Destination restaurants are getting back into the game with takeout and delivery
As the weeks drag on, with no certain date for a return to full-service dining, restaurateurs are starting to open with smaller staffs, on abbreviated schedules, and with limited menus.
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Itchy restaurateurs are firing up their stoves — and soon, their bars — after a month and a half of shutdowns.
While many eateries easily segued to a business model of 100% carryout and delivery, most destination restaurants chose to remain dark. As the weeks drag on, with no certain date for a return to full-service dining, restaurateurs are starting to open with smaller staffs, on abbreviated schedules, and with limited menus.
Even the Four Seasons Philadelphia is getting into the act starting with a Mother’s Day meal that can include floral arrangements and spa gift cards that can be used when the hotel reopens. Details are forthcoming.
Recent revivals include Solstice, which opened in early March at the Village at Newtown in Newtown Township, Bucks County, which is offering a la carte curbside pickup and local delivery at a 15% discount (SOLSTICE15); the Starr restaurants Parc, Barclay Prime, Buddakan, Morimoto, Pizzeria Stella, and El Vez; Greg Vernick’s Vernick Food & Drink; the Schulson restaurants Via Locusta, Harp & Crown, Osteria, Giuseppe & Sons, Double Knot, and Sampan; the CookNSolo restaurant Dizengoff (though Zahav and Laser Wolf are offering special menus on occasion); and Marc Vetri’s Vetri Cucina and Fiorella.
» READ MORE: Restaurants in the Philadelphia area that are open for takeout and delivery
Restaurants are increasingly branding their experiences as “at home,” as they sell dinners packaged for two, four, or more people. This saves on labor and packaging.
Society Hill’s Bistro Romano has a small market on-site and sells dinner for two (pickup only) in an addition to its a la carte menu. Teca in Newtown Square, offering curbside pickup and local delivery, now sells its Teca at Home packaged as dinner for four; the menu is supplemented with a rotating a la carte menu. Jake’s & Cooper’s Wine Bar in Manayunk is reopening Friday, May 1, and will expand into family meals..
Hudson Table, a new instructional kitchen at the Piazza in Northern Liberties, is offering themed dinners to go, which it calls “meal kits.”