Restaurant Reopenings
 

We drove by Ellacoya Barn and Grill today. There was a large event type tent in the parking lot. We assume that this is for the May 18th opening for outdoors only. Burger Monday? Maybe there are some other event tents popping up in the area.

My nephew and his wife own an event tent business in NW CT. His business has been "crushed" with weddings put off. He just got two restaurant tent orders as CT will soon also allow outdoor seating.

Restaurant Reopenings
 

Event tent. Is that not inside? Believe the idea was for open out door space. But, I do like their thinking out of the box. Curious how this plays out


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The sides roll up

I took a bike ride around the lake today. There was a tent set up at Hart’s Turkey Farm, twin barns brewery, canoe, and Ellacoya.

I thought the tents were a bit small to place tables at least 6 feet apart.

Tent city
 

Saw the one at Harts also one set up behind TBones. I thought they were small too

With COVID still out there, these set-ups could create some fairly tents dining experiences :laugh:

Just can’t see us, wife and I, sitting on a picnic table in the parking lot of a restaurant we have been waiting 8 weeks to return to and having a pleasant experience. Don’t get me wrong, seeing everyone will be wonderful. However, it’s not what each of us want


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Agreed—I would much rather do takeout and find a great place to eat. I'm hoping enough people do want that experience, though, so servers and staff can return to work.

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After much thought we decided against the tent......just going to rough it with takeout hoping we can open for limited inside seating in June.
Side curtains are not allowed, evenings are cool and even a slight breeze is going to cause discomfort as well as no protection from cool weather.
Spring around here is notorious for black flies ,mosquitos and rain.
We are all desperate to get back operating again and I wish everyone well that gives it a try but the initial expense and difficulty logistically convinced us to wait.

Thank you for the explanation. Your logic against the tent is sound, but I understand why some may have to try it.

It's going to be different this year, that's for sure

Had a conversation and she mentioned the idea of a senior seating at restaurants. Those over 60 allowed to seat between 4-5:30. This allows for those in a higher risk group to feel better about going out. Will it work, can it work, no idea


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Agreed. Plus the bugs. They should optimize for in-car dining. These guys have the right idea:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/...r-this-summer/

Fingers crossed
 

We wish you all the best, and hope that everything works out for you and all the restaurant owners in the area. We are big fans of the V.K. and will be doing takeout Saturday, and Red Hill soon. This is a tough time for many businesses, and hopefully as many as possible will manage ti survive. Takeout just might take off...we have been doing it for years....because somebody else does the cooking, and you can eat on a porch or wherever, away from the crowds....love it! P.S. People need to be generous with a tip.

Kowloon in Saugus is reconfiguring to a drive in restaurant. They have a huge parking lot. It is an interesting idea.

I won’t be going to any sit down restaurants in 2020. It’s not worth it in my opinion. I’ll support local restaurants via takeout whenever possible. It’s a sad state of affairs.

It could be time to bring the car hops back :D

Roll On
 

Perhaps the car hops will be on roller skates. :)

The Weirs drive in should be a popular venue this summer. Kieth Urban just did a drive in concert for health care workers. If there ever was a time to resurrect the drive in, it's now!

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Italian Farmhouse
 

We took a drive over to Plymouth today, and happened to see Eric Johnson at the Italian Farmhouse, getting ready for outdoor dining....and what a terrific spot that will be, providing the weather and bug population cooperate. They already have two decks, plus seating on the lawn.....we’ll be sure to check it out more than once.

Bug Zappers?
 

I always thought the sound of bug zappers was pleasant background when eating outdoors. Now you can get battery operated ultrasonic bug repellent at many places. Over 2,000,000 response on Google. Put it in the middle of your dining table. I wouldn't be surprised if some restaurants offer this. Of course Citronella candles and the like are still around as ell as the traditional repellent lotions.

Reopening
 

After reading what many business owners say about opening early. It's a huge gamble! Tents are expensive, paper plates, and the extra prep of sanitizing a table for the next seating also add cost! Plus the fact you are operating at 50% capacity just does not justify an early reopening especially when the weather is finicky, let alone the bugs!

Plus the fact many people are just not ready to venture out. Those that do, there can be a problem of liability. The state hasn't quite figured that out!

And bars have to cope with those who do not practice social distancing, already proven around the US. It is just not worth having the employees put up with it!

I guess each business has to decide that on their own. It is a gamble but so is staying closed another month while competitors open.

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summer folk
 

Seasonal businesses would just now be ramping up and using the spring lower activity levels to hire, train, build inventory, etc. They are used to operating at lower levels in the shoulder season. Recall, not so long ago when discussion here focused on restaurants closing part of the dining area because they couldn't get enough staff? We have many hard working entrepreneurs in the Lakes Region. I hope they all have a successful season.

