Sandpiper Will Move in November

Photo credit: Christopher Chung / Press Democrat

The Sandpiper restaurant owner's two-year battle with his landlord has come to an end and he has agreed to move. This November, Steve Weissman will move the Sandpiper from Porto Bodega to the Pelican Plaza shopping center here in Bodega Bay, where it will replace his other restaurant Cioppino’s (known as Claudio’s until just recently).

You can read the full story in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and some background in my previous post. The Save the Sandpiper website has been taken down.

This settlement is quite a blow to the owners, staff and 6,000+ people who signed a petition asking developer Richard Battaglia to allow the Sandpiper to remain at its current historic location.

I’ll keep you posted on their move. I actually love the new Cioppino’s menu and décor and wonder if they will change it all again or perhaps integrate the two restaurants. I’ll also watch to see what becomes of their vacated building in Porto Bodega. The County is demanding the owners fix code violations and bring it up to current earthquake standards, but others speculate the developer plans to tear it down. In fact, in a joint press release, the two sides said “the cost could be prohibitive for the building to be improved to meet the earthquake codes.” Stay tuned.