery. Interested in checking out their offerings as we enjoyed a few dinners there last year.
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We’re not near the South Bay, but if we were, this would be on my list to try:
Manresa Family Meal To-Go
Menu on Instagram
As this is fast moving, it seems like no longer should be have COVID closures, but COVID still-open.
Today, I think at 5pm Friday 3/20, California made legal delivery cocktails. Yet, despite my persistence, I could not find a bar willing to purvey me a delivery cocktail. I had to make do with one of my old recipes, from the late 90’s, which I dubbed the Americano - it has too much of everything. I made this back in the internet boom ( first internet boom? ), when I was wealthy and happy.
Brian’s Americano
Juice of 1/2 lemon, fresh, meyer preferred
Juice of 1/2 lime, fresh ( kind of a dry lime? F it, do both halves )
1.5 jigger of strong whiskey, such as Wild Turkey 101, do not substitute a sippin’ bourbon
1 jigger of cointreau
A quick tip of cherry juice, from good cherries
One large bar spoon of granulated sugar ( simple syrup if you have it )
Several shakes of the best orange-based bitters you have, fee brothers, etc
2 good cherries ( luxardo or better ), although I’ve also done it with Bright Red Merican Marichinos, which fits the mood
Shaken hard, 20 full seconds, into an iced martini glass ( a “classic coupe” is too small ), should come exactly to the rim and need to be “sipped off” before serving.
( Because although I like the “sidecar shaker” thing, it’s a little pretentious, no? )
When done right, this is like a Turbo Sidecar. It still has the lightness of the sidecar, despite the stronger whiskey. You can almost taste all the things, but the stronger tastes of everything else overwhelms even a 101 Wild Turkey.
I believe my masked visit to the Safeway this evening has me buying Lillet; it’s the one element of the essential Corpse Reviver #2 which I do not stock normally.
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