Ronnie and Lauren Boyer had keys in hand for their new restaurant space on May 1. Just two weeks later, they opened the doors in the middle of a pandemic and welcomed residents to Alpine Social Kitchen and Tap.
The restaurant, located in the Ayres Center at 1730 Alpine Blvd. serves cuisine Ronnie describes as “modern American food with a spin”.
“We ran across the listing and it was the perfect storm. I had just lost my job, the pandemic was going on and here the space opened up with everything as the perfect opportunity,” Ronnie Boyer said.
Lauren agreed, saying it all fell into place. They are co-owners of the business with Ronnie’s mother, Rhonda McLauchlin and while her husband focuses on the menu and runs the kitchen, Lauren covers the front-of-house and manages the business itself.
“The best thing about doing this is that I feel it is what I’m supposed to be doing forever. I’ve never even waited tables in a restaurant but I have a management background and I really love interacting with the customers, getting to talk to everyone, just taking action on all of it” Lauren Boyer said.
With just under three days to prepare an entire menu, the trained chef put together items like Braised Short Rib Pot Roast, a chargrilled New York with homemade steak sauce and Pan Seared Cauliflower Steak. He also assembled a beer and wine list that includes local brews like Stone Delicious IPA and 805 as well as a cocktail list that ranges from an apricot mojito to a spiked coffee concoction.
He said the menu was influenced by the cooking he has done throughout his career but created specifically for Alpine, his hometown.
Classically trained at San Diego Culinary Institute, he worked under Cohn Family Restaurants’ Executive Chef Deborah Scott at Indigo Grill, then worked his way up from prep cook at Island Prime steakhouse on Harbor Island through a promotion to line cook then sous chef at several San Diego restaurants.
Although he just ended a run as Executive Chef at Amici’s, this is his first turn as head chef of his own restaurant. Still bearing signs of its former casual look as The Shwarma Shop, Alpine Social is set to undergo changes to more sophisticated decor as the couple transforms the space into their own.
Both owners say feedback from the community has been great, despite the extra challenges of opening a restaurant under limited COVID-19 conditions. Restaurant owners across San Diego were challenged by a March temporary ban on indoor seating that was briefly lifted in June, followed by a stalled start to modified seating when restaurants were closed for a second time in July.
Currently, restaurants are allowed to package food for takeout and delivery service, and serve patrons outside under limited conditions.
Alpine Social and other restaurants have since created outdoor seating areas on makeshift patios created in parking lots and sidewalks adjacent storefront locations.
“The second set of shutdowns was definitely hard. That dropped business about 30 percent,” Ronnie Boyer said.
“I absolutely agree, the second round of closures was a bit of a blow. We reached out to the landlord on the weekend of the Fourth of July to ask about creating an outdoor seating area in the parking spaces and it works, but the heat has been a struggle,” Lauren Boyer said.
Optimism bubbling in her voice, Lauren Boyer said they’ve been together for 12 years and are looking at the temporary closure like a challenge they just have to get through in their marriage and their business.
“I really wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else. The experience of growing something together, even with the extra challenges is the start of something really great,” Lauren Boyer said.
