Restaurants adapt and overcome

As COVID-19 wanes, many local bars and eateries see an uptick in business

Restaurants and bars in Mountain Brook — like most small businesses in America — were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted our lives in 2020.

Beginning in March 2020, restaurateurs had to close their indoor dining for nearly two months.

Even after reopening in May, eateries had to adhere to a 50% seating capacity and observe other safety protocols meant to slow the spread of the virus.

Some of the restaurants in Mountain Brook “are having a very rough time and need all the support they can get,” Aimee Castro of Sol Y Luna Tapas and Tequila told Village Living in September 2020.

“We fight every day to continue to be able to feed this community,” said Christie Lowe, the owner of Bobby Carl’s Table — now called Evelyn’s Southern Fare — in English Village last year.

And numerous restaurants in the Birmingham area, including some well-known establishments, closed in 2020, with many owners citing COVID-19 as a factor.

Casualties included Sneaky Pete’s in Mountain Brook Village, as well as Jason’s Deli, Brio Tuscan Grille and Cocina Superior at Brookwood Village.

However, restaurant and bar owners in Mountain Brook, like the other emall merchants in town, adapted quickly and used such methods as curbside pickup to continue serving customers.

Some received financial help in the form of federal Paycheck Protection Plan loans.

The city of Mountain Brook and the Chamber of Commerce did all they could to help, according to many local restaurateurs and merchants.

And most of all, the restaurateurs didn’t give up.

“I firmly believe that there is not a single thing you can’t get through,” Lowe said recently.

“You must move forward,” she added.

So where does the restaurant community in Mountain Brook stand now, as COVID-19 case counts in Jefferson County — at least at our press time — continue to drop?

We spoke to several local restaurateurs, some of whom we spoke in 2020, as well.

They discussed how their businesses are doing, whether people are going back out to eat and drink, how the restaurant community stuck together during the crisis, how the city and chamber helped out and what operators have learned from the pandemic.

Early help

In the early months of the pandemic, many restaurants and other businesses received federal loans as part of the Paycheck Protection Program.

Many of the city’s restaurants also received help in March when Mayor Stewart Welch —through the Welch Foundation — created the “Save Our Restaurants” campaign.

“We had 30 restaurants apply for those grants, so we were able to give out $60,000,” Welch said in May 2020.

The local fundraising effort continued with the Mountain Brook Merchant Relief Fund, with the Chamber of Commerce making the initial donation of $10,000 in April 2020.

Several Mountain Brook restaurants, including Ollie Irene, Taco Mama, Over Easy and Watkin’s Branch Bourbon and Brasserie, got a boost from Meals For Healthcare Heroes.

Three Mountain Brook residents started the program in March 2020 to create more business for local eateries and provide good meals to frontline healthcare workers.

Chef J.P. Holland of Watkin’s Branch Bourbon and Brasserie told Village Living in May 2020 that the additional revenue he received from Meals for Healthcare Heroes was a "lifeline” for the restaurant, which had only been open for three months.

“It’s 100% been the difference between paying the bills and paying people and not,” he said.

The Mountain Brook City Council passed ordinances in May 2020 allowing eateries greater freedom in creating more seating on the sidewalks in the villages.

The council also created new parking spaces on most blocks in the villages to allow for greater ease of curbside pickup for retailers and restaurants.

The council has continued to extend those ordinances, though the number of pick-up parking spaces has been reduced.

Al Rabiee, owner of Vino in English Village, said that he took advantage of both ordinances.

“We feel very lucky doing business in a city with the most professional, quick-acting and awesome city government,” Rabiee said.

“I absolutely know that we are still open solely because of the support of the local community, chamber and city,” Lowe said.

Seeking to adapt

Like other merchants, restaurant owners in Mountain Brook used alternative means to make sales, including delivery and curbside pickup.

“We had to adapt and change things literally daily and learned never take things for granted,” Rabiee said.

“We’ve learned to recreate, be creative, think outside the box and never give up,” Castro said.

“We learned that we could quickly adapt during challenging circumstances,” said Amanda Thames, co-owner of Davenport’s Pizza Palace in Mountain Brook Village, who credits the efforts of Davenport’s “amazing staff.”

Brandon Loper and Trent Stewart, co-owners of Golden Age Wine on Culver Road, put all 750 of their retail wine selections online.

Community support

Most restaurateurs expressed gratitude for the way Mountain Brook residents have supported them.

