Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Your guide to the not-entirelyno­rmal state of dining out in 2021

- Carol Deptolla Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY NETWORK – WISCONSIN

After a year-plus of subsisting on takeout and home cooking, customers are hitting restaurant dining rooms hard. h Diners are eager to get back to normal, and the restaurant­s that were imperiled in the pandemic are thrilled to see so many patrons. h “We are so much happier to be open and to be able to see the customers again … instead of seeing their name on the to-go ticket and having a conversati­on outside,” said Jason Tofte, the chef and owner of Tofte’s Table in Waukesha.

Restaurant­s and taverns are facing a new set of challenges these days, brought on or exacerbate­d by the pandemic.

“This is a different problem from when we thought, ‘Oh, man, we might not have our livelihood­s anymore,’ ” said Bobby Wiltgen, whose Cream City Concepts operates Third Street Tavern, Oak Barrel Public House and Who’s on Third sports bar a block east of Fiserv Forum.

Which means summer’s hottest accessory for dining out might be an extra portion of patience.

Not every restaurant is affected in the same way, and situations could improve, or ebb and flow. But it will take awhile to return to normal, restaurate­urs suspect.

“It’s been a wild year, and I doubt it’s done yet,” said Mike Topolovich, the chef and owner at North Ave. Grill and Midtown Grill in Wauwatosa.

If you’re back to dining out or going soon and wondering what’s behind the changes, read on for answers to your questions.

Why can’t I get a table when I can see ones that are vacant?

Blame staffing woes — it can be too few servers to handle the tables, or too few cooks to prepare all those orders the servers are taking. Or both.

At Lowlands restaurant­s, which operates all-day European-style cafes and a Wisconsin-style supper club, entire sections of seating might be closed off when they’re short-staffed. As it is, Lowlands CEO Eric Wagner said, employees are putting in extra hours and are overwhelme­d by the volume.

“We’re so happy to be back,” Wagner said. “People are out and about, and sales have been great, but it’s been really, really hard.” The restaurant group is trying unconventi­onal avenues such as signing and referral bonuses to fill its many openings and lighten the load of people already on the staff, he said.

The group has posted signs in its restaurant­s that say “Please bear with us,” explaining the effects the staffing crunch might have and thanking customers for their patience.

Why is my food taking so long?

It’s likely because the restaurant doesn’t have enough cooks in the kitchen, or because staff members are so new, they’re still getting up to speed. The worker shortage that started well before the pandemic is now entrenched, and every restaurant is looking for help at the same time.

Triciclo Perú recently was coping with even fewer employees than it had at the height of the pandemic, when it sold only takeout. With the dining room and patio open again, the restaurant had only Narr at the front of the house and her partner cooking in the back, Narr said. Because food is made to order instead of in advance, what would typically be a 25-minute wait for a meal becomes 45 minutes.

And it’s not just kitchen staff in short supply; restaurant­s are desperate for servers and other workers, as well, and the ones they have are being worked hard.

Wiltgen said his employees usually are scheduled for four- to six-hour shifts; they’re “hustling up and down stairs, and around a restaurant.” They’re now working 10- to 12-hour shifts.

A restaurant I expected to be open was closed for the day. Why would that be?

A million things can go wrong — power loss, equipment failure, maybe not enough deliveries were made. But these days, more restaurant­s are taking the health and welfare of employees into account and closing for a day to recharge.

Wiltgen, whose businesses rely heavily on events at Fiserv Forum, said that if the Bucks had gone to a Game 7 for the Eastern Conference finals, he would have closed down for the day. “I just saw it in my staff’s eyes. … They needed a break,” he said.

After a busy several months and an exhausting Fourth of July weekend, the Lowlands group decided to close its restaurant­s for a day of team recovery, marketing director Trevor Nackers said. The Downer Avenue, Wauwatosa and Madison locations of Cafe Hollander plus Cafe Benelux and Centraal Grand Cafe & Tappery were closed to the public July 12, and Buckatabon Tavern & Supper Club in Wauwatosa and the Brookfield and Mequon locations of Cafe Hollander will be closed July 19.

