A NEW NORMAL
Restaurants reopen for indoor refreshment at a social distance
Between the din of the laughter, the indie-pop music playing, a few dogs barking and the enticing wisps of sweet barbecue smoke, you might have thought this was a typical summer day on the expansive patio at Walter’s Southern Kitchen in Lawrenceville.
The only real giveaway was the masks.
Restaurants across southwestern Pennsylvania entered the green phase of COVID-19 restrictions, which allows for indoor and outdoor dining with myriad conditions.
“It’s good to get the juices, the energy and the money flowing again,” Walter’s co-owner Joel Bolden said. “With all the turmoil that’s going on in the country, it’s a sad day as well, so you have mixed emotions on all fronts.”
Mr. Bolden said they had to scale back their patio to meet occupancy requirements. “We’re gonna give you the distance, we’re gonna have sanitizer in the tables, you’re gonna leave here feeling this is a very safe environment.”
what remained of their 45-minute wait. Both were very much looking forward to their regular order of pizzas and Killer Diller India pale ale.
“It’d be nice if we could get a beer,” she joked.
Angelo’s Restaurant near Washington, Pa., has survived a lot of things since it opened in 1939. Judging by the cacophony in the background of a 7 p.m. call to owner Michael Passalacqua, it is surviving the pandemic, too.
“Everybody who is out is very happy to be out, and I’m very happy to be open,” he said over the din of a restaurant that was, for now, 50% full. “Life is good!” he said before getting back to work,
A lot of people missed having breakfast out, they told Michele Mazzella, co-owner of Pamela’s Diner in Oakland. At 8 a.m. Friday, she and her partner and husband and crew of five others opened the doors and ... discovered the phone wasn’t working. Besides that, “it went well,” she said with a laugh. Customers “came in spurts” and spread out at about 40 seats in two rooms, ordering everything off the menu. “It’s good that we prepared.”
She said some customers mistakenly think this green phase means they don’t need to wear masks. But when told to do so, they complied.
“People were accepting it pretty well,” she said. She and her coworkers were wearing masks and gloves “to send a message to customers” that they were doing things right.
“This would definitely be a slow day for us,” she said. “But I was thrilled for the wait staff to be making some money.”
For the first time since midMarch, Jigger’s Pub in Export, Westmoreland County, opened its doors to customers to eat and drink inside at 11 a.m. Thursday. Irwin’s Mandie Reusch was there by 11:30 a.m. and doing what a lot of people have missed.
“I wanted to go out and have a cold draft,” she said of her pint of Guinness, which she posted on social media, naturally. “It met all my expectations.”
She’s a regular at the pub and was happy to know other regulars in the place. “It was almost like things are normal again,” she said. “Except for the masks.”
As long as establishments are following social distancing and sanitation guidelines, “I’m not really scared” to eat and drink out, said the 31-year-old booking agent for a multinational alcoholic beverages company.
“I think I probably will go out this weekend. Where is to be determined, because there are lots of small businesses that I want to support.”
At The Vault on the South Side, the 11-month-old restaurant had started to hit its stride before the coronavirus shutdown. To keep the momentum going, owner Kyle Wolfe said they did things like make complimentary COVID care packages for customers with hand sanitizer and toilet paper.
“From the grace of our customers, we were able to survive and thrive a little bit,” Mr. Wolfe said.
“We’re opening up feeling not comfortable, but we can operate for a little while now and take it slowly and do the right things and navigate this time that we’re in along with everybody else without taking too many risks.”
Further down East Carson Street, Chris Bonfili succinctly summed up the day: “I’m just excited to see some smiling faces in here and some energy back in the building,” said the chef and owner of Bonfire Food & Drink. “It’s nice to look around and see people enjoying what we do.”
“I do this to see smiling faces and to see people enjoy the experience that we provide. It’s a huge step to get back to that — even if it’s only at 50%.”