Eric Johnson
 

COOL! I like his music, but the fact that you recognized him is up a notch!

We love the "Farmhouse " too.

Not that Eric Johnson :)

Patrick's Pub is also adding additional area on the side of their building for outside seating.

I wonder to what degree the lack of an available willing work force, always a problem for restaurants in the lakes region, will impact restaurants as the reopening progresses?

Will people be reluctant to return to work for fear of contracting the virus?

Last summer we heard a lot of places being unable to staff appropriately and some were limiting the number of tables.

I’m not in the business but could this 50% or so capacity work for some of those places based on last years struggles with staffing?

Possibly even spread out the crowds so a bunch of places are seeing more consistent business?


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that's putting a pretty optimistic view on it but I think there is some validity. When the place is packed but understaffed people get frustrated. Hopefully people will be so glad to get out there will be more patience. Of course the x factor is if they can make money with reduced seating.

Maybe. Reading guidelines issued this morning by a few of the local restaurants. Reading they will be attempting to limit the time one has to complete their meals. Believe it’s one hour and twenty minutes per sitting. Understand the need and have no issues with the attempt. How will this be enforced? Could make for a few interesting evenings


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Kathleen’s Irish Pub in Bristol opens for outside seating tonight...my wife and I have a reservation! She is advertising “fresh Maine clams” and I plan to get some! First time eating at a restaurant since the madness began. I don’t think we’ll need “an hour and twenty” to eat either!

Yum that looks so good :liplick:

Bar service or just food.
 

Does anyone know if the limited outdoor service and seating at Lago and Town Docks includes bar service?

Hopefully they will do a better job of it than is being done here in SC. It is a bit of a sh!t show- Some people are doing a good job of coping and distancing, many others are not. We are hyper-sensitive about CV-19 at work (temp screenings and med questions before we can get on site) because there are not many people that can run a nuclear plant, so we all try to do the right things outside of work.

I am still getting takeout and eating in my room. The restaurants are doing the right things- the patrons waiting outside are a different story! It was supposed to be Myrtle Beach Bike Week but it was postponed, but it turned into mini-bikeweek anyway, complete with bands. People were on top of each other.

So...
 

Why don't you just nuke this virus? :eek:

I wish we could!

Attachment 15998
Me and my better half at O’s Seafood and Steak to celebrate my birthday!


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Wow, you are wayyyy uglier than I pictured.

JK! Happy Birthday, handsome!

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Thanks! As in most things in my life, I married way above my pay grade. My wife makes me look better!


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Yup
 

Yup, it's why WE call them "the better half" !!!:D

Dave

Had lunch at Town Docks yesterday......bar was roped off
Nice to be back though

Happy birthday!

Town Docks
 

My family had dinner at the Town Docks yesterday evening, and it was everything I hoped it would be ;) So nice to eat AT a restaurant again. And they did a good job with precautions (from what I could see!)

Did you have to make a reservation or walked right in?

Doubtful. But perhaps. If collecting unemployment and they decline returning then they will now lose unemployment.

"Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned on Tuesday that individuals who reject an offer from their company to return to work after being laid off due to coronavirus are no longer considered eligible to receive federal unemployment benefits.

"Mnuchin said that companies receiving benefits under the Payroll Protection Program who are inviting employees who had been laid off or furloughed due to the coronavirus crisis to return to work should plan to notify state unemployment offices of their offers.

"If the employee, in turn, turns down the job, they would then be considered ineligible to receive expanded unemployment benefits.

“If you offer a person a job..and that person does not take the job..then that person would not be allowed to get unemployment,” Mnuchin said Tuesday.

As it should be. Having been in the recruiting business for 25+ years I can tell you there are PLENTY of people happy to sit home on their butt and be lazy all day long. And it's been easy until now to take advantage - if that's the type of person you are.

It's really not a matter of being lazy, it's a mater of financial benefit.
They created a situation where a person is getting more money staying home on unemployment than going to work.
That extra $600 a week payment to everyone on unemployment was a stupid idea. Regardless of whether your lazy or not you're going to take the most money you can get a week.
Some of these low skilled service workers don't even make $600 a week.

I still argue for...
 

Giving everyone $1,000,000 and no one ever has to work again!!!

Except a loaf of bread will be $100,000... :)

Wrong!
 

Sorry, Doug, I fear you may be in error on this one.

Giving everyone $1,000,000 and no one will have to again, so the question gets raised: "who is going to make the bread? ":rolleye2:

Dave

WE were there also. We called from the parking lot and they took us right in but we were early.

Three of my favorite restaurants in Cambridge are permanently closed. I’m especially going to miss the Automatic. Unfortunately this will be the tip of the iceberg. I wonder which restaurants are permanently closed in the Lakes Region?


https://www.boston.com/food/restaura...oronavirus/amp


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We did call ahead and waited maybe 5 minutes.

