Taste of Success
NYC’s thriving dining scene shows us the way out of the pandemic
TOO many “experts” regard restaurants as optional to the larger economy. But right now, they’re the only economy we’ve got. A recent New York Times editorial moaned that elected officials “seemed more concerned about reopening bars and restaurants than safely reopening schools.”
Yet our zillionstrong cafes, bistros, brasseries, trattorias, steakhouses, izakayas, shawarma shops and dumpling parlors are the city’s lifeblood.
Labor Day was supposed to augur a large-scale return to Manhattan workplaces. But office occupancy remains stubbornly stuck at 20 percent, according to authoritative tracing service Kastle Systems.
Stores, long a backbone of city commerce, continue to close at an alarming rate. The local death toll includes Lord & Taylor, Barneys, Century 21, Neiman Marcus, JC Penney, Papyrus, and scores of Gap, Banana Republic and Brooks Brothers locations. ABC Carpet & Home might be next to go as well.
The city’s hotel industry is “mired in a depression,” according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association. Although some hotels reopened, revenue per available room is down 67 percent since 2019.
Sure, it’s great to have Broadway back. But eating out is the only truly functional part of the day-to-day, New York City whirl.
In the face of great hiring challenges, supply shortages and COVID-19 fears, our eateries stood up and brought their industry back. The scene will only get stronger as vaccine rules blow away lingering worries over the dreaded Delta variant.
Media cranks resent this. The mainstream food media plays up the evils of exploited, underpaid workers, predatory chefs, “cultural culinary appropriation” and the alleged (but debunked) indoor-dining risks more than what’s to enjoy on the plate.
Meanwhile, the eating-out (and spending big!) frenzy is obvious to anyone pounding the city streets. Dining rooms and alfresco areas are packed — with some customers who say they won’t go to offices for fear of contracting the virus. I overheard such a conversation at Balthazar, where I refrained from butting in to point out that the Soho brasserie was three times more crowded than any normal office.
While companies and retailers continue to slash staff, restaurants are hiring as fast as they can lure workers back. We lost many places but more new ones are opening to replace them. Beloved favorites that shut their doors last year are roaring back to life, including The Grill, Barbetta and the Grand Central Oyster Bar. Top-rank eateries that served only dinner, such as Le Bernardin, Marea and Le Pavillon are now opening for lunch as well. Work-from-homers fed up with lounging in pajamas are dressing up again to eat out. Men are wearing sports jackets and ties again. A friend told me she “misses dressing up for work.” She came to lunch at Pastis sporting a chic Stella McCartney jumpsuit and handbag that would be at home in any corridors of corporate power.
Restaurants also restore life-affirming energy to our streets. Busy sidewalks make people feel safe. Bustling concentrations of eateries from Lenox Avenue in Harlem to Stone Street in FiDi are drawing even the most crime-fearing residents out of their homes for the first time in ages. All this is cause for celebration. Politically motivated doomcasters and common grinches who bear irrational hate toward restaurants can tell all the lies they want. But most New Yorkers know better.
The road out of the pandemic leads through our restaurant doors.