Name: Chicago Imagines What Outdoor Dining May Look Like
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Chicago Imagines What Outdoor Dining May Look Like

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Filed under:Restaurants are weighing public health with economic anxieties, with Mayor Lori Lightfoot saying she doesn’t believe Chicago will be ready to reopen restaurants for outdoor dining on May 29, isn’t all holiday weekend jeer. Many restaurateurs aren’t yet comfortable with welcoming customers back into their spaces. A delay has been welcomed by many to ensure the city develops reopening guidelines that properly address limiting the spread of COVID-19.During a Friday media briefing, Lightfoot said she expects to allow outdoor dining in “early June” which would mean before June 10. She added that the city will release reopening guidelines next week. She wants folks to know whenever that date is that COVID-19 will still be present and will “remain deadly, and we have to do everything we can to mitigate risk.”With legislative sessions fired back up in Springfield, Lightfoot says she hasn’t had a chance to talk to Gov. J.B. Pritzker about reopening restaurants. But she has spoken to his staff.Ownership at , the bakery in Lincoln Square, made a lengthy describing the safety challenges they’re coping with regarding outdoor dining. Owners feel the push to open has been strictly fueled be economic hardships without giving enough weight to safety: “At this time, we are 100-percent certain that it is not safe to have customers congregating on our patio. For that reason, we will not be reopening our patio at the end of the month. We will wait and allow others to take the risk.”We knew this day would come. The local government would say it’s okay to start reopening before we actually felt like it...Posted by onIn general, flipping again and allowing customers to dine won’t come easy. and figuring out logistics is difficult. It’s hard to pivot from takeout to another business model. In Avondale, has a large and private patio, one that’s fenced in from the sidewalk. Josh Kulp and Christine Cikowski are using that outdoor space for contactless pickup for their Friday meals and Monday burger nights. Eventually, they’ll reopen Honey Butter Fried Chicken and use the back windows for customer pickup. They’re in no rush to open the patio to diners.Illinois Restaurant Association’s CEO &amp; President Sam Toia calls the future “America 2.0” and predicting what it will look like is difficult. Restaurant and bar owners need reopening rules from Chicago officials. That includes guidelines on the maximum number of customers allowed, face coverings, distance between tables, and even what to do with condiment containers.Architect Josh Pabst of RATIO Design about could close streets for outdoor dining. Pabst talks about the need to balance health and the economy. WBEZ notes 1,200 Chicago businesses last year applied for sidewalk permits. Pabst’s drawings will remind Chicagoans of what closed streets look like during summer festival season. The city will have to work out an agreement with LAZ Parking when closing streets. The company, which handles the city’s parking meters, will want an impact fee, according to Toia. Staying at home has meant fewer drivers on the road, which means less parking meter money. That could complicate any deal to close streets.Many restaurants in Hyde Park are anxious for outdoor dining, . The paper spoke with reps from , , , among others. In the suburbs, Arlington Heights has embraced alteration with its “Arlington Alfresco” plan. reports that the village wants to close major downtown streets to allow additional outdoor seating to raise the capacities for restaurants.Toia has stressed that allowing outdoor dining isn’t ideal for every restaurant owner. The restaurant association still wants dine-in to commence earlier than the June 26 target date as detailed in the state’s novel coronavirus recovery plan. Restore Illinois was designed to also give local elected officials some control of their municipalities; it’s not a one-size-fits-all policy. Different parts of the state have different needs.However, the lifeline thrown by Pritzker with outdoor dining doesn’t cross all socio-economic boundaries in Chicago. Jeremy Joyce, who runs , a website that keeps a database of black-owned businesses in Chicago, says he doesn’t think any of the restaurants he’s listed have sidewalk patios. That’s part systemic, which also feeds into geography. Most patios are clustered around Downtown Chicago.Patience may be in short supply for restaurant and bar owners, but Toia says they’re still bargaining on a variety of measures. For example, Toia says state lawmakers are close to He made a football analogy, saying that they’re “in the red zone.” Hopefully, Springfield can earn a score for beleaguered bar owners.Sign up for our newsletter.Sign up for our newsletter.The freshest news from the local food world

Filed under:Restaurants are weighing public health with economic anxieties, with Mayor Lori Lightfoot saying she doesn’t believe Chicago will be ready to reopen restaurants for outdoor dining on May 29, isn’t all holiday weekend jeer. Many restaurateurs aren’t yet comfortable with welcoming customers back into their spaces. A delay has been welcomed by many to ensure the city develops reopening guidelines that properly address limiting the spread of COVID-19.During a Friday media briefing, Lightfoot said she expects to allow outdoor dining in “early June” which would mean before June 10....

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Ashok Selvam

Naomi Waxman

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Chicago Imagines What Outdoor Dining May Look Like

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