Restaurants in the era of social distancing

Support Chicago restaurants, while responsibly practicing social distancing.
We’re all in this together. Restaurants need your support.

Use this aggregator to find what restaurants in the Chicago area are open for take-out, curbside pick-up, or delivery during the lockdown of Chicago’s restaurants and bars during COVID-19.

https://www.diningatadistance.com/chi

I’m in Social contact with my favorite and area restaurants and know which ones are closed.

I prefer not to use another website or load another app

Thanks though...

This is really helpful - thank you.

Agreed!

The original post, too....

Discounts and Covid 19 Special Offers

I will keep this updated if you send me more info.

Ruth’s Chris 25% off on orders over $75 when you arrange pickup directly with the restaurant.New hours.

The Barn Steakhouse 25% off gift certificate. New hours and menu.

Two of my favorite restaurants, Elizabeth and Vie, are offering reasonably priced, interesting carry-outs (I'm way out of range for delivery). I'm thinking of picnicking if the weather is nice.

Dave -

Thanks for posting the link. This is such a difficult time for these businesses. Two that I know of, Floriole and Edge of Sweetness, had intended to stay open but pulled the plug. Floriole is selling what they have on hand here until supplies last today. One of my faves, Income Tax, is doing to-go lunch from 11 AM - 6 PM. They will also have bottles of wine at a discount.

Be well everyone!

Panther in the Den wrote:I’m in Social contact with my favorite and area restaurants and know which ones are closed.

I prefer not to use another website or load another app

Thanks though...

Not really sure why you would reply in this manner, but good for you. Even though you may not need it, others can use it. And, it may even benefit you if you happen to be in another area if something unforeseen pops us. I wouldn't have been so dismissive if it.

Thanks for sharing this Dave.

The GP wrote:This is such a difficult time for these businesses. Two that I know of, Floriole and Edge of Sweetness, had intended to stay open but pulled the plug. Floriole is selling what they have on hand here until supplies last today.

I wonder if some restaurants and giving up too soon? People may begin to start moving about, in a responsible manner, and decide they can indeed leave the house a bit more, and go to small businesses like this.

Al Ehrhardt wrote:I wonder if some restaurants and giving up too soon? People may begin to start moving about, in a responsible manner, and decide they can indeed leave the house a bit more, and go to small businesses like this.

It is such a complicated issue but the short answer is not necessarily. The business that I'm a part of has many reasons for closing, some practical and some political. Practically we are afraid of going into debt and would have to lay off or cut pay for our entire staff anyway leaving everyone in the same position anyhow. The skeleton crews that are running these takeout operations sometimes cover up the fact that most of the staff that has been laid off. Using the last of our resources to ensure pay ahead of everyone filing for unemployment seemed like the best move for the team. We also feel like we don't have enough information about this and the stress of possibly infecting someone when the staff is mostly in the age group that carries and does not show symptoms is a big burden to carry/not worth the small amount of cash. This is more complicated but, politically we think this is being handled horribly and do not want to contribute to a sense of normalcy. Currently working on providing resources for people like ourselves who want to apply pressure to local and federal government to create support for ALL workers who are out of a job. Some of these ideas are laid out in a social media push that Jason Hammel helped put together. I am also reaching out to organizer friends (most of whom I know from my work at the restaurant!) about their agendas and how we can use our power and work stoppage to help them.

This is a complicated issue and without leadership from our government every restaurant owner is playing public health official. Everyone knows opening a restaurant requires you to wear many hats, this is still out of that league.

em24666 wrote:

Al Ehrhardt wrote:I wonder if some restaurants and giving up too soon? People may begin to start moving about, in a responsible manner, and decide they can indeed leave the house a bit more, and go to small businesses like this.

It is such a complicated issue but the short answer is not necessarily. The business that I'm a part of has many reasons for closing, some practical and some political. Practically we are afraid of going into debt and would have to lay off or cut pay for our entire staff anyway leaving everyone in the same position anyhow. The skeleton crews that are running these takeout operations sometimes cover up the fact that most of the staff that has been laid off. Using the last of our resources to ensure pay ahead of everyone filing for unemployment seemed like the best move for the team. We also feel like we don't have enough information about this and the stress of possibly infecting someone when the staff is mostly in the age group that carries and does not show symptoms is a big burden to carry/not worth the small amount of cash. This is more complicated but, politically we think this is being handled horribly and do not want to contribute to a sense of normalcy. Currently working on providing resources for people like ourselves who want to apply pressure to local and federal government to create support for ALL workers who are out of a job. Some of these ideas are laid out in a social media push that Jason Hammel helped put together. I am also reaching out to organizer friends (most of whom I know from my work at the restaurant!) about their agendas and how we can use our power and work stoppage to help them.

This is a complicated issue and without leadership from our government every restaurant owner is playing public health official. Everyone knows opening a restaurant requires you to wear many hats, this is still out of that league.

Understood, but today is only day 2 of no on-premise sales.

I'm not in this horrendous position that the hospitality industry is in, but if your business is closed, you have no shot at trying to stay alive. Again, it may be an oversimplification, but may it not be worth trying to give your customers a chance to try to support you? We cook most of our meals, but are going to try to order more take out than we did before.

I'm not at all trying to start an argument, my hope is every restaurant and bar can survive this.

Al Ehrhardt wrote:I'm not in this horrendous position that the hospitality industry is in, but if your business is closed, you have no shot at trying to stay alive.

I am just trying to shed some perspective from the other side. Also to be clear the quoted section is not true for our business and perhaps other businesses. We are already setting our sights on a larger struggle and we hope our customers will join us in making our voices heard.

Pacific Standard Time is doing family dinners for 4 for $40, as are others. Stefani Prime, up in my hood, is doing their full menu and a $60 dinner for 4 (great value).

There has been a Covid-19 case detected in my home town of Oak Park, IL (just west of Chicago) and the alert level had been elevated from ‘Social Distancing’ to ‘Shelter in Place’.

My experience yesterday and getting supplies. I do know I should be using food already at home but wanted to see how the system is working.

We had missed St Patty’s day cuisine so for dinner I was able to seek out an Irish bar/restaurant that still had a corned beef dinner available...

O'Sullivan's Public House
7244 Madison St, Forest Park

... and gave them a call. Ordered my meal, relayed my payment information and made arrangements for curbside pickup. Upon arriving at their door I gave them a call and the waitress came out with my meal.

I would of preferred not to sign the receipt, grabbed the bag, applied hand sanitizer and went on my way.

Later that evening I decided to try to get some beer. Checked the local breweries and discovered most had closed at 8 pm. Found one still open until 10.

Flapjack Brewery
6833 Stanley Ave, Berwyn, IL

Similar situation, call, pay, arrange for curbside. Arrive, call, receive. Once again had to sign.

Late night snack...

McDonald's
111 W Madison St, Oak Park

Used the app. Supposed to check in at the order speaker but drove directly to the window. A bit of confusion as they appeared to be unable to find my order but a gal inside figured it out.

The confusion caused me to display my order number through my window twice and had to open the window to confirm the order on the receipt. No need to sign.

Finally I was on my way.

All in all a pretty good system. Perhaps 20 seconds exposure each time opening the car window. Sanitize hands after receiving and again after eating, don’t touch face.

Briefly contemplated Chipotle for lunch. The threat of e-coli/salmonella seems so trivial these days.

Dave148 wrote:Use this aggregator to find what restaurants in the Chicago area are open for take-out, curbside pick-up, or delivery during the lockdown of Chicago’s restaurants and bars during COVID-19.

The Tribune also has a searchable list of 500+ restaurants open for carryout and delivery:

Searchable list of more than 500 Chicago-area restaurants open for delivery, curbside or pickup

Al Ehrhardt wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:I’m in Social contact with my favorite and area restaurants and know which ones are closed.

I prefer not to use another website or load another app

Thanks though...

Not really sure why you would reply in this manner, but good for you. Even though you may not need it, others can use it. And, it may even benefit you if you happen to be in another area if something unforeseen pops us. I wouldn't have been so dismissive if it.

Thanks for sharing this Dave.

I am against someone profiting from this crisis.

Panther in the Den wrote:

Al Ehrhardt wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:I’m in Social contact with my favorite and area restaurants and know which ones are closed.

I prefer not to use another website or load another app

Thanks though...

Not really sure why you would reply in this manner, but good for you. Even though you may not need it, others can use it. And, it may even benefit you if you happen to be in another area if something unforeseen pops us. I wouldn't have been so dismissive if it.

Thanks for sharing this Dave.

I am against someone profiting from this crisis.

Panther, you should gather some facts before making such incorrect, uninformed and ignorant proclamations. Their website transparently lists the principals and specifically mentions it being a "passion project." Nonetheless, there are horrible, cynical people in this world like yourself who are, apparently, simply incapable of seeing the good in people, and worse, wrongly accuse them of things they don't even do. For most of these unfortunate folks, this is their default setting.

Just to be sure, I emailed Jenn Galdes, co-founder of diningatadistance, about this, just as you -- or any of us -- could have done (because her email address appears on their website). Here is her reply, verbatim:

in an email, Jenn Galdes wrote:
Hi Ronnie,

Sean and I have been doing this as a passion project in addition to working our regular jobs. He and I met over social on Sunday, had our first conversation at 9a Monday, and decided to collaborate at that point. It’s been four days. We have been working tirelessly to add in cities, and are next looking to do a similar site for others in the industry. We’ve been approached by major media companies, large foodservice distributors and national fast food chains, and have declined those partnerships.

Panther, you never should have gone off half-cocked on something as sensitive as this. Especially given the current climate, there's just no place for irresponsible accusations about matters such as these, nor will there ever be. Please, keep this in mind if you choose to post in our forums again.