The menu looks shorter than it used to. Why isn’t my favorite dish there?

Several reasons are possible. To help speed service, restaurant­s might remove menu items that are more complicate­d and thus take more time to prepare.

Or key ingredient­s might have become too expensive.

“We’ve had to take some things off the menu we’ve had since Day 1; we’ve had to re-engineer some things,” said Andrew Miller, the chef and co-owner of seafood restaurant Third Coast Provisions downtown. Because lobster prices have doubled, the $21 side dish of lobster mac and cheese would have become prohibitiv­ely expensive. So, off it came.

Wagyu beef, prized for its marbling, is available only sporadical­ly, Miller has found. The price of the most sought-after beef cuts or cuts that aren’t in abundance on cattle, such as tenderloin and hanger steaks, have increased 200%, he said.

“We’ve been pretty select in what we’re bringing in until things kind of calm down,” Miller said. “When we talk to our distributo­rs, they don’t see that happening any time soon.”

Meanwhile, Narr, of Triciclo Perú, said, “Nope, I’m not going to pay four times the price for a case of wings.”

Sometimes, ingredient­s just aren’t available when the restaurant needs them. It can be a matter of suppliers and producers not being able to ship the products — not enough forklift drivers to load the trucks and not enough truck drivers to transport the goods, for instance.

Wiltgen said he was driving from store to store trying to find chicken breasts. “These are the strange things that are consuming our time,” he said.

“I’ve never had a frozen chicken breast, but in early June, that’s all there was,” he said, and it was 8 ounces instead of the usual 7-ouncers he buys for his restaurant­s.

By the way, shortages don’t affect just ingredient­s. Managers, the Lowlands’ Wagner said, are “dealing with these issues in every single thing that we do. You might see some chairs that might not match because we can’t get chairs for six months.”

Wiltgen said he’s been told it takes 16 weeks to get freezers and ice makers.

At least the booze isn’t affected. Right?

That darn supply chain again. It can be challengin­g to get spirits and other alcoholic beverages, or get them on time. The Lowlands group, which spotlights the beers of Belgium, has been having trouble getting its beers when it needs them because of a keg shortage in Europe.

Even mixers for drinks are affected. “Yesterday I actually drove around to seven stores to find grapefruit juice,” Wiltgen said recently. “It didn’t exist, everywhere I went.”

And then there’s just weirdness. Jake Replogle of Jake’s Restaurant, a Brookfield steakhouse, said 1.75-liter bottles of spirits are available but often not the smaller 750-milliliter bottles. Naturally, bar shelves are designed to hold smaller bottles, not the largest ones.

This item is more expensive than before the pandemic. Are restaurant­s trying to gouge me?

No, it reflects the enormous price increases in ingredient­s that they’re seeing, especially in beef, chicken and seafood — the proteins, basically. It’s supply and demand at work again.

“We’ve had to raise our prices a couple times. That’s just the way of the world right now,” Narr said.

Others have raised prices or were about to, as well. Topolovich said he tries to keep his prices as low as possible, “so I can see my customers five times a week instead of two.” But he was making adjustment­s to his menus this month.

“You really have no choice but to eventually raise your prices,” he said.

I really got used to takeout and delivery. When I tried to order from my favorite place recently, I couldn’t. How come?

Restaurant­s that weren’t built for takeout to begin with can’t serve a busy dining room and fill a flood of takeout orders at the same time.

“Our kitchen’s small, and we can’t accommodat­e dining room, patio and curbside,” Tofte said.

For instance, the staff can make only two orders at a time of a popular grilled vegetable dish. Takeout on top of inperson orders would be overwhelmi­ng. So, during patio season, something had to give.

Odd Duck in Bay View gave up takeout entirely when it resumed indoor dining. The restaurant had to use its dining room to station takeout orders during the early days of the pandemic; in practical terms, it just doesn’t have the space for that now that customers are dining in again.

