David Godsoe

Restaurant Eighteen/Social/ The Clarendon “When your time is so limited, as it is in the kitchen, any extra tasks feel weighty. Our industry already had such high standards for cleanliness and sanitation, so the extra safety protocols don’t add much more onto the day, but everything is a bit different now. I’m responsible for three kitchens, all within walking distance, but I can’t just walk from one to the next anymore.

“During the summer, we had half the cooks in the kitchen that we normally would. With our expanded patio, we were serving nearly the same number of guests as we would pre-pandemic. We had to make sacrifices: no amuse-bouches, faster-paced services. None of it’s been easy, and we still don’t know what to expect for the future.”