“Every seat outside would help.” Creative solutions surface to aid a beleaguered industry. Two pedestrians walk down Santa Cruz Avenue past Roma in downtown Menlo Park. (Photo by Magali Gauthier) Cities up and down the Midpeninsula are considering temporarily closing their downtown streets to traffic to give restaurants and other businesses more outdoor space to safely serve customers when they’re allowed to reopen. The cities, including Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Redwood City, ...
Read MoreSome Venus flytraps wait patiently for a tasty fly lunch. (Image via Johanna Hickle) Take a break from the Corona-verse via a tour of Half Moon Bay’s best (& only) carnivorous plant emporium Josh Brown’s plants have needles, teeth and tentacles, and he loves them all (except the Venus fly trap) As an underclassman at Stanford University, Josh Brown cultivated a thriving terrarium with LED lights under his dorm room bed. “People thought I was growing ...
Read MoreSupport your favorite eatery and avoid the supermarket crowds. Original Joe’s ravioli, sauces and other foods available for pickup and delivery. (Photo via Original Joe’s FB page) In a sign of the times, Palo Alto’s venerable Sundance the Steakhouse now sells toilet paper alongside filet mignon and ribeye steaks. The 45-year-old steakhouse, closed to in-person dining during the shutdown, has pivoted to serving boxes of raw meat and seafood for customers to cook at home, ...
Read MoreVirtual pizza making? Instagram live cocktail hour? During COVID-19, local businesses turn to online classes For local bars, bakers and breweries, virtual classes provide connection — and maybe even survival. Tian Mayimin of Little Sky Bakery in Menlo Park demonstrates how to make pizza at home during a free Zoom class on Friday, April 10. I’ve never met Tian Mayimin of Little Sky Bakery, but on a recent afternoon I watched her make pizza from scratch in ...
Read MoreLongtime Mountain View market owner offers six ideas for how to help small businesses during COVID-19 Guest opinion by Steve Rasmussen Steve Rasmussen, owner of the Milk Pail Market, poses for a portrait in the grocery store with his daughters Erika and Kai on June 4, 2019. (Photo by Magali Gauthier) Small businesses add pizzazz and vibrancy to our lives. Keeping restaurants, nail salons, day care centers and other small local businesses alive through ...
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