••• Here’s the full statement from Sherry Villanueva, managing partner of Acme Hospitality (The Lark, Loquita, Paradise Cafe, Tyger Tyger, Lucky Penny, Pearl Social, and Helena Avenue Bakery):
We are all navigating uncharted waters in these turbulent times but I am confident that the strength and resiliency of our Acme family and our greater Santa Barbara community will carry us through. The health and safety of our teams, our guests, our businesses and our community are our absolute highest priority. In light of government mandates and the scientific evidence we now know about the threat and spread of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily close our restaurants until we believe it is safe to reopen. We hope these actions will a positive impact on reducing the spread of coronavirus in our beloved community as we all face this challenging situation together.
We’ve arrived at this decision after carefully weighing our sense of responsibility to the health and welfare of our community with the serious financial impacts that these temporary closures will have on our business and on everyone on our team. Our intent is to emerge from this temporary closure in a position to be able to pick up where we left off and once again bring the outstanding hospitality and meaningful connection that we are known for back to our guests.
••• Also temporarily closing: Stella Mare’s and Le Café Stella. But “we are working on a temporary transitional concept, A Stella’s Curb Side Meal program, aimed at providing the community with home-cooked safe meals, picked up curbside under extreme sanitation rules and guidelines. We will remain present and active in the community in any way or form
possible-details to follow.” —Restaurant Guy
••• The Daisy is no longer offering dine-in service, but you can get food to go, and delivery will be an option soon.
••• I bought a $50 gift card to Café Ana online, to help them now. Perhaps all of us could pick a few restaurants to support this way.
••• Sama Sama Kitchen is still open, and I highly recommend buying a jar of sambal tomat—it’s sure to liven up all those canned beans or whatever else you’re cooking these days. Calling ahead to make sure they have it available is not a bad idea.
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