As of December 31st, Le Cigare Volant restaurant will close.
I spent some time today sitting with winemaker/restaurateur Randall Grahm deconstructing the situation. And essentially, it’s no big mystery. “To do a proper restaurant,” Grahm told me, “you have to know what you’re doing. You have to have the wit to locate your restaurant in the right place, to know your clientele, to be on the premisses 200% of the time—to be a real restaurateur.”
In other words, he continued with a wry smile, “you have to know what you’re doing.”
Grahm, who admits that restaurant managing is not his first language—”nor my second or third”—says that running two huge businesses at once, winemaking and restaurateuring, put him and his resources over the top. And he told me a whole lot of other things as well that are not for publication.
So if, like me, you were a fan of the charmingly only-in-Doon establishment, then by all means make reservations to enjoy the cavernous ambience (perhaps another one of the problems) and the spectacular culinary gifts of Ryan and Oomi Shelton. You have two more weeks.
And then the Bonny Doon Vineyard tasting room will turn back into a…..tasting room. And we’ll see where the ongoing saga of Randall Grahm leads next.
Could the trail lead the tasting room up the railroad tracks to Davenport? Inquiring minds want to know!
Such a tragedy that a delightful restaurant is going out–but at least at the top of it’s game.
So sorry to hear this, but completely understand the decision. It’s been a few years since we’ve eaten at Le Cigare Volant, but only because we moved away. I’d love to have the opportunity to enjoy one final meal, but this is not to be. Well done while it lasted, Randall.
It is most unfortunate, as it is in my opinion the finest restaurant in Santa Cruz. My vote would be to move to a location such as the old Aqua Bleu. And perhaps with the additional walk-in traffic there, Randall could afford to hire a manager.
So many hard decisions to make in the restaurant biz all the time, so hard to know even in retrospect which were the right ones. It’s a warzone, and just like in wartime you don’t get to know who was right, you just see who is left.
This is very sad news. We love the food and the space but I can understand it’s a well hidden secret.
I think it goes something like this.
Want to make a small fortune?
Start out with a large one and open a restaurant.
Personally not a fan and I don’t think the location was the problem, but it is sad to hear that some very nice people
will start the New Year without a job.
I think that Randall hit the nail on the head. You can’t expect a restaurant like that to run on autopilot.
We had our farewell dinner last Sunday night (the 23rd), and it was wonderful…seemed better than ever. The support staff, led by Nathanial Munoz as the manager, and great servers such as Sarah and Calina, were nothing short of stellar, professional, and a real rarity in Santa Cruz. There’s a lot of speculation as to why it’s closing so I won’t add my two cents, but suffice it to say, yes, Santa Cruz needs a restaurant like this. But whether folks are willing to support it is another story…seems like everyone flocks to a place like Avanti–prices not much lower–just because it’s some sort of institution on the west side. Same with O’Mei. Oh well, I still think someone with deeper pockets than Randall could make something of this spectacular space.
To me Cogare Volant never offered the welcome mat to locals. It seemed that their focus was on out of town diners. To me, the reason Omei and Ristorsnte Avanti and now the new kid, Bantam get the diners is due to their fully embracing local folks. I just never received that feeling both in terms of welcome, service, and dare shall I say it, the food.from Cigare Volant.
We have always enjoyed the food when dining at Randall’s establishments but frankly feel that, overall, the dining experience left something to be desired.