=R=

Panther in the Den wrote:

Al Ehrhardt wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:I’m in Social contact with my favorite and area restaurants and know which ones are closed.

I prefer not to use another website or load another app

Thanks though...

Not really sure why you would reply in this manner, but good for you. Even though you may not need it, others can use it. And, it may even benefit you if you happen to be in another area if something unforeseen pops us. I wouldn't have been so dismissive if it.

Thanks for sharing this Dave.

I am against someone profiting from this crisis.

Do you know that the creators of https://www.diningatadistance.com/chicago are profiting from their website? I'm sure I don't know the whole story, but looking at the website (no ads) and reading a couple articles (Reader and Eater) leads me to believe otherwise. Do you have any information to support what you wrote in the last quoted sentence? If not, it might be better not to make such an accusation in a public forum. In any case, the website looks like a very information-rich resource that has to be helping some Chicago restaurants when they need it the most.

ronnie_suburban wrote:Panther, it never ceases to amaze me how fucking ignorant you are. Perhaps it's time for you to keep your thoughts to yourself . . . or at least, keep them away from LTH.

I understood why the mods pulled my last post regarding Panther, it was a tad aggressive, suffice to say I agree with Ronnie's sentiments.

If you go to the bottom of the dining at a distance webpage there is a “support us on Kofi” button on the lower left side. The link takes you to a page where you can donate to help underwrite the costs of scaling and maintaining the site. The page has this statement:

As our platform scales, we are facing technology infrastructure costs that we are incurring personally at the moment. Thanks for your support. Any funds raised in excess of costs will be donated to charities supporting the hospitality industry.

Here is a link:

https://ko-fi.com/diningatadistance

Certainly doesn’t seem like someone who profits off of tragedy.

Even if they were profiting, they provide a valuable service at no cost to the customer.

scottsol wrote:Even if they were profiting, they provide a valuable service at no cost to the customer.

Exactly. There's a big difference between "profiting" and "profiteering". If profit is part of someone's motivation to innovate and provide goods/services that people need/want, I'm cool with that as long as it isn't taking unethical advantage of others' misfortune. Even if it's not applicable to the folks running the site mentioned above, lots of people out there are going to be trying to find creative ways to scrape together some profits to pay the rent and feed their families in the months ahead.

Panther in the Den wrote:I’m in Social contact with my favorite and area restaurants and know which ones are closed.

I prefer not to use another website or load another app

Thanks though...

What the hell kind of response is this???

At 5:30 pm, I stopped at Jim's Original for two Polish and a pork chop sandwich.

No curb service, though parking was super easy.

The guys who prepared my food wore gloves and were distanced simply by their usual set up.

I was back in the car in far less than five minutes.

Drive up north the traffic was like late night returning from an event, except the sun was out and it was Saturday night.

Central Avenue business district in Highland Park could easily accommodate a bowling game without having much to hit.

Now begins a new chapter in this weird life.

Regards,
Cathy2

It’s our normal to go out for dinner on Saturday night. So tonight we opted to carry-out and it took about a 30 minute family meeting to pick a restaurant to order from. We had discussed keeping it local within our neighborhood but it’s heartbreaking to decide where to spend your money when every place needs it. Ultimately we chose Pasta d’ Arte and enjoyed the baked clams, d’Arte Salad, and 3 pasta entrees. Psistaria was the runner-up. We also considered The Elephant Thai and our favorite neighborhood pub, City’s Edge. As a hospitality worker myself for my entire adult life I am fearful of being furloughed as of April 1st. That’s scary but it’s even scarier to me that the industry as we know it might be forever changed. Dining in Chicago has educated me, and subsequently my 8 year old, about a myriad of other cultures. I love living here, dining here, and the LTH community that has been a huge resource for me even though I have not been a huge contributor. We will do our best to support our local favorites for as long as we can and hope that they all survive.

MikeL wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:I’m in Social contact with my favorite and area restaurants and know which ones are closed.

I prefer not to use another website or load another app

Thanks though...

What the hell kind of response is this???

I am against someone profiting from this crisis.

Before the virtual spanking machine revs up. People are entitled to opinions that differ from others. So be it.

In this era of GoFundMe to keep restaurant employees with some cash, I saw an approach I really liked: A caterer who once upon a time used to contribute regularly here also had the same problem. Except as a caterer, you don't exactly have this fan base to draw from.

They suggested people donate money for meals distributed to home bound and poor. It keeps the lights on, it keeps their employees in a job and they are keeping their doors open.

It is a creative response to a bad situation.

I saw Ronnie and his wife were meeting virtually their friends from The Whistler last night. Julie took a picture posted on facebook or I would not have known. I am sure they have a well equipped bar, so the cocktail party carried on!

We all know each other, sometimes a bit too well, so we also are aces at needling each other. Let's find new ways to continue what we love, continue some kind of social thread and make this strange world a lot more pleasant for each other.

Regards,
Cathy2

Panther in the Den wrote:I am against someone profiting from this crisis.