Three well-loved Central Valley restaurants close. Here’s why and what may replace them
Three well-known Valley restaurants have closed recently as the post-pandemic fallout in the area’s dining scene continues.
Downtown Modesto restaurants Ralston’s Goat and Chefs of New York have shuttered, as has high-end Italian eatery Fina by John Surla in Ripon.
Both Ralston’s Goat and Fina have been purchased by new owners, who plan to change the names and restaurant concepts before reopening. Chefs of New York, which moved moved to its larger downtown location two years ago, has gone dark with no update on possible reopening or sale from longtime owner Vinny Altadonna.
Ralston’s Goat, which opened in December 2015, closed in early July after a blowout going-away party for its longtime operator, Mike Shelton. The restaurant and bar was known for its vibrant nightlife and music scene and drew a large audience for its outside patio shows featuring local musicians during the pandemic.
Owner of former downtown nightclub takes over restaurant
Shelton, who started with the restaurant as general manager, sold to a familiar downtown Modesto face. Former club owner Les Knoll will be returning to 10th street as the new owner of the property. Knoll owned the Copper Rhino on the same street, one block over, from 2004 to 2012. The bar transformed during its run from a place to have a drink and shoot pool to one of the most popular downtown nightspots.
Then in 2017, Knoll returned to city’s bar scene and opened CR2, an ode to the Copper Rhino, at the corner of Oakdale Road and Sylvan Avenue in northeast Modesto. The bar continues today.
Knoll said his plan is to transform the former Ralston’s Goat into a venue more like Copper Rhino’s early days. He called his concept “a bar with food,” and plans to continue to host live music. The space, which is split in the middle by an awkward entrance hallway, also will be changed. The current dining area will be transformed into a game room with pool tables, shuffleboard and pinball machines. The back space will continue to be the bar.
Pending permits, Knoll said his hope is to reopen “in the next few weeks.” He purchased the restaurant, he said, so it wouldn’t become “just another nightclub.” The menu will be similar, with more bar-friendly options, and lunch and dinner will be served daily.
“(Me and my business partner) like the space, we’ve been wanting to get back into doing live music and entertainment,” Knoll said. “We’re going to see if we can keep the overall feel but make it profitable. I’m excited to be back downtown.”
Modesto’s Surla closed Ripon eatery, keeps namesake spot
In Ripon, chef and owner Surla has said goodbye to his from-the-ground-up restaurant, Fina. Opened in late summer 2019 about six months before COVID-19 closed restaurants around the world, the striking Italian eatery offered Surla’s upscale menu in a sophisticated setting. The restaurant has a wall-size picture window into its kitchen, giving diners a front-row seat to their meal creation.
The spot has been sold to a new owner, who Surla said wanted to remain anonymous. The eatery’s name will change, as will its menu. Surla said the new owner plans to use the kitchen’s large wood-burning pizza oven in the new venture. Expect it to reopen with its new name and concept in around a month, if all goes smoothly.
Surla, who named Fina after his wife, Josephine, said dining in the region has not returned to what it was before the pandemic, forcing him to make the difficult decision.
“The (post-pandemic) struggle? We felt that,” Surla said. “I’ll miss it truly, deeply, immensely. It’s a bittersweet ending. I’m happy I built it, but sad I have to say goodbye. But you can always meet me at Surla’s.”
The well-known Valley chef is keeping his namesake Modesto restaurant, Surla’s on 12th Street on the edge of downtown. Opened in 2009, the eatery slowly has increased its hours and offerings after long pandemic closures. It is now open Tuesday to Friday for lunch and Wednesday to Saturday for dinner. The spot’s famous Sunday brunch is back once a month.
Some of the Fina favorites, including lobster ravioli, will make their way onto the Surla’s menu.
“It’s a slow return back to the normal numbers, and hopefully consolidating (the businesses) will mean more customers will come out. But I can’t predict the future,” he said. “So support your local small businesses and stop going through the drive-thrus.”
Longtime Modesto dining spots have closed post-pandemic
And finally, Chefs of New York appears to be no more. The Italian restaurant known for its generous dishes and gregarious owner has been dark, quite literally, since June. When reached by The Bee, the normally talkative Altadonna gave a “no comment” on the future of the well-loved restaurant.
Since moving to its larger 13th Street space two years ago, Chefs has had a sometimes erratic open schedule with some closures and fitful reopenings. But its latest closure may well be its last, as the restaurant’s front windows have been plastered with “Notice to Pay Rent or Quit” flyers dating June 1 to 30.
A no doubt forlorn former patron has scribbled “Please do not quit!!!” on the door’s paper “Closed” sign next to all of the notices.
Chefs of New York, Ralston’s Goat and Fina join a handful of other Modesto-area eateries to close or sell in the past year. They include Beijing Restaurant in north Modesto, which closed after 28 years late last year; Concetta, which closed last December and reopened this year as Chinn’s International; Bauer’s Downtown Gastropub, which sold in January and has since reopened with new owners; and the Farmacy, which sold its plant-based cafe in May to a new owner who has yet to reopen the space.
The future of downtown Modesto’s beloved vintage A&W Restaurant, which opened in 1957 and is one of only a handful of Graffiti-era drive-in burger joints still operating in the area, also is up in the air. Longtime local owner Johnny Matthews, who has run the site with its rollerskating carhops for the past 26 years, is retiring and has put the site up for sale.
