A longtime Palo Alto restaurant has reopened for takeout after initially planning to shut down until 2021, while an Italian eatery has ended dine-in service for the foreseeable future and the chefs of Maum have departed.
MacArthur Park
After an “overwhelming response” from customers who were dismayed at the news earlier this month that MacArthur Park would be shuttering until 2021, the longtime Palo Alto restaurant reopened for takeout only, said spokesperson Michael Davis.
“Our loyal customers were asking us to please keep curbside delivery and to go open,” he wrote in an email. “It’s so heartwarming to have seen all the support we have had over the years so for now we will carry on with this until we can open our in-dining again, when this pandemic is better controlled.”
MacArthur Park had announced that Aug. 8, would be its last day of business until next year, citing “challenging economics” and the health and safety of customers and staff. Davis said the last two days of business, MacArthur Park’s outdoor patio was “packed.” They decided a few days later to bring back takeout.
The to-go menu includes several salads, tri-tip, baby back pork ribs, barbecued and fried chicken, a burger and kids’ dishes.
The 27 University Ave. restaurant, which opened in 1981, is serving food to go Tuesday-Saturday from 4-8 p.m., via curbside pickup or delivery.
Maum
Two months after pivoting to a retail operation and a year after winning their first Michelin star, the co-chefs of Maum in Palo Alto, Meichih and Michael Kim, decided to “part ways” with the Korean fine-dining restaurant.
“Maum was a labor of love, 7 years in the making. Maum was the creation of patience, dedication, perseverance, and passion. And most importantly, Maum was the people: our generous partners, dedicated team, local purveyors, supportive friends and family, and of course, our wonderful guests and patrons,” they wrote in Instagram posts. “We are proud of the elevated Korean cuisine we brought to Silicon Valley.”
Meichih said she didn’t have any further comment. They’re “closing the books on this chapter and thinking of what’s next,” she wrote in an email.
The restaurant’s weekly newsletter, sent out Aug. 16, said that “we have been forced to go in a different direction to try and achieve sustainability under these unpredictable circumstances. With this change, we will be parting ways with Chefs Michael & Meichih Kim.”
Charles Chen, a consultant with Maum, said in an interview that the decision was a financial one as the long-term future of the University Avenue business remains uncertain.
This marks another major, pandemic-forced change for Maum, which is owned by venture capitalist Brian Koo and his wife Grace. The restaurant shut down in March, briefly reopened for takeout in May and then shifted to selling Korean cooking essentials, meal kits, specialty food items and produce from its private farm in Los Altos Hills.
Maum was born as a high-end private dining space before opening to the public in 2018. Less than a year later, the Kims won their first Michelin star.
Chen said they didn’t consider offering outdoor dining because they felt there was no way to replicate the Maum experience of an intricate Korean tasting menu served at a 16-seat communal table.
The transition from fine-dining into retail is challenging both operationally and financially, he said. Restaurateurs are learning on the fly how to package and produce items and how much volume is needed to be sustainable.
Maum will sell the rest of some housemade Korean items that had already been prepared, Chen said, as well as imported goods from Korea and Japan.
But moving forward, the space will focus on selling baked goods and confections, operating as an “incubator” for local bakers.
This includes Chen himself. Maum was one of the first pickup locations for his now wildly popular Japanese-inspired Basque cheesecakes, as well as handmade soba noodles and tofu from Soba Ichi in Oakland.
Maum recently added naturally leavened bagels from Midnite Bagel, a pop-up started in San Francisco by Nick Beitche, the former head bread baker at Tartine Bakery. Maum will offer three flavors — plain, cinnamon raisin and a buckwheat and black sesame.
Chen is in talks with Peninsula baker John Shelsta of Love for Butter and San Francisco pastry chef Angela Pinkerton, who launched a roving pie pop-up during the shutdown.
On Instagram, the Kims wrote that they’re not sure what they’ll do next professionally.
“As the restaurant and hospitality industry continues to suffer, we encourage those that can to support your local favorite restaurants — they are the lifeblood of our communities and foster meaningful memories,” they wrote.
Vino Enoteca
Saturday night marked the last dinner service at Vina Enoteca in Palo Alto for the foreseeable future.
Rocco Scordella, who with his wife Shannon opened the Italian restaurant on the edge of the Stanford University campus in 2016, decided it’s time to rethink the concept of running a 200-seat, full-service restaurant in the age of COVID-19.
“We built a restaurant to hold events, rehearsal dinners, weddings, a place to celebrate and have a party!! But things have obviously changed and that space is obsolete looking forward,” they wrote in an Instagram post on Aug. 14. “We need to rethink how that vision can still exist but in a new and safer way. This decision does not come easy but it’s a necessary one to preserve our business.”
Scordella is still figuring out what “Vina 2.0” will look like, but he knows he wants to create a business model that can thrive amid the new realities of pandemic dining, and that’s more equitable for its employees. When Vina Enoteca reopens for dine-in service, he plans to share tips equally between front and back of house staff.
“It’s time to change the whole restaurant in the sense of what we’re doing and how we pay people,” he said. “I think the restaurant business needed a wake-up call.”
The pandemic has underscored long-standing pressures and inequities in the restaurant industry, with many industry leaders calling for legislative relief and systemic change.
Scordella, a native of Italy, described the United States’ tipping system as “antiquated.” He pointed to Menlo Park’s Flea St. Cafe as a local example of doing that successfully. During the pandemic, the restaurant shifted to sharing tips between the front and back of house — “to reboot what was a broken system of unequal pay and gratuity distribution,” owner Jesse Cool said. All hourly employees make minimum wage and receive the same amount from tips according to the number of hours they work.
Vina Enoteca was among the first local restaurants to close temporarily in mid-March, shortly before being required to do so. It reopened slowly, first with takeout a few days a week and then in June for outdoor dining. The owners also worked to “reinvent” the restaurant by creating new offerings, from Zoom wine tastings and pasta-making classes to meal kits and frozen pizzas. Early in the shutdown, they created a meals donation program to feed health care workers and keep staff employed.
The online classes, as well as Vina Enoteca’s wine club, will continue. Scordella also hopes to sell more frozen items as well as host small, socially distanced wine dinners at the restaurant.
Scordella said the decision to temporarily end dine-in service was wrenching, particularly for the employees who are losing their jobs.
There’s been a few times when he’s looked around the empty dining room, and “it kind of hits you,” he said. “You cry it out and you keep thinking positive.”
Scordella’s first, more casual restaurant, Tootsie’s at the Stanford Barn in Palo Alto, will remain open.
Email Elena Kadvany at ekadvany@paweekly.com
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