Outdoor Dining Could Be Banned in the Bay Area Until February 7

Welcome to p.m. Intel, your bite-sized roundup of Bay Area food and restaurant news. Tips are always welcome, drop them here.

• The way coronavirus cases are trending, don’t count on outdoor dining in the Bay Area until at least February, the SF Chronicle reports. In a press release sent this week, state officials said that the Bay Area’s hospital bed availability remains low, and that the area’s stay-at-home order — which allows restaurants to serve takeout and delivery, only — “will be lifted ... once its four-week ICU projection shows a capacity of greater than or equal to 15 percent.” Using the California COVID Assessment Tool, the Chron says that the soonest that could happen would be the week of February 7.
• California customers can order Russian River’s in-demand brew, Pliny the Younger, online this year, since the long lines and lengthy waits it attracts at its usual in-person release aren’t safe during the pandemic. [Bay Area News Group]
• As first announced over three years ago, Peggy Smith and Sue Conley, the founders of Cowgirl Creamery, are set to retire. [SF Chronicle]
• Oakland Puerto Rican spot La Perla is planning an expansion. [Berkeleyside]
• Also in expansion mode: East Bay/Colorado bakery Third Culture. [SF Gate]
• Food critic Soleil Ho checks out the veggie burgers at Malibu’s and Amy’s. [SF Chronicle]
• Concord Comfort Food Week kicks off today. [Bay Area News Group]