A4 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020
Tracking an Outbreak
NA Latin fusion restaurant in Queens will
serve crispy arepa cups and ropa vieja at an
outdoor dining chalet with rustic wood
beams and sparkling chandeliers.
In the Bronx, an Italian place has winter-
proofed its back patio with plexiglass walls
and electric heaters, along with festive
vines with pink flowers.
And a Manhattan bistro is handing out sil-
ver space blankets — the kind used by
marathon runners to prevent hypothermia
— to shivering diners.
A pandemic that has upended much of life
in New York is now ushering in something
the city has never really tried: dining by
snow and ice. Or, as some restaurants are
telling customers, the new B.Y.O.B. is bring
your own blanket.
The explosion of outdoor dining has been
a savior for more than 10,000 restaurants
and bars that have taken over sidewalks,
streets and public spaces to try to keep their
businesses afloat. It has been so popular
that Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Coun-
cil are making outdoor dining permanent.
But year-round dining outside is untested
in the city’s bone-chilling winters, and has
created daunting challenges for an industry
fighting to survive.
“Are we going to have a mild winter or a
harsh one?” said Andrew Rigie, the execu-
tive director of the New York City Hospital-
ity Alliance, an industry group. “It’s a gam-
ble. With so much uncertainty about the
weather and diner behavior, it’s a risk.”
While a financial imperative for restau-
rants, enclosing outdoor areas for winter
has raised health
concerns as corona-
virus cases in New
York have started to
rise again. Protect-
ing patrons from the
elements has led
some restaurants to
create shelters that
lack sufficient venti-
lation, raising the
risk of transmission.
Outdoor heaters — including propane
heaters that had been banned in the city but
are now permitted as a way to help restau-
rants — could also pose fire hazards.
Still, with restaurants having few options
to make money, New York and other cities
are forging ahead with winter outdoor din-
ing. Chicago held a design challenge that
drew ideas like a Japanese-style heated ta-
ble and a modular cabin inspired by ice-fish-
ing huts that fits on a parking spot.
In New York, the multi-billion-dollar
restaurant industry, one of the city’s most
important economic pillars, has been deci-
mated by the pandemic. Indoor dining has
resumed, but at only 25 percent capacity.
About half the industry’s 300,000 employ-
ees are out of work. Many of the city’s
24,000 restaurants and bars have closed for
good, and those open are seeing only a frac-
tion of their business. Some estimates sug-
gest that up to half may close permanently
within the next year.
Still, outdoor dining has raised worries
among public health and medical experts
who warn that it can create a false sense of
security that it is inherently safer than be-
ing inside. If customers wind up in com-
pletely enclosed spaces, the benefits of be-
ing outdoors, like increased airflow, would
be lost, and the virus could spread more
easily from infected people, through drop-
lets and aerosols, especially if they were not
wearing masks.
“You’re actually creating an environment
where the virus is within the enclosure,”
said Dr. Abraar Karan, a doctor at Brigham
and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medi-
cal School who has treated Covid-19 pa-
tients and prefers dining at tables out in the
open.
After ordering a margarita on a chilly pa-
tio in Boston recently, “I looked at the waiter
and I said, ‘Soon, the only thing you’ll have
on the menu is frozen margaritas,’ ” Dr.
Karan said.
More than 10,600 restaurants have
signed up for New York City’s outdoor din-
ing program, a huge increase over the 1,
sidewalk cafes before the pandemic. The
program helps offset the indoor dining limit
that many establishments say is not enough
to climb out of their financial hole. Gov. An-
drew M. Cuomo said that capacity could be
raised to 50 percent, but it is unclear when.
The city and state have imposed new
rules for winter outdoor dining: A space will
be considered indoor dining if more than 50
percent of its wall
area is covered and
be subject to the 25
percent capacity limit
and other restric-
tions, including spac-
ing tables six feet
apart.
But given the sheer
number of restau-
rants, it remains to be
seen how strictly the
city will police outdoor dining. Officials said
various agencies, including the transporta-
tion, buildings and health departments, will
play a role in ensuring that restaurants do
not block streets and have safe structures
that do not pose virus risks.
“We’ll work closely with the industry to
make sure every outdoor structure is ready
for cold weather and safe for diners and
staff,” Mitch Schwartz, a spokesman for the
mayor, said.
Outdoor dining has become part of a
broader movement catalyzed by the pan-
demic to repurpose city streets long domi-
nated by cars. The mayor, under pressure
from transportation and open space advo-
cates, has designated 83 miles of streets for
walking, biking and dining. Most recently,
stores were allowed to expand onto side-
walks.
