You Want to Dine at a NYC Restaurant This Week? Here’s How.
You Want to Dine at a NYC Restaurant This Week? Here’s How.
(Bloomberg) -- Editor’s Note: No city is more important to America’s economy than New York, and none has been hit harder by the coronavirus. “NYC Reopens” examines life in the capital of capitalism as the city takes its first halting steps toward a new normal.
At Peter Luger Steak House in Williamsburg, the broiled dry-aged porterhouse will be served at tables alongside the restaurant, with a more casual picnic area in the parking lot to come. At I Trulli, in Manhattan’s NoMad neighborhood, the cavatelli and tiramisu will be around back, in the garden. The guacamole at Chavela’s in Crown Heights will be at sidewalk tables beside the entrance.
Alfresco dining has long epitomized the romance of summer. But starting on Monday, it’s a survival tactic for New York City’s desperate residents and restaurants. After months of pandemic lockdown limited to takeout, the city’s eating establishments are refashioning themselves as fast as they can.
“Imagine the amount of cleaning you do when you move out of the house you’ve been living in for 26 years,” said Nicola Marzovilla, owner of quarter-century-old I Trulli.
As part of so-called “Phase Two,” New York City’s 27,000 restaurants are permitted, starting this week, to serve diners outside under a range of conditions laid out by the city and state.
Sidewalk seating can’t block bus stops, doorways or fire department access; there must be an 8-foot path that’s clear of obstructions between the seating and the curb; and customers aren’t permitted to gather outside of establishments.
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As the city health commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, likes to say, follow “the core four”: maintaining distance, frequent hand-washing, wearing face coverings when not eating or drinking and staying home if sick.
The number of tables that restaurants can set up is quite limited by space. The city will eventually allow restaurant seating on the 43 miles of streets where traffic is barred, but that will start only in July.
Dominick Pepe, corporate chef for The Group, which owns restaurants including Boucherie in the West Village, says he has ordered tasteful plexiglass dividers between tables to increase the numbers.
“You don’t have to separate by 6 feet if there are full dividers,” he said.
Mike Price, chef and co-founder of Blackfoot Hospitality, which owns The Clam on a picturesque corner of the West Village, says he will limit reservations to 10 people, the number he can squeeze under an awning if it rains.
He said much is unclear. For example, clients will need to go inside to the bathroom. But exactly how big a path must he create for that? Does he have to reconstruct his bar — only to reconstruct it again for the next phase?
David Berson, co-owner of Peter Luger, had a similar complaint: “There’s no guidance. Dining is heading for the wild, wild West.” He spoke while coordinating tent setups in his parking lot and figuring out whether to limit pricey steaks to sidewalk settings and keep the picnic tables mostly for more casual options like hamburgers.
Marzovilla of I Trulli laid out steps he’s taking in the new reality. All employees will be masked, menus will be printed on a single sheet of paper and kitchen tasks will be streamlined. No bar seating, no lunch.
“No more multitasking,” he said. Each staff member will have an assignment in a particular part of the kitchen or dining area so there is less movement. And the traditional seven-minute staff gathering to discuss daily specials and what’s coming up has been cut to one minute. The way in which wait staff and diners interact will be worked out in coming days.
Mayor Bill de Blasio says the move to outdoor dining will prevent 5,000 restaurants from closing and save 45,000 jobs. Those businesses without obvious outdoor space can apply through an expedited system to expand outside. But he and other top officials are also worried that diners and staff will fail to maintain proper distancing.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has already threatened to reinstate closures in the city after he saw photos and videos of New Yorkers standing around awfully close to one another outside bars.
Bobby Munekata, owner of restaurants including Hide-Chan, Totto Ramen and Yakitoro Totto, says that while he can open some of his places, he doesn’t plan to. Putting out a few tables, he says, adds extra costs and doesn’t do much for business, which has come to rely on pickup and delivery.
The math doesn’t add up: 20 customers sitting outside per day, each paying $10 for creamy broth ramen.
“That’s what the cost of labor is,” he said. “I’ll have to spend more than half of it on a salary.”
Besides that, many of his customers are out of the city, working from home. Midtown is empty, lunch business is gone. He’s waiting and hoping and keeping his business open “just for the employees. I don’t want to let people go.”
Other restaurateurs pointed out that without Broadway or conventions or many open hotels, their lifelines are cut and their ability to break even severely tested.
A report published last week by the National Restaurant Association says that nationwide the industry has lost $120 billion due to the coronavirus. In a survey of its members, it found that 75% of all operators say it’s unlikely they’ll be profitable within the next six months.
On the other hand, another set of businesses say the new dining rules are a boon — party planning firms that rent out umbrellas and tents. Ace Party and Tent Rental President John Clarke says his Queens company has been inundated and is scrambling.
“This is a whole new market for the tent industry,” he said. “We were blindsided by it.”
Despite the concerns over health, income and protocol, many New Yorkers are thrilled about the opportunity to eat out again. And many in the dining industry are feeling the vibes.
“People seem excited,” said Josie Adkins, who works at Barboncino in Crown Heights which is opening its back patio for its Neapolitan wood-fired pizza. “People ask us every day, ‘When are you guys opening?’”
Roni Mazumdar, co-owner of Rahi, an ambitious Indian restaurant in the West Village, says he’ll have 30 outdoor seats on Monday by taking advantage of space outside an adjoining vacant storefront and a sandwich spot that closes at 5 p.m. before his dinner service starts.
“Fresh food that’s right off the grill, that hasn’t been sitting in delivery packaging — that feeling has been badly lacking,” he said by way of explaining the anticipation.
And as I Trulli’s Marzovilla noted, takeout is already routine for many restaurants that never considered it before the virus upended everything. That means Phase Two will quickly feel like second nature.
“The new normal will become the only normal pretty soon,” he predicted.
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