It’s no secret that it takes a brave soul – some might say crazy – to open a restaurant in New York City. But after more than a decade of writing this column, it was not until the last 12 months that I came to understand how creepy, inconsiderate, relentless, and yes – madly heroic – are the people who run your local restaurant. Huh.
Even before the lockdown, the epidemic was already being felt in Chinatown, where Jing Fong, that great temple of dim sum, was temporarily closed due to the growing paranoia about the virus. It has since closed permanently, along with dozens of other Asian restaurants.
Subsequently, it was unclear to many of us how important the restaurant industry is to the economic engine of our city, not to mention its fun and its fighting spirit.
The person who thought it the least, it was our mayor. When the lockdown began, Bill de Blasio made an extremely vague comment that showed his ego and lack of empathy. Closing a restaurant is not a big deal, he said, “obviously” only people with money can afford to eat outside.
Pardon, Mr. Mayor, but what about the 325,000 people who employ this industry in the city? Not to mention inexpensive street eats for $ 1 pizza slices, students, construction workers and everyone in between.
After 9/11, local people spontaneously gathered at local pubs to raise money for neighborhood fire stations. The bakeries served cupcakes. People ate fumes without worry because the sky and our lungs are still closed.
The same thing happened during the lockout. Life and livelihoods were lost, but even in its darkest days, New York’s soul never dimmed – and the one thing that has kept it alive is food.
Top Chef Daniel Hamm replaced Eleven Madison Park – recognized as one of the best restaurants in the world. He got his bike off the Upper East Side to work in the Flat Eastern district every day, he said, and the objective was achieved.
Yes, I have written about rich people stopping food and expanding their wine collection in Hampton during lockdown. But I also spoke with regular New Yorkers, who fed frontline activists and helped their neighbors.
Take Acclaim Donachine, executive chef and owner of Evelyn’s Kitchen in Harlem. The day the public schools were closed, Donchin posted on Instagram: “If your child needs food because NYC schools are now closed, please come to Evelyn’s Kitchen.” We will have healthy food available for children starting on Tuesday. No fee.”
He fed 50 families on the first day.
“I felt I was talking to East Harlem, but the post went viral and I had people from Brooklyn and the Bronx,” Donchin told me.
Brooklyn Nets star DeAndre Jordan was among those who saw his post. Soon he was contributing to a 12-week meal. Then another group, Jenny Kim’s parenthood together, reached out. On weekends between April and August, more than 2,000 people were fed in Evelyn’s kitchen.
As creative restorers found ways to donate food to frontline workers, the food itself was gaining an edge. Bars and restaurants were distributing cocktails with dinner.
“I can order a bottle of wine from Fresh Direct, why not a cocktail from my favorite restaurant?” Asked a food campaigner. “I expect this COVID trend to continue.”
The city looked like it was in the midst of an apocalypse in the depths of the lockout. Some of our favorite restaurants closed: Gem Spa, 21 Club, Aquagril, Lucky Strike and Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop.
This all changed with outdoor dining. At the Upper East Side in Bar Italia, people melted grilled calumari from paper bags while spilling cocktails. The bar scene on Second Avenue was like a long (and unmasked) block party.
Some Big Apple enclaves have been hit harder than others. Some families left the Upper West Side as an influx of homeless people, some were placed near schools, with drug and sex offender convictions. But the neighborhood has found its groove again, and new restaurants are opening every week.
Not so good in other districts.
“There has been a lot of damage. Restaurant consultant Donnie Evans said it would take a few years for some neighborhoods to get back on track. “Times Square and Midtown are f-king mess. They will be a disaster until they fall as soon as possible. Broadway might not have returned, unless thanks. “
In Chelsea, however, places like Lulou Petit Bistro and Speakeasy are flourishing against the odds.
Matthias Van Leyden opened Lulu three weeks before the lockdown. He had to excuse all his employees except the chef and bartender. Soon, he was serving drinks from a mason jar and food from an open window in the back. Then delivery, then feeding money to employees who raised money online.
“We were staying from week to week, mainly serving drinks,” Van Leyden said.
Then came the riots of last summer.
“They came to Eighth Avenue, destroyed closed businesses, but left the places that were left open alone. They just wanted to break in and steal stuff,” Van Leyden said.
The rioters smash a sex shop across the street and then a bike shop next door. Van Leyden hired a contractor friend to offer it in front of his glass store and to his girlfriend, artist Bess Hasu, then painted it.
“We left chalk to write our notes,” he said.
Loulou survived, with more seats now than before the epidemic – and yes, most of them are now out.
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