What Will BBQ Joints Look Like When They Reopen Post-Coronavirus?
It's hard to imagine big joints like Pig Beach being at full capacity when dining rooms reopen.
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With New York and six other Northeastern states extending the shutdown of nonessential businesses until at least May 15, it feels like it will be an eternity before our restaurants will be allowed to fully reopen. But what will it even look like when your favorite eatery or BBQ joint down the street opens its doors again?
In a new op-ed, New York Post restaurant critic Steve Cuozzo reports that we should prepare for a “subdued, wary dining scene — one that’s quieter, with fewer seats than before due to city crowd-density rules and customers’ nerves.” One restaurateur he spoke with was Jeffrey Bank, the CEO of Alicart Restaurant Group, which owns Virgil’s Real BBQ in Manhattan.
“We expect that there will be capacity rules again, maybe 30 to 50 percent,” Bank told the New York Post. “We have already made floor plans for social-distance dining.”
Bank’s comments got me thinking about what we should expect at all BBQ joints around the city when they are allowed to reopen, so I spoke with a few of the top names in the New York BBQ scene.
Hill Country pitmaster Ash Fulk makes a mean brisket.
Ash Fulk, pitmaster at Hill Country Barbecue Market in Manhattan, is currently overseeing the slimmed-down culinary operations at his restaurant and has been trying his best to adapt to this new reality. Currently, Hill Country is focused on delivery and call-ahead takeout orders, as well as running an innovative grocery market that is helping diversify revenue.
Fulk told me he expects that restaurants like Hill Country will reopen by June with capacity limitations, likely going back to the 50% rule the city briefly mandated in March before closing down dining rooms. When Hill Country does reopen its dining room, Fulk said he hopes the joint will be able to rehire many of the workers that had been laid off and install changes such as having tables six feet apart.
Pig Beach partner Matt Abdoo always puts on a good event, as long as he's allowed to throw one.
Matt Abdoo, partner and chef at Pig Beach NYC in Brooklyn, said he was dismayed to have to close the restaurant back in March, but will reopen as soon as the city and/or state allow dining rooms to open again. He’s willing to have the restaurant re-open at 50% capacity, but this still presents a huge challenge once it’s in place: paying the rent, which assumes a fully functioning restaurant and not a hamstrung one.
Abdoo said Pig Beach will join the scores of other restaurants struggling to pay rent and make the numbers work. He hopes either New York state and/or NYC city governments will instill new regulations to help restaurants, such as temporarily changing how rent is calculated. Another option is landlords getting creative with tenets in order to keep them, with either rent forgiveness or redrawing agreements based on what is happening with the market.
When it comes to Pig Beach’s upcoming second location in Long Island City, that launch has been indefinitely delayed, Abdoo said. After it’s safe for construction to resume, there’s at least another month of updates left before the space will be ready for customers. Thankfully, the landlord for that property is willing to work with Pig Beach and wants the space to succeed, so there’s been some flexibility about the opening.
We are likely at least a month or two from having full access to our restaurants and BBQ joints again. In the meantime, keep supporting those that are open with takeout and delivery if you can. And when the time comes, I hope all New Yorkers will collectively breathe a sigh of relief (through their masks) and head back to their favorite joints with hungry stomachs.
Sean Ludwig
Founder, NYC BBQ
EAT ALL ABOUT IT
Here are the top BBQ and related food news stories you need to know about this week:
Robert Austin Cho has slimmed down NJ’s Kimchi Smoke restaurant into a one-person operation to keep it going. If you're able to do takeout, get the outstanding brisket.
Kimchi Smoke, one of New Jersey’s best BBQ joints, has re-opened as a one-person operation. Pitmaster/owner Robert Austin Cho spoke with NorthJersey.com about the trying transition, but he’s thankful his loyal customers have continued to get food regularly from him.
DaddyO’s BBQ and Sports Bar on Staten Island spoke with THE CITY about their struggle to survive. “I tried to keep most of my people. I only laid off people that can be laid off. Like the younger kids that live with their parents,” DaddyO’s owner Greg Fosdal said. “The people who need the work are still working to some extent, but I still had to cut hours.”
In some non-coronavirus news, Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque was featured as an up-and-coming player for fast-casual BBQ in QSR Magazine. Co-founder Micha Magid said he fully expects BBQ to play in the fast-casual space by making tweaks the formula. “It’s evolving the category into rice and salad bowls where, if you’re in a commercial business lunch district, you’re probably not going to be selling a lot of spare ribs at lunch,” Magid says. “But from our own experience, when we offer burnt ends on jasmine rice with some crispy Brussels and pickled Fresno chilies, that’s just a great lunch option.”
The team at Kills Boro Brewing Company on Staten Island has built a one-stop online shop where patrons can order both beer and BBQ.
One final and more-fun-than-usual note: Holy Ground NYC, the barbecue speakeasy in Tribeca, has just launched a cocktail delivery service called The Fox Club NYC. Customers can order custom ready-to-drink bottled cocktails like Negronis, Old Fashioneds, or Martinis and comfort food such as house-baked bread. You can message The Fox Club on Instagram to place orders or ask questions to the team.
IRL BBQ
NOTE: Given the coronavirus crisis, I will be leaving this section blank for the next few weeks. Some events have been canceled entirely while others have been postponed to the summer or fall. Many events during the next two to three months are now up in the air, but I’ll be doing my best to keep the website up to date with events that are confirmed.
Check out the full up-to-date NYC BBQ calendar here.
SAY HELLO (BUT 6 FEET PLEASE)
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