Ian Golba Food and Drink Editor
Late last week, the Mesa County Health Department and city officials met to discuss the final plans for how the Grand Valley will follow the governor’s Safer at Home encouragement. Once everything was said and done, the local government came to a decision that would allow restaurants to open at 30% of their max occupancy according to fire code. Although there were initial hesitations for some restaurant owners about the worthwhileness of opening with these restrictions, having customers in seats is a welcome sight.
As our favorite spots start to shift back into table service, there are still some restrictions any restaurant goer should know.
- To comply with the statewide restriction against opening waiting areas and lines, food service establishments have been advised to practice reservation-only seating and to use text messaging or apps to let customers know when their table is ready.
- Customers are also required to wear face coverings from the time they enter the building to the time they are seated at their table.
- Servers and kitchen staff are required to wear face coverings and maintain strict glove and handwashing procedures.
In covering these changes, The Daily Sentinal reported that there might be some hesitation for reopening dining rooms at 30% capacity by local restaurant owners. “It definitely wouldn’t be enough to cover the bills…” mentioned Lisa Bondurant, Manager of No Coast sushi. “The people that we have coming in are great clients, we love to see them here. So we’re mostly doing that [opening dine-in] for them.”
Lisa also mentioned that the Colorado Restaurant Association was expecting to see upwards of 50% of orders still being to-go. But even with their A+ health rating, No Coast is still taking extra precautions, “There are a few small things we have never done before, like wiping down boxes… bottle and cans with sanitize solution… we did bathroom checks every hour but they’re going to be every 15 minutes, and even more often than that…”
It is also important to mention there are some exceptions to the face mask requirement, as long as servers are keeping with social distancing. As Lisa mentioned, “In the regulations, it does say that if somebody has trouble breathing that they do not have to wear their mask at all times.”
No Coast will be opening their dining room Monday, May 11th but if you’ve got a hankering for sushi before then, curbside pick up as well as make-your-own margarita kits and other make-at-home treats will also be available even through the reopening of the dining room.
Over at The Goat and Clover on Main St. regulars were eager for their favorite bites with a great turn out during the first few days of these exemptions. Manager Brooke made it clear that their motivation was to oblige their customers as much as possible, “Our outlook on it is as long as we can get our patients back in as soon possible to make them happy, then we keep our business going up. It’s really just about the guest at this point… People tend to seem really happy to be coming in and we’ve been busy.”
These regulations seem to be easily followed for the restaurants here in the valley, “Multiple glove changes, washing hands more than is required. Basically just tightening up on rule that we already implicated and making sure we’re taking extra steps to meet those.” Brooke said.
The Goat and Clover would also like their customers to know that happy hour is still on from 2 pm to 7 pm with daily brunch and lunch specials. A 5-hour happy hour? This might be the longest in town!
The Mesa County Health Department is in constant contact with all of the restaurant owners in the city and has taken great measures to work with food service establishments and figure out the best solutions possible. Lisa from No Coast mentioned, “We know as an industry … we really appreciate that we have the option to open or not. I think that’s wonderful, I really appreciate that they left that up to the restaurants, rather than having demands and saying ‘You will open at this capacity.’”
This sentiment is also extended to the citizens of Mesa County. Nearly all restaurants will still be offering to-go and curbside delivery throughout the shifts back to business as usual.
Both No Coast and The Goat and Clover wanted to send a thank you to all their customers who have supported them through this time. Shopping local and supporting independently-owned establishments are a great way to help strengthen our local economy while also enjoying the best of what Junction has to offer!
For a complete break down of the new state exemptions visit: https://covid19.colorado.gov/safer-at-home
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