“Our community is the best,” Rabiee said, noting that Vino has been “very busy.”

“The community has been amazing,” Castro said.

“Business has been wonderful,” Lowe said.

Davenport’s “saw many familiar faces coming by for curbside pickup when our dining room was closed,” Thames said, referring to the eatery’s regular customers.

“Our customers are the best,” Loper said. “They’ve supported small business during the past year and change like no other.”

Business at Watkins Branch has been “very uneven,” at least in part because Mountain Brook residents have tended to support the restaurants they already knew, Holland said.

“But that’s not something we look at in a negative light,” he said. “We want everyone to do well. We want our entire community of restaurants to do well.”

“I think Birmingham as a whole did a really good in supporting their local businesses,” Holland said.

Mountain Brook residents “understand they need to get out and support these local businesses,” Will Haver of Taco Mama said in April 2021.

Slowly back to normal

Fortunately for restaurant owners and other merchants, people seem to be coming out of their houses as the pandemic wanes.

“People are definitely getting out more, and for that, we are very relieved,” Castro said.

“We have seen an uptick in customers as more and more people are fully vaccinated and feel comfortable getting out and seeing friends again,” Loper said.

“We have seen dine-in business increase over the last couple of months, and we expect and hope that will continue,” Thames said.

“I feel like we are really coming out of it,” Holland said.

Holland said that food vendors who supply restaurants, including high-end restaurants, around the Birmingham area tell him that sales are up significantly.

“We have more tools at our disposal today to combat this pandemic,” Lowe said, citing vaccines and improvement treatments for COVID-19.

“But we also have more confidence, more grit, and it’s nice to see folks moving forward,” she said.

“Things are feeling more and more normal each day,” Thames said.

Remaining cautious

At press time, restaurant owners are still seeking to follow COVID-19 safety protocols to protect staff and customers, but things are shifting.

“We’re very close to getting our capacity back to normal,” Castro said. “We still use our plexiglass dividers, and employees that are not vaccinated wear masks.”

“We won’t stop maintaining a safe and clean environment,” said Lowe, who added that  the indoor and outdoor dining areas at Evelyn’s Southern Fare are open.

Davenport’s is back to normal operations, Thames said.

At press time, Golden Age Wine was still observing such precautions as social distancing, but bar seating was scheduled to reopen late June, Loper said.

The indoor seating at Golden Age is back to full capacity, though the staff will still maintain some extra space between bar stools and tables, he said.

Watkin’s Branch, at press time, was still following COVID-19 safety protocols.

“Until we are completely out of this, we want our guests to feel safe,” Holland said.

The health of the public is of the “most importance,” Rabiee said.

“Being a restaurant and bar, we definitely felt that heavy weight of responsibility on our shoulders and are very pleased that we hopefully are near the end,” he said.

Sticking together

Restaurateurs in Mountain Brook stuck together and tried to help each other through the crisis, according to several owners.

“We all wanted from the very beginning of the pandemic to stand together strong and help each other,” Lowe said. “Everyone wants everyone to make it through this.”

The Golden Age owners regularly talked and shared information with their neighbors, John Hall of Post Office Pies and Daniel Briggs of Daniel George, Loper said.

“It’s a small fraternity,” Haver said. “A lot of us are friends. We have tremendous respect for each other. We eat out all the time. We like what they do and we want to support them.”

A special scene

Mountain Brook is blessed with a good food scene and has restaurants that match up with anything in downtown Birmingham, Holland said.

He mentioned such examples as Dryon’s, Sol y Luna, Ollie Irene, Daniel George and Abhi Eatery and Bar.

‘There’s nothing you can go find downtown and not find in Mountain Brook,” he said.

“The people of Mountain Brook seek out that creativity,” Holland said. “They look for something a little different.”

Learning lessons

Lowe said that she learned “so many things” during the pandemic.

“If I had to sum it up, the mantra that was and is still in heavy rotation is ‘adapt and overcome,’” she said.

“Life, the world … it’s all unpredictable, but how you react and make it through circumstances doesn’t have to be,” Lowe said. “Foundation matters. A core belief that you can make it through anything is crucial.”

Holland praised the hard work of his staff in helping Watkins Branch navigate the pandemic.

“I learned that with the right people, you can get thing anything,” he said.

Making a donation

The chamber is still taking donations for the Merchant Relief Fund, To donate, go to emb.swell.gives.