COVID’s Favorite Restaurant Only Serves Unvaccinated Guests

A restaurant in Huntington Beach, California, is banning patrons who have received the COVID vaccine. But that’s only the tip of the anti-COVID vax iceberg.

Throughout the pandemic, Basilico’s Pasta e Vino has been openly defiant against COVID mandates. When restaurants were forced to shutter their doors in March 2020, Basilico’s remained open. When social distancing, masks, and outdoor dining were the only ways restaurants could reopen, Basilico’s operated business as usual.

In its current act against the COVID establishment, Basilico’s is requiring proof of not being vaccinated. However, it’s not quite clear how one would do that.

According to Make Restaurants Great Again, an organization founded by Basilico’s Pasta e Vino, the Italian eatery “has openly and aggressively attacked the lockdowns and has proudly done so only in defense of American Liberty and Freedom [sic], risking everything for the stated principles.”

“Basilico's has never shut down, remaining fully operational without any restrictions, including banning masks, in total defiance of all tyrannical local and state government orders since the minute they were announced for California on March 19th, 2020,” Make Restaurants Great Again states.

In addition to Basilico’s “Pledge of Defiance,” the restaurant is flying flags that are popular among anti-government extremists and hard-line Trump supporters. Basilico’s also had a billboard in Beverly Hills saying, “Leave the mask, take the cannoli.”

And of course there’ve been attacks on White House COVID adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci and CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, along with many local officials. Basilico’s has “Wanted for Treason” posters for any official who has helped implement COVID regulations.

“With warning signs of another impending lockdown, and many business owners again emboldening those who I refer to as ‘the lockdown tiny tyrants’—this time by imposing proof-of-vaccination policies—we chose to fire another missile of defiance to further make our point in defense of American liberty and freedom,” Basilico’s owner Tony Roman told the Los Angeles Times.

But apparently not all government intervention is bad for Roman. According to ProPublica’s Tracking PPP database, Basilico’s Pasta e Vino accepted a PPP loan for $57,738. The restaurant’s justification for the loan is simply, “IT’S OUR MONEY, NOT THEIRS!”

Basilico’s latest act of defiance comes as Orange County is seeing an increase in COVID cases with 453 infections reported for July 27. This is the highest daily infection count since early February as the highly contagious Delta variant takes over the county.

Approximately 56 percent of county residents are fully vaccinated, while 62.5 percent of residents have received one dose, the Los Angeles Times reports.