April has brought a difficult stretch of restaurant news to California. National chains are retrenching across the state, and one of the Peninsula’s most quietly beloved fine-dining rooms is serving its final dinners this month. For Los Altos diners, the chain story is backdrop; the closer-to-home story is the one worth sitting with.
The broader picture first:
1. Carl’s Jr. — Friendly Franchisees Corporation, the largest California operator with 65 restaurants, filed Chapter 11 on April 2, citing the state’s $20 fast-food wage. No closure list has been released; corporate says other franchisees are unaffected…