san marcos
Two years ago, longtime business partners Mark McLarry and Jamie Minotti sat down with some drawing paper and a couple of beers and mapped out their dream project.
It would be a combination craft brewery, fast-casual restaurant and live music venue where both adults and families with small children would be welcome. On Thursday morning, that dream was well on its way to reality, when the San Diego men held the official groundbreaking for My Yard Live, which is scheduled to open by July 4 in the long-shuttered Hometown Buffet restaurant in San Marcos.
The long-gestating project will have 10,000 square feet of indoor space for the 20-barrel brewery; an indoor music stage; a walk-up restaurant counter serving smoked meats, burgers and other American comfort foods; a full-service, 36-seat indoor/outdoor bar; a 25-seat private dining room; a video game arcade with table tennis and air hockey games; and multiple seating configurations.
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On Thursday, Dec. 17, county lawyers asked Wohlfeil to clarify the ruling and in a brief hearing the judge made it clear: The injunction covers any restaurant.
“The court’s intention is all businesses which provide restaurant services in the county of San Diego are encompassed in the court’s order,” he said.
Shortly after that, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said the state had filed notice it would appeal the ruling. It is unclear if the state will seek a delay known as a stay of Wohlfeil’s ruling while the appeal is taken up.
State and county leaders said the restrictions are needed to slow the rampant spread of the disease and preserve an increasingly strained hospital system nearing the breaking point. In a statement Newsom’s press office said that was the reason for pursuing an appeal.
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For two months last spring, Jamie Minotti and Mark McLarry kept the doors closed on their new San Marcos restaurant-brewery complex My Yard Live because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, the partners and their staff survived the shutdown, thanks to a CARES Act federal loan and expanded unemployment benefits.
But this time around they may not be so lucky. On Monday, a new state health order restricted San Diego County restaurants to takeout-only service in a bid to keep people home during the alarming surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations. But carry-out service was only a fraction of sales at My Yard Live, an experiential family-friendly venue with a fenced children’s playground and an outdoor concert stage. So Minotti and McLarry decided to shut down for now in what they are calling an indefinate hibernation.