Covid-19: Impact on local restaurants?

I called Against the Grain to see if they would be open for lunch. They are closed down now to get ready for tomorrow, opening with a repurposed curbside delivery operation.

I plan to get pickup 2-3 times a week from various places, doing my part to help and getting some good food. I would encourage people doing so to NOT use a price-gouging delivery service, but to pick it up yourself. Keep as much of the profits in the local restaurants as you can.


Edit to respond to the above post: These are sensitive times. Let's not escalate tensions.

[Robin Garr]

Edit to respond to the above post: These are sensitive times. Let's not escalate tensions.

That post is gone.

Robin, thanks for starting the thread on restaurants which are doing take-out, delivery, or curbside. If it isn't already, do you think it would be helpful to make it a sticky or pinned post until things reopen?

Mojito in Havana is my local go-to place, and I checked their Facebook page as well as their sister restaurants. The posts indicated they are closed and did not say definitively whether they do or do not plan to do take-out. Thought I'd mention that here rather than clutter up the thread of restaurants which are still doing business. I feel for the owners and the people who work there, since they were closed for months due to the roof collapse at their old building, and seemed to be thriving in the new location.

I can certainly understand it not being economical to keep a kitchen running + a host or two to take/deliver carry-out orders, especially since a lot of restaurants rely heavily on alcohol sales, so I can foresee many of our favorite places being completely shuttered until this blows over. I hope they are able to reopen.

[Robin Garr]

I absolutely agree, Nathaniel! I hope all our local restaurants can make it through, and that they get tons of support from the folks who love them.

The thread is pinned! It'll stay up top as long as it's needed.

A piece in the Times about what needs to happen for restaurants to survive:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/dini ... virus.html

I see two possible futures for restaurants. In one, state and local governments across the country move rapidly to help them survive the closings and get going again when that’s safe. In the other, bankruptcies cascade across the economy, and people are out of work in numbers this country has not seen since the 1930s.

Will a country that is still bitter about bailing out banks and airlines in the last financial crisis be ready to bail out ramen-yas, pupuserias, vegan sandwich counters, dosa vendors and natural wine bars? It depends on whether politicians and the public see the money as handouts to people who made bad business decisions (beginning, I suppose, with the decision to get into the restaurant business) or as a triage measure that will save the life of a national industry with sales of more than $800 billion last year.

If the world needed the banks in 2008, it needs the restaurants this year — as soon as it’s safe to leave our homes again. David Chang has a slogan to help sell America on the big fix we need. As he wrote in a tweet addressed to the mayor, the governor, New York’s two U.S. senators and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:

“Restaurants are too small to fail.

Please act quickly.

Thank you.”

If you want restaurants to survive, start calling the offices of Mitch, Rand, and Yarmuth and let them know.

Edit to respond to the above post: These are sensitive times. Let's not escalate tensions.

That post is gone.

That's cute Robin. But it's ok to call peoples jobs "meaningless"? If those 9-5'ers were laid off who is going to support your establishment?

[Robin Garr]

Try reposting without the snark, Neal. I know it's not easy, but try it again and maybe it can stay.

I apologize for my previous vitriol. I've got a handful of snarky Office Space types that I know that are like "what's the big deal? I get to sit at home and 'work' and watch netflix and no one's going to miss me" and I let that annoyance bleed into what is otherwise a civil discourse. They are treating this like a vacation while hard working people I know are facing skid row. It was not my intention to alienate or upset those who are also adversely affected by this mess.

I am heartened by the outpouring of support that I am starting to see from those in and touched by this community. I only hope we can come out the other side intact.

along with Ramen House closing....

Wanted to point out that they reopened a few weeks ago, including a few outdoor tables.

I noticed a few Bardstown Road places that have permanantly closed:
Himalayan Restaurant (a cursed spot)
Panera Bread (old EarXTacy building)

Yes, Himalayan closed months prior to the shutdown. And you are absolutely right, that is one SERIOUSLY cursed spot. I'd love to know the backstory...unreasonable landlord, Zuul, what?

Sad to see Migo gone - I had my second-worst ever Tinder date there, but their tacos were amazing.

https://www.wlky.com/article/these-rest ... /32804252#

I went to the Hammerheads location there, had never gone to the first. Food is good, a little pricey for what you get, and lots of outdoor seating and spaced inside, but good overall.

Warning: If they try to sit you in the back, ask if the A/C works. When we were there, 83 with no circulation, had to request a move up front after about 60 seconds.