0820_AUG Comstock's Magazine 0820 August | Page 23

dining options to draw foot traffic and
raise sales tax revenue. The downtown
restaurant boom is a national trend,
but it’s especially relevant in the Capital
Region, where the success of Sacramento’s
Farm-to-Fork campaign looms large
in the imaginations of developers and
entrepreneurs. Now, the communities
that were buoyed by the rising tide of
restaurants are working to help lift them
out of their record-breaking lows.
“When we were looking for a
location, the historic district seemed
like the place for us. Actually, we didn’t
want to open anywhere else,” says John
Voelz, who co-owns Reset with his wife
Tahni Voelz. In his leather top hat, he
bears a resemblance to the owls in his
restaurant’s “night art,” painted by his
friend Heather Gorton; Voelz made the
mixed-media “day art” himself. “The
vibe, the atmosphere … the energy of
the historic district, it’s on-brand for
us. We could not do what we do elsewhere
and have it have that character.”
Sutter Street gets its eclectic vibe
from its boutiques and galleries as well
as its restaurants, but it’s the latter that
attracts people, says Voelz. “I’m also
an artist, and I know there’s not a lot of
people that always go out of their way
to visit those kinds of things,” he says.
“And, so for it to be a viable destination,
restaurants and bars are essential. … If
you’re down there having a meal, and
you’re going to walk around the historic
district, chances are you’re going to walk
into one of the beautiful boutiques or
art galleries or antique shops, and so it’s
a symbiotic relationship for all of us.”
That symbiosis is cultivated by
the organizational forces behind the
historic district, including the City of
Folsom, the Folsom Historic District
Association and the Folsom Chamber
of Commerce, that formed a coalition
last year to promote the district’s food
and drink options. Its first campaign in
July 2019 touted the district as home to
“the most al fresco dining in the region,
concentrated in one little spot,” says
Folsom’s historic district relies on restaurants to
bring in foot traffic for other types of businesses.
Sacramento County health officials ordered
restaurants to halt indoor dining July 1.
Karen Polastri, marketing director of the
Folsom Historic District Association.
The coalition had support from developers
such as Jerry Bernau, president
of Bernau Development Corp. Bernau’s
Roundhouse building, completed on the
site of the city’s former railway roundhouse
on Sutter Street in 2019, hosts two
family-owned options: a new location
for Scott’s Seafood, a Folsom mainstay
since 2000, and Willamette Wineworks, a
tasting room for the Oregon-based winery
Willamette Valley Vineyards (founded
by Bernau’s brother, Jim Bernau).
Other recent Sutter Street openings
include The Filling Station, a gas-station
themed tap room for Red Bus Brewing
Company that opened in October 2019,
and J. Wilds Livery & Feed, which Chicago
Fire owner Eric Schnetz opened in the
first location of his pizzeria chain in early
June. (The original Chicago Fire opened
on Sutter Street in 2003 and had its last
day of service May 22, the same day Sacramento
County allowed dine-in service.)
“The vibe, the atmosphere … the energy of the
historic district, it’s on-brand for us. We could
not do what we do elsewhere and have it have
that character.”
John Voelz, co-owner, Reset: Cafe By Day
But while family-owned businesses
may have more character than corporate
chains, they also have less of a safety net
against crises. “To be honest, it’s been
devastating,” says Judy Collinsworth,
executive director of the Folsom Historic
District Association. “All of our restaurants
are mom-and-pop-run businesses, and
to have to shut down or run at such low
August 2020 | comstocksmag.com 23