You can help restaurants by adopting one

Think local when you eat out or order in, Matthew Civico and Lester Liao write.

Montreal is synonymous with good times. Our uniquely Montréalais joie de vivre is what brings the world here and keeps people coming back. No matter the festival or occasion, a good time in Montreal is often accented with food.

Who hasn’t ordered late-night poutine at La Banquise or stood in line for smoked meat at Schwartz’s with out-of-towners? Whether it’s comparing bagels or taking someone to your favourite coffee shop, there’s a shared sense that enjoying our city means eating our way through it.

A vibrant food scene is like an ecosystem that remains healthy through good practices and self-reinforcement. Montrealers enjoy quality and abundance in restaurant choice precisely because the city and its people are known for eating out and appreciating good food. We don’t go out to restaurants because there are so many great ones; there are so many great ones because we love to gather around food. It’s who we are.

But 2020 is looking like the year when Montreal and its indelible food culture have to go it alone. The pandemic forced us inside and continues to cloud most public activities with a haze of anxiety. With borders closed and festivals moved online or cancelled, it’s been tough for restaurants. This week, La Banquise posted that it is asking all its employees to be tested for COVID -19 in response to public-health recommendations — and “as a result, we will be closed until the results are obtained.”

Worse still: reopening doesn’t mean recovery, and we’ve already seen too many “for rent” signs posted throughout our neighbourhoods. We fear especially for the smaller places — the family-owned sushi shop down the street and the moody little resto-bar on the corner.

If we love Montreal as much as we say we do, it’s time to show it. Not just for dinner tonight, but for this summer, and the summer after that.

If we love Montreal as much as we say we do, it’s time to show it.

How? Here are two ways:

One is to get out there and eat something. Restaurants are reopening, and they want to avoid a second lockdown as much as we do, so they’ve made space, increased sanitation and implemented new barrier measures.

If you’re not comfortable dining out just yet, here’s another idea: adopt a nearby restaurant — or a few — and order your food from there.

Remember, though, that delivery apps charge restaurants fees as high as 35 per cent, which are either passed on to customers or eat into restaurants’ thin margins. So consider putting down your delivery app, calling ahead and picking up your food — and saving yourself and the restaurant some money.

Adopting a restaurant doesn’t mean never eating at your favourite place across town or trying new restaurants. But limiting choices to the closest options is a good way to invest in the local neighbourhood. You might even discover a new, convenient favourite that’s only a short walk away.

The pandemic may be global, but a good way to meaningfully support Montreal’s restaurants is undeniably local. As we reopen safely and return to a semblance of ordinary life, relationships will naturally revive and develop. A local approach to eating out reinforces what we love most about Montreal’s food scene. It makes good food less transactional and refocuses attention on what’s not on the menu: the shared comfort of familiar faces, places and tastes.

If we take precautions and focus on the good we can do nearest to us, there’s no reason we can’t continue to support and enjoy the work of Montreal’s restaurateurs. Whether you order in every night or go out to eat once a month, just get some food — takeout, dine-in or delivered.

And please, wear a mask.

Matthew Civico lives and writes in Montreal and is the editor of Common Pursuits, a community organization website dedicated to neighbourhood life in Montreal and Toronto. Lester Liao is the group’s co-founder and director.

■ DON MACPHERSON RETURNS SOON.