In better times, customers at the Rusty Pelican could sit and sip a cocktail with a view of Newport Harbor.
The restaurant’s dining room is currently closed the fight against the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19.
But general manager Steve Burke is able to deliver a bit of that experience, literally. It’s selling cocktails like Salty Pear martinis and $22 pitchers of margaritas for pickup or delivery.
The Rusty Pelican is taking advantage of “regulatory relief” offered by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Steps include allowing restaurants to “sell beer, wine, and distilled spirits for off-sale consumption.”
Cocktail bars and beer and wine tasting rooms were among the first businesses to close in mid-March at Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recommendation. The state’s action doesn’t fill the gap, but it allows diners to get a mixed drink as long as they order a meal to go with it, according to Burke.
Restaurants must serve the alcohol with sealed lids, he said. And customers, passengers or delivery drivers can’t have access to it in the car while transporting it.
In short, the open container law applies.
Burke said there was no heads up when the department released its notice, dated March 19. He began serving cocktails on Monday, March 23, and in the first two days sold 12-15, which he said was “pretty good,” under the circumstances.
The Rusty Pelican is doing more to push bottles of wine, with merlot, pinot noir, chardonnay, and Champagne for sale at up to 50 percent off with food purchase.
Other restaurants giving cocktails a try include Eureka! The gourmet burger chain launched a “To Go Booze and Bundles” promotion.
It includes Wild Child cocktail kits that serve four for $15. They come with assembly instructions and all the ingredients — vodka, watermelon, mint, lemon, aloe, rosé, even a tablespoon of habanero salt for the rim of your glasses.
Eureka! is just doing the one mixed drink for now.
“It’s something that we can batch in large quantities,” senior beverage director Trevor Tyler said in a phone interview.
Even so, Eureka’s Redlands location sold out of the mixes by Wednesday.
The chain’s promotion also includes a $60 family bundle with four entrees — cheeseburgers with fries, Cobb Salad or chicken sliders — two appetizers, and two desserts, and a bottle of wine worth $20.
The food is discounted 20%, and bottles of wine, beer, and small batch liquor are discounted 20%, according to a news release.
Padre, a Latin restaurant in Long Beach, is selling mixing kits for some of its signature margaritas for $20. If guests want, it will sell them the tequila separately.
It’s selling Milagro Blanco Tequila by the bottle, $40, or by 8-ounce servings for $20. The same prices go for Gem & Bolt Mezcal.
The goal is not to turn a profit, executive chef Manuel Bañuelos said in a phone interview.
“Obviously with the prices we’re offering we’re trying to stay in operation.”
The cocktails also give people a taste of what they’re missing until the COVID-19 closures lift.
“We’re trying to keep it similar to what’s in the restaurant,” Bañuelos said.
Cocktail service
Eureka!: Most locations are temporarily closed, but Claremont and Redlands are open for takeout and delivery. eurekarestaurantgroup.com
Padre: 525 E. Broadway, Long Beach, 562-612-4951, padrelongbeach.com
The Rusty Pelican: 2735 W. Coast Highway, Newport Beach, 949-642-3431, rustypelican.com
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