Making outdoor
dining permanent
has taken away park-
ing spots, drawing
complaints from driv-
ers. Adam Kadi, 30, a
food delivery driver,
said he now had to
double park while
making deliveries in
Queens because din-
ing cabanas took up curb space. “I get a lot
of parking tickets,” he said.
Outdoor dining is taking up 6,000 to
10,000 parking spots, many of which are
metered spaces along commercial corri-
dors, according to transportation officials.
The city has roughly three million parking
spots on the streets overall.
The city’s 311 hotline logged 3,158 com-
plaints about outdoor dining from July to
Oct. 21 — compared with 352,214 noise com-
plaints in the same period — according to
OpenTheBooks.com, a watchdog group.
Among the top complaints was outdoor
seating that blocked sidewalks; the city re-
quires an eight-foot path for pedestrians.
So far, city officials have issued warnings
over various infractions and in a handful of
cases ordered restaurants to stop serving
until problems were fixed. State inspectors
have also enforced rules around social dis-
tancing and safe operations, and have sus-
pended the liquor licenses of at least 177 es-
tablishments for multiple violations.
It is unclear how many restaurants will
actually offer year-round outdoor dining.
Mr. Rigie said restaurants must weigh how
much business they might generate versus
the cost of winterizing, which could run as
high as $50,000 for expenses, including buy-
ing heaters and plexiglass, and hiring elec-
tricians and contractors.
In the Bronx, Enzo’s has enclosed its back
patio with plexiglass and added a pair of
electric heaters, but has yet to commit to
building an enclosure in the front where ta-
bles sit under an awning and five umbrellas.
“It’s a game of waiting,” Robert Aste, a man-
ager, said.
Restaurants adapting to winter dining
are also competing with homeowners for
items that make cold weather more bear-
able, especially heaters.
Ming Lay, the owner of Oceanic Boil in
Queens, said he needed electric heaters for
his cabana and struck out at five Home De-
pot stores before snapping up four of them
at a Costco.
Nicole Biscardi, a restaurant adviser
hired by the Brooklyn Chamber of Com-
merce, has worked with dozens of restau-
rants to navigate what she calls “an alpha-
bet soup of regulations,” including different
restrictions for each type of outdoor heater
— propane, electric and natural gas — and
confusing criteria for enclosures. For in-
stance, covering two long sides of a rectan-
gular tent would make it an indoor area,
while covering one
long and one short
side would not.
“It’s a very precari-
ous time for these
businesses,” she said.
“They’re being hit
with cumbersome
regulations and a lot
of extra expenses.”
Many restaurants
worry that winter
dining may not pay off. Treis Hill, a co-
owner of two Brooklyn bars, Baby Jane and
Dick and Jane’s, said they have spent more
than $16,000 to set up outdoor dining with
barriers, tents and heaters. But on a recent
chilly afternoon at one bar, just two
customers were under tents that could seat
a total of 20.
“I think it’s going to be kind of gloomy for
the winter for a lot of businesses,” Mr. Hill
said.
Still, some restaurants are going all out.
Danny Perez, who owns Blend Astoria in
Queens, said he was spending “five figures”
on a dining chalet with wood beams, an in-
sulated roof and chandeliers. “You’ve got to
adapt somehow or you shut down,” he said.
“What are our choices?”
In Manhattan, Baar Baar in the East Vil-
lage is selling fleece blankets with its logo
for $10. Diners can snuggle up in a plexi-
glass-enclosed area with foot heaters under
every table. “You can’t be freezing and en-
joy dinner,” said Payal Sharma, a co-owner
who said the restaurant was spending
$20,000 to winterize.
David Honor, the owner of Fred’s Restau-
rant on the Upper West Side, has even tried
to make it fun to eat in the cold. He bought
500 space blankets — getting the idea from
runners in the New York City Marathon,
one of his favorite city traditions. “They’re a
conversation piece,” he said. “It’s a funny
thing and everyone walking by stops.”
Some New Yorkers said they were willing
to brave the cold and the virus to dine out.
“It gets kind of sad and lonely at home, and
you want to go out and have fun,” said Adam
Iskounen, 37, a software engineer.
But Alissa Ladas, 28, a physical therapist,
said it would depend first on whether she
felt safe, and second on her comfort level.
“I can make a really good dinner,” she
said. “So why would I want to pay $15 for a
cocktail while wearing a blanket I had to
drag across the subway?”NEW YORK CITY
Luring Diners With Foot Heaters and Space Blankets
Restaurateurs worry that big
investments in outdoor
winter dining won’t pay off.
By WINNIE HU
and NATE SCHWEBERAmanda Rosa contributed reporting.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN TAGGART FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES