Everyone thought there would be a Covid baby boom. That didn't happen but another baby boom of sorts did occur. It seems the pandemic allowed little eateries to sprout and even flourish during the past year.
Pete Wells, Food critic for the New York Times Food section wrote about this phenomena in today's section.It seems strange this happened since mostly everyone stayed home and cooked. Paradoxically the challenges that killed so many existing businesses fueled the fires for food trucks and pop up to flourish. There are advantages to opening up now, especially the agility to change with the times.They also may have lower overhead costs too which help.One restaurant, Kasama opened last March right around the time of the mass closings., Chef Genie Kwon and her husband Tim Flores adapted to this with an incredible flexibility. They offered breakfasts at their traditional Filipino restaurant. They made steaming lattes for customers who weren't away they were the restaurant's chefs.They postponed making lumpia and fried fish until they 're able to open their dining room. The couple turned to take out , offering duck dumplings like Chef Flores. mother made. These are in a mushroom broth that keeps them hot on the ride home.
Other eateries around the country also thrived and adapted to this new normal. Leah and Louise, a fancily redone juke joint in Charlotte North Carolina did just that. The restaurant's original theme was "small plates, Southern food by way of Mississippi River Valley" as per Chef Greg Collier. However that didn't fly. His chicken sandwiches did , however. It wasn't on his original menu yet he had to come up with something that was affordable to people now on budgets. He sold seven hundred the first month they were out. It kept the business above water. Yet it wasn't what he wanted.He wanted customers to savor his other dishes. He and his wife, Sabrina came up with another dish a popular rice bowl with veggies. Yet it's the customer that now decides what a restaurant serves. Ni Hao in Baltimore offers meal sets that came about from what customers wanted. Comments were absorbed on the Chinese language app WE Chat. Dishes were tweaked to what they felt was acceptable. Some new restaurant owners like Andreas Koutsoudakis Junior, a hospitality lawyer inherited his from his father who unfortunately died from Covid 19. He redid the place and serves only dishes that customers can come to eat. There is little take out.
The baby restaurant boom is taking hold despite the pandemic. It's not luck but flexibility and good cooking that's making this happen. It's a good sign of life coming back.
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