Restaurants still need our support
Whether you’re ordering won ton mein at Sam Sato’s or macadamia nutcrusted fresh catch at Haliimaile General Store, going out to eat has always been a treat.
Like so many things taken for granted before the pandemic, we had no idea how truly special the restaurant experience was. Fresh tasty food, friendly service, no grocery shopping, cooking or pots and pans to clean — apart from paying the bill, what’s not to like?
These truths set in last Sunday as we enjoyed our first indoor restaurant meal in nearly a year at Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Bar. The Kihei landmark recently moved to a new location at Kukui Mall. Its menu has been pared down, but all of our favorites were available to order, and order we did.
The tastes were as delectable as remembered, but Sansei’s atmosphere now includes temperature checks, tables spread far apart and a staff bent on cleaning every surface. Takeout orders appear to be a more important part of the business than they were previously.
Between bites of sushi and shrimp dynamite, other thoughts set in, like how difficult it must be to run a restaurant during a pandemic. Maui restaurateurs have been sorely challenged by the dramatic downturn in tourism the disease has wrought. Some will not make it through. They are not alone in their struggles.
The National Restaurant Association estimates more than 100,000 restaurants in America closed for good in 2020. A recent poll of restaurant operators found that 60 percent of them did not think their operational environments would return to normal for at least seven months. That’s not a full recovery they are predicting, just the ability to be open without mask requirements, to have a populace that is not worried about going out. Twenty-nine percent of the operators said it would take more than a year and 10 percent said their business would never return to normal.
What can we do to help? The website Today .com lists several ways. The first is obvious. Support your favorite restaurants. If you are not ready to dine in, order your food to go. Most establishments have pivoted to takeout.
The second suggestion is not so obvious. When ordering online, avoid third-party apps. These applications, which are often the first things that pop up when you do a search, charge restaurants hefty fees that cut deep into already thin margins. Find the restaurant’s own website or phone number.
Other recommendations include making sure to tip well, supporting local relief funds and purchasing gift cards for future use.
Maui’s restaurants are celebrations of culture and cuisine. A lot of pride goes into how meals are prepared and served. This island entered the pandemic with a diverse array of world-class dining options. How many remain standing when this scourge ends depends on many factors, including the support they receive from us.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince likely approved the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to a newly declassified U.S. intelligence report released Friday that instantly ratcheted up pressure on the Biden administration to hold the kingdom accountable for the murder.
The findings were long known to many U.S. officials. But the public rebuke of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman leaves no doubt that as the prince continues in his powerful role and likely ascends to the throne, Americans will forever associate him with the brutal killing of a journalist who promoted democracy and human rights.
Yet even as the Biden administration released the findings, it appeared determined to preserve the Saudi relationship by avoiding direct punishment of the prince himself despite demands from some congressional Democrats and Khashoggi allies.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the approach.
“What we’ve done by the actions we’ve taken is not to rupture the relationship but to recalibrate it to be more in line with our interests and our values,” he said. “I think that we have to understand as well that this is bigger than any one person.”î
Though intelligence officials stopped short of saying the prince ordered the 2018 murder, the document described him as having “absolute controlî over the kingdom’s intelligence organizations” and said it would have been highly unlikely for an operation like the killing to have been carried out without his approval.
Shortly after the findings were released, the State Department announced a new policy, called the “Khashoggi Ban,î” that will allow the U.S. to deny visas to people who harm, threaten or spy on journalists on behalf of a foreign government. It also said it would impose visa restrictions on 76 Saudi individuals who have engaged or threatened dissidents overseas.
A person familiar with the matter said the prince was not targeted.
While Biden had pledged as a candidate to make Saudi Arabia a “pariahî over the killing,” he appeared to take a milder tone during a call Thursday with Saudi King Salman.
A White House summary of the conversation made no mention of the killing and said instead that the men had discussed the countries’ longstanding partnership.