So the solution is...
 

Give everyone $2,000,000 and then you can afford to pay someone to make your bread...Hmmm

And then the capitalism proceeds...

Works well for me.

I'm confused. You have $2MM or you know how to bake bread?

I do know how to bake bread.

But that's not the point.

This comment has been haunting me—anyone know of lakes area restaurants not reopening?

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It's places like....
 

Checking in on our place this past January, on the recommendations of this forum, we stopped in at Gusto in Center Harbor for lunch. Great food and atmosphere. Nice conversations with a couple of 'locals'. Fun time at the end of a long drive and the perfect place for my better half who is a vegetarian.

Gusto is a relative newcomer on the scene. It's these types of fledgling start-ups that I worry about the most.

Well not really Lakes Region but Canoe's sister restaurant in Manchester has closed for good due to pandemic....

Dan

I love this place! And it’s just my opinion but I think that in someways a start up has a better chance of surviving this. Restaurants tend to run in a very frugal manner in the beginning to build a clientele, as things get better the wallet loosens up and the owners tend to start enjoying the fruits of their labor. I’ve had to dial back a little bit on my lifestyle (get used to tunafish again) to wait out the storm.

In the end I believe it’ll come down to mental fortitude, be it a start up or established.

Manchester or Bedford? If Bedford, that place has struggled for a long time. Though the recent reviews seem to have improved, we never tried it in the past because there were so many negative ones. Still sad to see, especially if they were figuring things out.

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Actually Bedford...

Out of the half dozen or so restaurants in the lakes region that we have ordered take out from during this pandemic, Canoe was by far the worst.

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One restaurant that I think about is the Corner House in Sandwich.
The long time owners sold about a year or so ago and I can’t imagine the new owner with such a big mortgage payment and no business.
I haven’t heard anything about this place. Anyone know anything?

Their website says they're open and serving to-go / curbside pickup only on Fri and Sat.

see: https://www.cornerhouserestaurantandbar.com/

I don’t know from personal experience, but a friend of mine yesterday said that she has been getting takeout on weekend....trying to support the new owners of Corner House. If I learn anything more, will post.

take out
 

My wife and I have been ordering takeout as much as possible to support local restaurants. By far the worst takeout during this pandemic for my wife and I was Patricks and Sawyers. The chicken in Wifes Ceasar chicken wrap at Patricks was not cooked and she had to take it apart and cook the chicken. My haddock sandwhich from Saywers had almost non-existent tartar sauce (can you spare it) the roll was soggy, the fish was oily, batter not crispy. both were suppose to come with chips and pickle, no chips or pickle. We have stayed away from these 2 restaurants because we were never impressed. Now I know why and will not go back.

Now the best take out for us, Lyons Den and Twin Barns. Lyons Den Veal Marsala never disappoints. Wifes blackened chicken on wedge salad or pasta always good. Twin Barns is our favorite burger in the lakes region. They use ground beef from Wineing Butcher, fresh buns daily from bakery. Twin Barns pulled pork sandwhich is the best I have ever had! Our first outdoor dining will be tonight at Twin Barns if we can get a seat.

out door seating
 

Here is a thought. Is out-door seating safer than in-door seating? If you are eating under a tent out-door, when people are talking, eating or drinking (opening their mouths) could wind blow germs around? Where as in-doors as long as properly distancing there is no wind to blow germs around.

And now the CDC is reporting that its not spread easily from surfaces or objects. So getting it from tables, door knobs, light switches etc is not likely. Especially if proper cleaning is taking place.

Can't believe Sawyer's is still open. Since new ownership, the place went downhill fast! No longer a local favorite.

Patrick's has its ups and downs. It depends on who is in the kitchen.

With Lyons Den nearby and Pop's down the road what the heck people!

totally agree Broadhopper.

I'm going to try Twin Barns but I haven't been past the Weirs because of the bridge closing.

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Twin Barns
 

BIGGD, if you like local craft beer I think you will like it. I started going for the beer but the food was a unexpected bonus. Warm Pretzel with dip app is awesome. I really like their wings. They don't fry anything so the wings are baked but I love them. Their not dripping in sauce which I like. The owners are awesome as well, before the madness, sitting at the bar the owners behind the bar were friendly and would talk to you about different things to do with the business and local happenings. The other employees behind the bar were also very friendly and outgoing.

I go to sawyers for the oddball ice cream flavors but can't remember how many years since I got food there.

So...
 

Which one?

Ellacoya used their regular tables for under and along side the tent. Pretty much the full menu was available at lunch today.

Eric Johnson, the general manager of the Italian Farmhouse. Not Eric Johnson, the guitar player.