Other restaurant­s still offer takeout but turn off their online ordering or third-party delivery or stop taking orders by phone when it gets too busy.

“We wouldn’t be able to keep up with both, and we feel like someone waiting at a table shouldn’t have to wait an hour,” said Narr, of Triciclo Perú. And she doesn’t take lightly that to-go orders are what kept the restaurant going for more than a year.

Topolovich, who owns the two Tosa diners, said he stops taking called-in orders at 4:30 p.m. on Fridays. “The phone’s just off the hook,” he said.

Like Narr and other restaurant owners, he expressed some regret at having to do so.

“It’s tough, because I know some people aren’t fully comfortabl­e” dining in, he said, “or they decided they just like takeout.”

I’m really mad that I couldn’t get what I wanted for dinner. I think I’ll leave a terrible review online.

Please don’t. Restaurant owners understand the frustratio­n, but national and internatio­nal forces are at work here. It’s not the restaurant’s fault that they couldn’t get their order of chicken wings or bourbon on time.

Remember, too, when you’re calculatin­g the tip that what’s happening is out of your server’s hands.

And extra kindness might compensate for the few frustrated diners who can’t keep it together. Like other restaurate­urs, Topolovich, of North Ave. Grill and Midtown Diner, said most customers have been gracious, but in the past few months he’s encountere­d an uptick in incidents such as yelling and even a customer who flipped over a plate of food, and another who made a highschool-age server in training cry.

He worried the effect it could have on retaining workers. “Who wants to put up with that?” he said.

OK, I’ll manage my expectatio­ns. What can I do for the best experience possible? I really miss restaurant­s and want to go.

We all do. The pandemic has taught us many things, one of them being that we go to restaurant­s for far more than the food. Consumers helped restaurant­s get this far through the pandemic, and restaurant­s still need their support.

Accept that it might take longer, especially at peak times, to get a table if the restaurant doesn’t take reservatio­ns. And if it does take reservatio­ns, you definitely should make them — and keep them, or cancel them as soon as possible so someone else can have a night out and the restaurant doesn’t lose more money. Consider going at hours or days of the week that aren’t as in demand. Perhaps 4:30 and 8:30 p.m. are the new 6:30.

And accept that it might take longer to get a drink or food, as hard as employees are working. Going to a restaurant on a tight time-frame could be stressful, so build in extra time if you have to be at a destinatio­n afterward by a certain time.

Otherwise, just go with the flow (and with people you really like, so you can enjoy their company). After all, some of us waited more than a year to return to restaurant­s; even an extra hour for dinner pales by comparison. Think of it as being able to spend more time with people we cherish THAT ISN’T IN OUR HOUSE OR OVER ZOOM. O happy, happy day.

Contact dining critic Carol Deptolla at carol.deptolla@jrn.com or (414) 2242841, or through the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_diner.

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 ?? EBONY COX / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL ?? Clay Prather serves Kathleen Bailey and Kyle Sheppard at Cafe Benelux. These days, tables are in demand, but workers can be in short supply.
EBONY COX / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Clay Prather serves Kathleen Bailey and Kyle Sheppard at Cafe Benelux. These days, tables are in demand, but workers can be in short supply.
 ?? EBONY COX / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL ?? It can be rare to find a vacant table in a restaurant at peak times, as during brunch at Cafe Benelux in the Third Ward, shown here. Sometimes tables remain vacant even if customers are waiting for one when a restaurant is understaff­ed.
EBONY COX / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL It can be rare to find a vacant table in a restaurant at peak times, as during brunch at Cafe Benelux in the Third Ward, shown here. Sometimes tables remain vacant even if customers are waiting for one when a restaurant is understaff­ed.
 ?? JOURNAL SENTINEL ANGELA PETERSON / MILWAUKEE ?? Some restaurant­s have taken chicken wings off the menu because wings’ wholesale cost has quadrupled, when they’re available.
JOURNAL SENTINEL ANGELA PETERSON / MILWAUKEE Some restaurant­s have taken chicken wings off the menu because wings’ wholesale cost has quadrupled, when they’re available.

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