Restaurants come out of ‘COVID hibernation’
Burro Bar, Coppersmith ready to move forward
Several Boston restaurants are coming out of pandemic hibernation.
“It’s good to be back,” Joe Cassinelli said, owner of Burro Bar in the South End and Brookline.
Burro Bar reopened both of its taco and tequila joints Friday, after going into a hiatus in December. After a busy summer, the number of people dining at the restaurant dropped with the temperatures. Then, Gov. Charlie Baker put restaurants under a 9:30 p.m. curfew to curb the spread of the coronavirus through the winter.
“That was extremely limiting. That was the nail in the coffin for us. After 7 or 8 o’clock, we couldn’t do another seating,” Casinelli said.
He had to close both locations without knowing when they’d be back, a decision he called “heartbreaking.”
“It’s extremely stressful. This whole past year has been about the employees, not the restaurant,” he said.
When Baker lifted business restrictions from 40% capacity to socially distanced dining, Cassinelli felt comfortable ramping up to reopen — at least for limited hours. He hopes when the weather warms up, it will further expand its hours.
Sheila Senat, general manager at South Boston eatery Coppersmith, said she’s eager to welcome diners back to the restaurant Thursday after being closed for over two months.
“It feels great. I’m not used to not working — the last two and a half months I’ve been pulling my hair out,” she told the Herald.
Senat said she had been waiting for Baker to lift capacity restrictions, and it wasn’t easy to be patient.
“It was nerve-wracking. We didn’t really have a definitive date to reopen, and staff would be calling and asking every day. That was stressful,” she said.
Now, she’s happily preparing the restaurant for St. Patrick’s Day in Southie — although she expects a much more subdued holiday than in years past.
“We don’t have the parade this year, so it won’t be that crazy,” she said. “We have extra staffing and security, making sure there are no lines and checking IDs.”
It’s a step in the right direction for their restaurants, but Casinelli and Senat both think local business is far from bouncing back to “normal.”
“Hopefully with the vaccinations, people will get more comfortable with indoor dining again,” Casinelli said. “Patios didn’t save restaurants, and neither did takeout.”
But today, the sun is shining and Casinelli’s biggest concern is satisfying customers’ taco cravings.
“Restaurateurs by nature are the most optimistic in the world,” he said. “We’re the only people who spend so much money to build something in hopes people will come.”