Protect & reserve
NYC eateries ready safety measures for indoor dining
Big Apple restaurants say that safety is their main dish as they gear up to launch indoor dining today for the first time in six months.
Thousands of places know that their customers are still nervous about catching the coronavirus indoors, despite the city’s low infection rate — so they’re going the extra mile to make the eating experience as safe as it can be.
At Asian jumbo Buddakan in Chelsea Market, managers will have 6-foot-long poles handy to show that tables are properly spaced under state and city rules if customers or inspectors complain. “The pole doesn’t lie,” said owner Stephen Starr. Bluestone Lane’s Kenmare Street and Greenwich Avenue locations installed “Far-UVC technology” — a type of ultraviolet light to inactivate bacteria and viruses on clothing to augment the coffee cafes’ air-filtration systems. Williamsburg’s massive Ainslie saved its communal tables from extinction by limiting them to eight customers each and separating parties with Plexiglas dividers (inset).
All of the eateries will abide by strict legal requirements: Rules include a maximum set to 25 percent of legal capacity, enhanced air-filtration systems, temperature checks for customers, masks to be worn at all times except when at tables and a midnight curfew.
Bad news for boozers: There’ll be no service at bars inside the restaurants, although there are no drink restrictions at tables.
There’s no firm count of how many places will open indoors. But Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, said that most of the 10,300 restaurants that have had outdoor dining would take part.
Some exalted eateries won’t join the party just yet. Top-rated steakhouse Porter House New York at Time Warner Center will wait until the state allows 50 percent capacity, hopefully by Nov. 1, said chef-owner Michael Lomonaco. “The numbers just didn’t work for us at 25 percent,” he said. Also sitting it out is Keith McNally’s Balthazar, which will reopen “as soon as possible,” a rep said.
But it’s full speed ahead at most, but not all, places run by top restaurateurs, such as Danny Meyer, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Daniel Boulud and Shelly Fireman. And there’s a lastminute rush to get on board by independent operators. Ellen’s Stardust Diner in Midtown announced Tuesday that it’s reopening indoors after being closed for months — a move many feared would be permanent.
“We’re following the letter of the law,” Starr said of his restaurants Buddakan, Upland, Pastis, El Vez and La Mercerie. He has practice: His Philadelphia restaurants have served inside for months under similar rules without issue.
Eric Ripert’s three-Michelin-star Le Bernardin is almost fully booked for two seatings nightly, or about 110 people at each seating, for the next two weeks. “We have a long waiting list, too,” Ripert said.
Other owners said they won’t know how popular indoors will be for a few weeks. Some food lovers are panting to eat indoors again, but others are keeping their distance for now.
Gianfranco Sorrentino, managing partner of Midtown power scene spot Il Gattopardo, said he has Wednesday bookings for 20 of the Italian eatery’s 70 seats it can use under the 25 percent rule.
“We even have some small parties for the first week in October,” he said, noting that they’ll be strictly limited in size.
Tamarind Tribeca owner Avtar Walia divided his 11,000-square-foot Indian palace into four sections on the main floor and mezzanine.
“We have so much room, and we want people to be comfortable,” Walia said. “We already have 60 reservations for the first night.”