Three more Modesto-area restaurants close due to impacts of coronavirus; one reopens
The ongoing coronavirus crisis and economic downtown have claimed three more Central Valley restaurants.
Modesto’s Fuddruckers, Ceres’ Pastas Pronto and Escalon’s The Tri-Tipery have all closed permanently in the past couple of months. The restaurant news follows the closures of Dust Bowl Brewing Company’s original downtown Turlock taproom and Modesto chef Tye Bauer’s flagship restaurant Bauer’s 66½ Skillet & Grill — all, in part, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fuddruckers, a national build-your-own burger chain, closed its McHenry Avenue location in Modesto. Messages sent to the company’s corporate office were not returned. But the signs have all been taken off the building, which sits in front of the Walmart Supercenter in north-central Modesto.
The Fuddruckers opened in fall 2007 in a building that once housed a now-extinct Blockbuster Video store. The location was one of five current Fuddruckers locations in California listed on the company website. The Modesto restaurant is classified as “temporarily closed” on their site, but the empty building points to a permanent departure.
Luby’s Inc., Fuddrucker’s parent company which also owns Luby’s Cafeteria and Cheeseburger in Paradise, had been struggling pre-pandemic and the shutdowns further forced the company to shutter many locations and seek a sale.
In Ceres, downtown restaurant Pastas Pronto also has closed. The Zamora family, which founded and, at one point, owned all three valley Pastas Pronto locations, now only has one restaurant in Modesto. That H Street site, the original Pastas Pronto spot, switched its name earlier this year to Palermo Italian Cucina.
The downtown Ceres Pastas Pronto location on Fourth Street opened in early 2018, in the former downtown Post Office building. The site was the family’s largest restaurant of the three, and run by Sergio Zamora Jr., the son of the local Italian eatery’s founder. Since opening that location, the family sold their Coffee Road site, which is still open and operating, to another owner.
Earlier this year, the original Pastas Pronto restaurant just off downtown Modesto on H Street was taken over by Zamora’s daughter, Elizabeth Zamora, and renamed.
She said the Ceres restaurant closed in July because it became too difficult to run multiple sites.
“It was a mixture of everything. It was too much,” she said.
Her restaurant, Palermo at 310 H St. in Modesto, remains open for takeout only (with a convenient walk-up window) daily from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday and 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more information call 209-521-5000.
Another restaurant with multiple sites, The Tri-Tipery, has also closed its newest location. The site on Highway 120 between Escalon and Oakdale opened in early 2018. Two years earlier, the tri-tip restaurant debuted at its original site in Ballico, which sits amid rural farmland on the northern edge of Merced County. That site remains open and was greatly expanded over the summer to add more outdoor seating, horseshoes and bocce ball.
Owner Rob Nairn said the sharp decrease in traffic and tourism at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak forced them to make the hard decision to close the Highway 120 spot. The Escalon location is now for lease or sale, he said, and they’ve already fielded some interest.
“There just weren’t enough people who live out there, and there was a decrease in traffic with nobody going to the lakes and the mountains,” Nairn said. “The tour buses with tourists from Japan just weren’t coming through like they were.”
But he said the expansion of their original Ballico site has gone well. They’ve added six more picnic tables that can seat about 30 more people and a new grassy area with games. The restaurant, which is all outside seating, also has music regularly now. The Ballico Tri-Tippery at 11359 Newport Road is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information call 209-634-8849.
The small silver lining with the closure of these locally owned restaurants is most had multiple locations. From Bauer’s to Dustbowl and now Pastas Pronto to The Tri-Tippery, their food lives on at other sites. So while it’s obviously sad to see them go, folks should continue to support their other spots with takeout orders and, where available, outdoor seating.
Elsewhere around the Business Beat:
With all the closings, it’s nice to see a reopening. After a short closure while it changed ownership, Deva Cafe in downtown Modesto was back up and running as of Saturday, Aug. 8.
The J Street bistro was sold in July by longtime owner Lorena Loftis. The new Modesto-based owner, Heather Elkins, closed the restaurant mid-month after taking over for some remodeling, updates and staff training.
Loftis owned Deva since 1994, and helped to turn it into an arts and music destination downtown. Elkins was the longtime owner of Bean & Leaf Cafe in Manteca, but sold it earlier this year to her sister to be able to buy the Modesto restaurant.
The new Deva Cafe has a revamped menu and style inside. Expect even more vegetarian and vegan options, lot of sandwiches, paninis, salad and homemade sauces and sides. The interior now has a more mid-century look with a mix of vintage and industrial items, Elkins said. The hours will start off the same, for breakfast and lunch service, and then in the next month or so expanded for a longer Sunday brunch and weekend evenings.
Deva Cafe, at 1202 J St. in Modesto, is open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. For more information, call 209-572-3382 or visit www.facebook.com/cafedeva.
