Winter is coming: local restaurants weather the cold and new COVID restrictions | Chanhassen Business

Dozens of wine bottles cover the recently refinished tables. Chairs are stacked shoulder-high. One man is painting the walls white, while another two employees manage the kitchen, answer phones and bring food out to customers waiting in their cars.

Owner Brandon Wallis takes a quick phone call about the latest addition to the cafe/bar/restaurant: deli cases. When COVID restrictions shut down his dine-in services in November, he took it as an opportunity for a serious refresh — after 16 years of serving coffee, sandwiches and liquor, downtown Victoria’s School of the Wise is in the process of converting into a deli.

A mid-November Saturday morning changed his plans. An…