I did take yesterday at VK for their broiled haddock . It was wonderful just like always

VK update
 

We did our usual prime rib tonight....as usual, very tasty, and we both have leftovers for tomorrow. I spoke with a young man there tonight, and it sounds as though they will be doing pretty much 100% and will have some outdoor seating. We didn’t really get into that. So...this coming Tuesday, eat in or out, or do takeout. I believe they’ll be doing breakfasts also. We all hope that the area restaurants can gain much of what they lost over the past months!

Thanks!
 

I just saw this!

Fair to say, I guess i like BOTH! :D

They told me they will socially distance so yes opening but will not fill all tables

One formula I see being used out on the left coast is to limit total capacity of a restaurant to one-half of what it was pre-pandemic, and not allow more than five people at a table.

That happens to be the NH “formula” for the 4 southernmost counties (50%capacity). Any counties north of them can have 100% capacity.

I'm not ready to eat indoors yet. I will let others be the experimental mice.

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Thank you for your generosity. More opportunities for me and my wife and my family. That’s the way it should work, let those who are afraid stay home and allow the rest of us get back to normalcy.


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Still too early to know for sure, but the early results from reopenings are rolling in with more mice infected

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/14/u...gtype=Homepage

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No problem, enjoy! I'm the only one that is responsible for my health. I certainly can't rely on others. :)

I prefer eating outside-unless it's raining or cold. So for me this new normal is perfect because it adds options we didn't have before.

Even before COVID you couldn't. It's up to each of us and always has been. :)

Be safe!

We're allowed 100 % in Carroll and Belknap counties but 6' spacing
leaves most restaurants with about 50%

After a couple of weeks of being open, some restaurants are closing down again. Workers as well as patrons are testing positive and they are using contact tracing and then have to quarantine for 14 days. Florida has seen its highest numbers yet, with over 2000 cases in each of the last two days.
I hate to say it, but nothing is making any sense.

We went to our favorite breakfast place this morning...a small breakfast/lunch place in Bristol (Grafton county) first time indoor dining since this BS began. Grafton is allowed 100% capacity but had every other table closed...can’t figure the reasoning behind that.
Was nice to see our favorite waitress and she said she had missed us as well.
If anyone is in the area the place is Gilly’s restaurant...great breakfasts and quick, pleasant service! 100% female run operation, I might add.

"Some restaurants"
 

Are "some restaurants" in FL or NH? If NH, it would be nice to have names. If FL, not so much interest.

Sad to say, it makes complete sense. Being past the peak is not sufficient to be safe. There are plenty of infected people still out there in Florida (and Mass, NY, et al), so as we reopen and increase contacts, the numbers will resume their upward trend. I posted a nytimes link in gravyboat's "the numbers are interesting" thread you might find helpful--basic message is that NY is past peak, so the country as a whole looks better, but lots of places in the south and west are climbing:(

So by shutting things down it allowed the health care workers to determine a way to care for most. Just as many wrote early on. Many also said it would just push out the curve not flatten it. That appears to be the what is happening. It is here to stay until a cure is developed. Those at risk must protect themselves


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Yes, I feel that those of us who are in the high risk category need to remain smart and safe about this. The more time that goes by the better the treatment and care most likely will be and the closer we will be to getting a vaccine. For me, indoor dining out is still too much of a risk. Good thing I like to cook ! stay safe everyone.

Restaurants may be allowed 100%, but they still have to keep tables 6’ apart. That may be why the tables were closed


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That’s right. So by default, they are under the size constraints of their building.
They are allowed to have 100% but some are small so they cannot have 100% while others can because they have more room?
Crazy stuff...

What is crazy about this ? We need to keep distance between patrons . This is only reasonable until we have this under control. No touch ordering, no touch menus, no touch payments, no cash changing hands , it is no big deal and works .

You'll have to come try my new restaurant. I'm naming it "The Peaceful Protest".... No masks, no distancing, no rules, no problem. We'll pack them in like sardines, but nobody will have (or catch) the virus....

All credibility of this nonsense was lost with the government encouragement of the rioters and the looters. There is no science behind any of this. Our government is making it up as they go along. We asked healthy people to shelter in place and placed our most vulnerable in danger.

I was talking to a coworker and we were reminiscing about what we were told on March 15th -- that we need to flatten the curve to prevent an overwhelming of our healthcare system. This morphed into where we stand today where businesses are destroyed, along with our civil liberties. The goalposts are constantly moving and we are like sheep, just following along. And if we protests the government's action as in Michigan, we are condemned. Yet, those who wanted to riot and loot got a free pass to do so.

Back to the topic of restaurants opening, we enjoyed a great afternoon on Saturday at the Naswa and lunch with friends at Canoe on Sunday. I am looking forward to this week -- one more step back to normalcy.

I do love reading the Major with my morning coffee


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