Vetri starts pasta carryout at Fiorella in South Philly
Orders come in online and are available for pickup that day.
The restaurant world is getting a taste of this new world order.
A week after closing his Fiorella pasta bar near the Italian Market when the city shut down restaurants, Marc Vetri is reopening to offer carryout.
He has thrown open an online order form with four refrigerated products: rigatoni, tonnarelli, sausage ragu, and cacio e pepe sauce. Customers pay online and show up that day to pick up. Access to the vestibule is limited. (The initial runs sold out quickly, but is expected to resume Wednesday, April 1.)
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The menu may expand, Vetri said. “I’m taking this one day at a time,” he said. “These days, every day is one day at time.”
Also, Cadence, the well-regarded BYOB on Girard Avenue on the Kensington-Northern Liberties line, initially shut down, but is now offering $50 dinners for two, setting up a table outside for pickup. Four pickups per quarter-hour are allowed. Menus and ordering details are on Instagram.
The times obviously are not good for restaurants known primarily for sit-down dining, as carryout and delivery business can’t match their traditionally high overhead.
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Dave Magrogan, for example, closed his remaining restaurants on March 29: the Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar locations in Glen Mills, Newtown, and North Wales. On March 23, he closed the Harvest in Delray Beach, Fla., the localgreens location in Delray, and Barra Rossa in Center City.
Post has been updated to reflect the final closings of Magrogan’s restaurants.