BY BRIA SCHIRRIPA

These days in the West Village you’ll find closed off streets filled with elaborate seating areas.  Strings of lights and plant arrangements outline outdoor dining spots on normally busy but some closed off to traffic, city streets. 

Restaurants have come a long way since mid-March, when they were mandated to shorten their hours of operation.  Days later they’d be given orders to shut down for table service but they were not made to close completely.  This sudden change left business owners to have to shift to a takeout and delivery model only.

Bleecker Street Beat checked in with some of our neighborhood staples to find out about the challenges of running a New York City restaurant during a global pandemic and how the city’s dining spots may be transformed in the future.

Michael Stewart, owner of Tavern on Jane, is celebrating 25 years in business this fall. In all those years the only time he’s fully shut down operations was a brief period during Hurricane Sandy when the restaurant lost power for a week. “Once our 10 p.m. close time was changed to 8 p.m. I knew we had one option, to go full delivery only”. The cozy West Village establishment known best for its neighborly ambiance closed its doors and suddenly appeared on sites like DoorDash and Seamless

With Summer came permission to reopen, allowing restaurants to host customers for the first time in four months, leaving many who have never offered outdoor dining to figure out how to make this new model work.

 Markus Dorfmann, Managing Partner of Baker & Co, moved operations to their sister location, Barrio. Then in June Baker reopened with a reduced menu and to-go drinks.  Today, Baker and Co. provides patrons with sidewalk and garden dining options.

They attribute part of their current success to their supportive neighbors, a skincare shop and a shoe store, who have allowed them to use their sidewalk space as a dining area. “Their landlord gave us permission to expand in front of their storefronts, creating room for more tables and chairs, it was very nice”.

While restaurants have adapted quickly during this crisis the question now is how restaurants will continue to serve their customers as the weather turns cold.

At the end of summer, New York officials announced restaurants would be able to resume indoor dining at 25% capacity. Today many restaurants have embraced this change with care

“We are taking every precaution including social distancing of tables, masks, and temperature checks for customers who choose to sit indoors”, says Jacob Salas Manager and bartender of Corner Bistro. While the resumption of indoor dining is good news for business owners, they still face the challenge of varying comfort levels among patrons.

Restaurants are adamant that they cannot survive on 25% indoor capacity alone and in September Governor Andrew Cuomo announced permission to keep outdoor dining year-round. Now heater lamps, insulated tents and other elaborate structures are sidewalk staples.  Owners, managers, and staff members are embracing the ever-changing rules and regulations that have upended their day to day operations.

Tavern on Jane is now part of the online ordering world, uncharted territory for the restaurant inching towards its third decade. They’ve also increased their social media presence as a way to stay engaged with customers, connect with new clientele, and promote weekly specials (Wednesday meatloaf is a must).

Dame, a small English restaurant on MacDougal Street has segued into a fish and chips pop up - its menu, updated almost weekly, includes dishes inspired from around the globe and guest chefs every month.

It isn’t all challenging. Dorfmann says that spending more time outdoors has given him the opportunity to get to know fellow neighborhood restaurant owners. “Before it was just running across the street to borrow something, now it’s like we’re cheering each other on, we want one another to thrive in this new environment” he says of his Bleecker Street neighbors.

Tavern on Jane found ways to give back through a partnership with Frontline Foods - an organization dedicated to feeding workers and first responders on the frontlines of the pandemic. 

Corner Bistro once a rough around the edges bohemian hangout whose patrons consisted of out of work actors and writers eager for late night burgers and fries, now offers customers breakfast. “Everyone is being a bit gentler these days”. Salas says a salad on our menu is a bit unheard of but “we’re doing it”.