Toymakers Cafe will take a break (perhaps just for now)

FALLS VILLAGE —  Toymakers Cafe, a Falls Village institution for 18 and a half years, will be going on a “hiatus,” after Labor Day (Monday, Sept. 7).

Owners Ann and Greg Bidou made the announcement on Tuesday, Aug. 11.

On Saturday, Aug. 15, around noon, business was brisk. There  were at least 20 motorcycles in the lot and people filled the picnic tables, walking up to the plastic-sheet-enclosed side porch to place and receive orders.

In a phone interview on Monday, Aug. 17, Ann Bidou said that while outdoor dining and take-out service are feasible during the warm weather, “all that changes in the fall.”

Normally the restaurant can have 15 seated customers, but with social distance requirements that number would shrink to three-to-five customers inside at one time, she said.

Those numbers will not allow the restaurant to cover its expenses.

The Bidous are calling it a “hiatus” because there are some options to explore. 

Ann Bidou said she has been looking into the idea of a food truck using the property, and there has been some interest from a private chef who might want to use the kitchen.

But there is nothing definite yet, she added.

And there is the hope that a COVID-19 vaccine will be developed and become widely available.

“That would change everything,” she said. “But we can’t make any plans right now.”

“I’m proud we were able to keep going as long as we did” as the COVID-19 crisis shut down businesses across the state, starting in March.