NYC Restaurants Allowed to Eat Indoors Today
As of today, restaurants in NYC are allowed to eat indoors at a capacity of 25 percent, following a two-month ban imposed by the government, Andrew Cuomo, in December. This is the second time the city’s restaurants have been allowed to open limited-capacity dining rooms during the pandemic. It is not surprising that there are different opinions on how to handle the latest return to indoor dining. Some owners are grateful for the weakening of operating constraints and look forward to offering a handful of seating to customers, others prefer to take a wait-and-see approach before reopening their own institutions, and still others plan to not to reopen before COVID. Vaccinations are more widespread.
For the spots that reopen, the same COVID-19 precautions will apply during this round as the previous fall. Customers should have their temperature checked in front of the door and comply with the contact detection measures. The evening clock rule at 22:00 in New York is still in place, despite protests from restaurant owners. Cuomo indicated that if the rate of positive COVID-19 cases continues to decline in the city, capacity constraints could further weaken. Outside of NYC, restaurants are currently allowed to operate within 50 percent of capacity.
Update, 13:00: Cuomo has announced that the curfew for restaurants and bars in NY will be extended to 11pm every night from February 14th.
In other news
Lotus + Cleaver at the Jacx & Co Food Hall in Long Island City is offering a special Chinese New Year Prosperity Salad ($ 28) that will be available from February 12 to 19. The salad, which is meant to be tossed along with others, brings good luck, including salmon sashimi, home-marinated ikura, oishii shrimp, sliced vegetables, and homemade pickles, among other ingredients. The salad must be ordered at least 24 hours in advance.
– Bedford + Bowery goes inside the College Student Pantry on the Lower East Side, where anyone with a university degree can pick up bags of groceries every second Wednesday, from 3pm to 5pm
The luxury supermarket Brooklyn Fare is planning a giant 21,600-square-foot store on the Upper West Side to open this summer, reports Commercial Observer.
The stalwart Davidovich Bakery of Essex Market is apparently opening a new location in the East Village, according to EV Grieve.
– Pearl River Mart Foods and Very Fresh Noodles at Chelsea Market have teamed up to host a brilliant lunar New Year celebration on Saturday 13 February. Each $ 150 ticket includes a four-course meal of La Mei Taiwanese meat noodle soup from Very Fresh Noodles, spicy pork and yubu kimbap rolls from Kimbap Lab, a variety of steamed bao from Mao’s Bao, and more. The meal – served in Chelsea Market’s privately heated outdoor booths – is accompanied by a performance by Wan Chi Ming Hung Gar Institute Dragon and Lion Dance Team. According to a spokesperson, customers will also receive a special New Year’s gift from Pearl River Mart. There are two seats for the dinner and show, at 12:00 and 14:30, on Saturday.
The family bakery Ceremonia Bakeshop in Williamsburg reopens on February 13 with a new passion fruit raspberry cake on the menu.
– Hot Bread Kitchen is hosting a Valentine’s Day cooking class on February 14 at 12:00 where participants will make cornbread and colloquial eggs Benedict with Cornbread26, a local catering company. Tickets are priced on a sliding scale from free up to $ 30 each, with all proceeds going to Cornbread26.
– Happy lunar new year!