attention , it ’ s often followed by rent hikes and other pressures on the people and businesses that helped attract that attention . In closure announcements and newspaper interviews , restaurant owners cited rising rent , increasing food costs and a higher minimum wage among their reasons for closing .
The issues that prompted restaurants to close in early 2020 didn ’ t go away when the coronavirus pandemic introduced a new set of pressures . Restaurant sales , especially at Chinese restaurants , were dropping even before the statewide stayat-home order and bottomed out after it was issued March 19 . It was up to the mercy of individual landlords to adjust their rent to match what business owners could pay . The subsequent onslaught of restaurant closures suggests that few got that mercy .
At the height of Sacramento ’ s foodie boom , an empty restaurant space might have a new occupant within months . But restaurant openings fell in pace with restaurant sales in the first months of the pandemic . With a few exceptions — Nash & Proper took the former Mother space in January 2020 through the Downtown Sacramento Partnership ’ s Calling All Dreamers contest , but didn ’ t open until September — most of the restaurant spaces that closed in 2020 stayed vacant through the rest of the year .
That started to change in 2021 . In February , T . J . Bruce — who owns the bars Badlands , Sidetraxx and The Depot in Lavender Heights , the Midtown historic hub of Sacramento ’ s LGBTQ community — announced that he would be opening a pizzeria in the J Street space that formerly housed the Hungarian restaurant Cafe Marika . The former owners , Eva and Louie Chruma , served their last schnitzel Jan . 2 , 2020 after more than 30 years in business ( and as the restaurant ’ s sole employees ). Their restaurant served three-course dinners , ending with thick slices of apple strudel , for no more than $ 13.75 .
Cafe Marika was around the corner from the Lavender Heights bars and other nightlife spots and had a fanbase among some budget-minded clubbers , who liked to start their nights with spaetzle and paprikash in the lace-curtained dining room . With any luck , the pizzeria will fill the same niche now that bars and clubs are open again .
Jim-Denny ’ s also has a new occupant . In April , the chef Joe Pearcy , who previously ran a food pop-up called Burning Oak , announced that he ’ d be taking over the landmark restaurant . ( He says he signed the lease on April Fool ’ s Day , lending a note of surrealism to the decision .) The 10-seat lunch counter opened to the public again in June .
Pearcy grew up in Oklahoma but has lived in Sacramento for more than a decade , including a stint at an apartment a few blocks away from Jim-Denny ’ s , so he ’ s familiar with the diner ’ s long history . “ I wouldn ’ t change anything about it ,” he says . The restaurant is still called
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