With restrictions eased, Petaluma welcomes back indoor dining

Nearly every morning since mid-July, Harish Chowdhary inspected the rows of linen-draped tables at Petaluma’s Ambrosia Indian Cuisine restaurant. He laid pairs of polished silverware, folded crisp white cloth napkins, and placed votive candles along nearby shelves.

For eight months, Chowdhary, the restaurant’s owner, meticulously set dozens of tables for diners he knew weren’t coming. The county remained locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and his restaurant sat empty.

“We wanted to give a good impression,” Chowdhary said. “So people could see when they come in, or see through the windows, that this is a restaurant. That we are ready to go.”

Some mornings, after days of meager sales, he asked himself if it was worth it. His answer came Sunday, when the county reopened for indoor activities and he could once again invite diners into his 100-seat restaurant, even if limited to 25% capacity.

Ambrosia Indian Cuisine opened June 1 of last year, and although Chowdhary was able to erect an outdoor dining space in the parking lot, business remained shaky. He relied on friends and family to staff the kitchen and help with a growing outdoor dining crowd. They were allowed to open briefly last summer when restrictions temporarily eased, but that translated to just four days of indoor service, Chowdhary said, barely a blip for restaurant profits.

“Since then, today is the first day we have had seven tables filled with people,“ he said Sunday afternoon. “Just today, we have 35 or 40 reservations. The support from the community has been amazing. We are so thankful to be able to be open.“

Unlike most neighboring Bay Area counties, Sonoma County had been stuck in the most restrictive stage of the state’s four-stage coronavirus reopening plan since the summer.

But after California reached 2 million vaccinations among the state’s poorest residents Friday, state officials authorized Sonoma County and a dozen others to move into the red tier from purple, allowing for expanded indoor activities. Restaurants are now allowed to open indoors at one-quarter normal capacity, but not exceeding 100 people. Movie theaters and gyms are also eligible to open for the first time in months.

The news came as a sigh of relief for Petaluma restaurant owners struggling to keep their businesses open with limited outdoor dining capacity and months of takeout-only options.

At Pho Sonoma on Sunday afternoon, about a dozen patrons nursed steaming bowls of broth and noodles as co-owner Bây-Cang Nguyen darted from table to table at the downtown Petaluma restaurant. He had been closely monitoring the case rates in neighboring counties, he said, and expected Sonoma County would soon give him the green light to serve indoors.

“It feels exciting,” he said. “I can tell that people have a lot less fear when they come in. Last time we could open in the summer for a little bit, people were not as confident as they are now.”

He spent Saturday roping off several tables and booths to ensure distancing, and jotted down the first few dinner reservations he’s had in eight months.

Nguyen said he and his entire staff are vaccinated as well, offering another layer of protection and assurance that they did not have in June, when the county last loosened restrictions. Although that prior experience in the red tier lasted less than a month, Nguyen said he’s betting that the county won’t slip backward. He’s looking to hire some more help soon, he said.

“Especially for us, it has been hard. We’re in the heart of Petaluma and my rent is very high, but we couldn’t utilize our space,” he said. “We have been earning 20 or 25% less because of the pandemic. People tend to order more in-person, and we earn more money when people order drinks.”

But not all dining rooms were open Sunday. Some owners, like Noel Milo of Brixx, needed more than a day to prepare. At the downtown pizzeria, Milo had been forced to turn much of his intimate dining area into makeshift storage for towers of to-go containers and pizza boxes.

After a handful of abrupt shutdowns – the most recent one in December – Milo said he’s been keeping inventory low as a measure of financial prudence. As a result, he needed a few extra days before welcoming patrons back for cocktails and deep-dish pizzas.

On the east side of Highway 101, Scowley’s Burgers’ 45 indoor seats haven’t been used since the restaurant opened in October, and they will continue to sit empty for at least another few weeks.

Owner Robert Gaustad said he isn’t comfortable inviting diners inside until his six employees are vaccinated.

“My feeling is, sure, I have lost a fortune already opening during the pandemic, not being able to build a customer base, but I’d rather lose money than lose an employee,” he said. “I’ve been trying to get my staff vaccinated for weeks, but it’s been really hard to get it for them.”

He’s hopeful in three weeks to a month his staff will be fully vaccinated, but until then, he will continue to offer takeout only and four outdoor dining seats.

While many restaurants expect the relaxed restrictions will drastically increase profits, owners at Aqus Café say the measured reopening won’t quickly boost their bottom line. Tucked away in the Foundry Wharf district, much of Aqus’ pre-pandemic profits came from its highly popular community events, concerts, lectures and meetups.

Lesley McCullaugh, the cafe’s co-owner and manager, said she doesn’t expect to transition back to in-person events before the end of the year. Without those draws, she said, traffic remains a fraction of what is was before.

From January 2020 to January 2021, McCullaugh says Aqus Café saw revenues drop 65% to 75%. But residents and loyal regulars have buoyed the business, snapping up $25,000 in gift cards - most of which haven’t yet been redeemed.

“Most people seem to be happy that we’re back open, but it’s all about people’s different comfort levels, too,” she said.

As gray clouds gave way to a cold rain late Sunday, a handful of patrons happily took advantage of a few indoor tables.

In a cozy corner of the café, San Francisco resident Guin McCoy raised his glass of Chardonnay for a toast with friend and Petaluma resident Lisa Hirsch.

“Salut!” McCoy said. “Welcome back indoors!”

It was a day to celebrate for Hirsch, 50, a psychologist by trade who was newly vaccinated. Once the pandemic swept into Sonoma County, Hirsch went into strict isolation, advised by doctors to be extra careful due to her autoimmune disease. She rarely left the house, completely avoiding grocery stores and working virtually as much as possible. She dined outside once when her daughter came home from college, she said, but the experience was ruined by her anxiety and a feeling of general unease.

On Sunday, the one-year anniversary since the county recorded the first case of community spread, Hirsch felt like she could finally relax. For that long-awaited first sip of a draft Lagunitas beer, she went straight to her favorite spot.

“I wrote my entire dissertation here in Aqus,” she said, pointing to her go-to tables. “It was the only place I could get out of the house, I had four kids living with me at the time. It was paradise coming here, and I would come here all the time. I was last here a few days before things shut down.”

As Hirsch chatted, co-owner John Crowley stopped by the table to welcome her back, instantly recognizing the face of a regular.

“It’s so great to be here,” she told him. “It’s the feeling of being safe, you know? It’s like we’re finally reaching the top of the mountain.”

(Contact Kathryn Palmer at kathryn.palmer@arguscourier.com, on Twitter @KathrynPlmr.)