Followed that Substack link. The comments are pretty interesting.
*the business model of that eatgeek link seems…I’m curiously how many Halal Guys locations actually use it
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“Regular” mask don’t protect you(and nobody claimed that) but others if you are asymptomatic (or positive) - one (of many) reasons why a lot of Asian countries are much better at containing Covid is their much higher rate of mask in the public
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I have a couple of minor quibbles with those. Growth and decline in the restaurant industry are more tied to how many people eat out than to population. To the extent delivery supplants cooking, that’s more business for restaurants. Still, the business model seems unsustainable and a lose-lose situation for restaurants, delivery workers, and investors.
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Per the Hong Kong hamster study, masks should be effective in both directions, though more so when worn by infected people.
Unfortunately the weather most of the time, in most parts of the city, isn’t really great for outdoor dining, especially in the evening.
Judging from the new office-reopening guidelines, the CDC is getting more aware of ventilation issues. I’d hope the next update of the restaurant guidelines get similar details. Scroll down to “Engineering controls: Isolate workers from the hazard.”
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/office-buildings.html
On restaurants, air conditioning, and air flow:
Governor allowing L.A. County restaurants to open for in-person dining, as well as barbershops/hair salons:
ETA:
" Some communities, including San Pedro and Long Beach, are preparing to close streets to traffic and expedite permit variances so restaurants can put more tables and chairs outside. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is eyeing similar measures, Hahn said.
Both restaurants and salons are expected to be required to keep detailed records of customers, including contact numbers, so public health officials can quickly follow up with patrons in the event of an outbreak.
The move comes even though the county remains the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in California, with more than 2,200 deaths. More than half of all COVID-19 fatalities in the state have been in L.A. County, which has been slower to reopen than areas less hard-hit by the outbreak. The total number of confirmed cases in L.A. County is at nearly 50,000 — representing almost half of all California cases."
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What we stand to lose:
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Some of that is bizarrely out of date. Saying that aerosol transmission (i.e. through talking) is “not as prominent a pathway” as surfaces is the opposite of the latest CDC advice, and the CDC itself is dragging its feet. And again the focus on sneezing and coughing, as if anybody doing that is going to be welcome in a restaurant.
The claim that the Guangzhou “restaurant’s air conditioning system was very different from those used by U.S. restaurants” seems dubious to me given the number of stuffy dining rooms I’ve eaten in. Maybe not in newer buildings.
Everything is beginning to open up here . I’ll notify you if I get it . Fuck it . I’m not going to live my life in fear. This is nothing of what my father went through in guadalcanal or my mother or her father or grandfather.
“Two weeks before Gov. Gavin Newsom would allow Los Angeles County restaurants to open, I was desperate for a meal with strangers — part of what brought me to Bakersfield in the first place.”
(Cross-posted to this thread: Covid-19, and how to support the restaurant industry?)
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I just read that article, @butteredwaffles, and then Bill Addison’s piece (which I was going to pull quotes from, but realized I’d be quoting the whole darn thing): I respect those who are choosing not to open for in-person dining - and share Addison’s qualms about whether to dine-in if a restaurant offers that option.
Here’s Addison’s article:
(I’ll cross-post this to the Covid-19, and how to support the restaurant industry? thread, too.)
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“But here’s the story from inside the restaurant: We miss you, too. It isn’t about the money, and it isn’t really about the food. From our friends who raise and deliver the food we cook to the friends we serve it to, our industry is really about people.”
This piece resonates - so many small, local places where we went as much for the community as for the food.
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It occurred to me this weekend that in addition to social distancing and other public health issues affecting business, restaurants are going to lose some customers simply because some people have gotten in the habit of cooking and realized how much money they’re saving.
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For those who have learned more about home cooking over the past two months, it’s a great “side effect” that they’ve also most likely saved money. For others, like me, dining out has nothing to do whatsoever with saving money. Sure, home cooking costs less, and my DH and I home cook once a week with some great recipes of our making, but not to save money. I know what it is that I’m paying a premium for when I dine in a restaurant: I love it and I’m happy to pay for it. Plus tip.
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I’m talking about people who went to restaurants or got takeout because they didn’t know how to cook or weren’t good enough at it to get a meal on the table in a reasonable amount of time.
Of course those of us who like to go to good restaurants aren’t going to quit so long as we can afford it, whether we know how to cook or not.
Delivery apps vs restaurants (tl:dr - order direct from restaurant and pick it up yourself!)
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" Birdie G’s in Santa Monica wasn’t set up for takeout in mid-March when its owner, Jeremy Fox, began serving his comfort food in to-go cartons. “We were just drowning,” the chef says. “I didn’t train for this in culinary school.”
One customer acted as if it were business as usual when he ordered matzo ball soup and publicly shamed Birdie G’s for not giving him enough broth — on Yelp, with a one-star review and a photograph to prove his point.
“I completely agreed it was not enough” broth, Fox says. What was the right amount for his restaurant bowls looked skimpy in takeout containers. In normal times, he says, “a plate coming back to the kitchen was like being stabbed.” Staff would be “ashamed, and disappointed that we disappointed you.” And now? “We’re just trying to do our best while our lives are on the line, and we’re losing money."
…
WaPo Restaurant Critic Tom Sietsema: “For as long as I’ve been writing about the industry, I’ve thought of myself as an advocate for diners. Consumers’ time, money and attention have long been foremost when I tap out a rave, a rant or something in between. Since the coronavirus pandemic, I’ve had a change of heart. Rest assured, I’m not going soft, or abandoning my constituency. I’m just not writing about places that aren’t good (or better), and I’m offering a highlight reel of dishes that travel best from Point A to Point B. Star ratings have no place in these surreal times, and I have no idea when I’ll use them again. The middle of an earthquake is no time to issue a report card.”
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