Third Boise restaurant this week to close with ‘heavy heart’ — hopes to reopen

For the third time in three days, a restaurant in the Boise area announced it will close with a “heavy heart.”

Caffe Luciano’s, 3588 N. Pospect Way in Garden City, will shutter Dec. 20. The Italian restaurant’s location at 11 N. Orchard St. in Boise will remain open.

The decision was made because of the cold weather and COVID-19, Caffe Luciano’s explained on Facebook. The restaurant is nestled next to the Boise River, where customers enjoy a patio along the Greenbelt.

The closure is “for the winter,” Caffe Luciano’s posted. But the timing isn’t certain, general manager Cody Craig said. “We aren’t committing 100-percent right now on a guaranteed reopen,” he explained in a Facebook message. “That is our goal, but everything is up in the air at this point.”

Caffe Luciano’s is the third local restaurant this week to say goodbye to Idaho while using the phrase “heavy heart.” El Gallo Giro will close Dec. 23 at 615 W. Main St. in downtown Boise. And nearby Kiwi Shake & Bake will shut its doors Dec. 20. Those closures are permanent.

About 17 percent of American restaurants — or 110,000 of them — have closed permanently or long-term since the start of the pandemic in March, according to the National Restaurant Association. In a letter this month asking for financial help, the association told Congress that “more than 500,000 restaurants of every business type — franchise, chain and independent — are in an economic free fall.”

“And for every month that passes without a solution from Congress,” wrote Sean Kennedy, executive vice president for public affairs, “thousands more restaurants will close their doors for good.”

Caffe Luciano’s in Garden City doesn’t have a specific target date for reopening, Craig said. “It really depends on how consumer confidence trends and the weather,” he said, “as we have such a huge portion of our restaurant on the patio.”

But with a vaccine rolling out, restaurateurs can at least dream of a happier future.

“Hopefully the community rallies local restaurants once they feel safe again,” Craig said, “and we can reopen and business will be bigger and better than ever!”

This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 10:07 AM.