The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
First foray to reopened eatery met with caution
Although many restaurants have reopened from two-month corona virus forced closures, I wasn’t entirely comfortable about dining out. But I’d invited a friend out to dinner to celebrate her Memorial Day birthday, so I went online to research options.
When I discovered that all staff at Mentor’s Noosa Bistro is certified under the ServSafe food and beverage safety training program, my confidence increased. I knew restaurant managers usually were required to complete that certification and that it’s an element in the training of chefs by Loretta Paganini’s International Culinary Arts & Sciences Institute in Chester Township. But Noosa’s servers and bartenders also complete food handler certification, administered by the National Restaurant Association.
Keeping a 6-foot distance between staff and customers means rearranging spaces and fewer tables. It’s a juggling act for restaurants that makes reservations more necessary than ever. Because neither of us was comfortable with eating indoors I requested a patio table when calling for our reservation. And I asked if we might be able to take our food to go if we weren’t comfortable on the patio. We both were masked when we arrived. The birthday girl wore a fashionable blue mask with loops for the ears.
The hostess greeted us with a non-contact forehead thermometer to make sure neither of us had a fever — one of the first signs of COVID-19. We hadn’t expected that.
“All of us need to have our temperatures checked before we get to work,” she said. “We have the equipment, so we’re extending it to our guests.”
As we passed through the bar to reach the patio, we noted that booths in that space had heavy but stylish curtains between them. Once on the patio, we noted that the two other occupied tables were at opposite ends of the space. Measurement-ata-glance is not my strong suit, but it appeared there were at least 20 feet between us.
It was very private and quite nice.
I recalled my long-ago dinner at Le Louis XV, Alain Ducasse’s place at the Hotel de Paris in Monaco. Tables there were so far apart (at least 10 feet) that diners could not hear the conversations of their neighbors.
The food was sublime, and there was even a small upholstered footstool next to my chair for my purse. It was probably the finest and most expensive place where I’d ever eaten. And I was glad to have been a guest.
Once seated at our table at Noosa, we neither could see nor hear the other guests on the patio. We ordered a bottle of celebratory wine and noted there were no condiments on the table. Our bottle of wine in its chiller was joined only by a big blue bottle of water and a large container of hand sanitizer. We perused one-time-use paper menus and ordered our meals.
As guests at a distant table departed, a pair of servers descended on the table to clean it, top to bottom even the chairs. The new protocols include thorough table cleaning between guests — and it was obviously way beyond a swipe of surfaces.
It was a delightful evening that put us both at ease. After two months of eating at home interspersed with occasional carryout, a visit to the patio at Noosa felt like the celebration it was.
I still am not sure I’m ready to eat indoors and am glad many places have their carryout protocols honed to a science. Along with many others, I’ll wait a few weeks to see if virus numbers spike now that stay home mandates are behind us.
Several restaurants have not yet reopened, and they’re learning how their colleagues in the hospitality business are doing it. Red, Wine & Brew in Mentor has taken advantage of the closure to install new flooring and remodel its kitchen and dining areas to accommodate the new normal. Sara’s Place in Gates Mills continues with daily carryout, but its dining room remains closed. Both are among those planning to open by mid-June.