Restaurants reopening for dine-in service

[Clipper]

Restaurants here are opening today for dining in. Suggested restrictions are to include only serving 50% of the normal capacity of the dining room, and placing the tables six or more feet apart for safe distancing from other customers. It is encouraged for staff to wear gloves and masks, and to sanitize chairs, tables, condiment containers such as salt and pepper shakers, or use single serving packets. Some are even going to use disposable menus and dishes. If I were going out for a nice steak dinner I would rather not have to eat it off a paper plate with a plastic fork. NO ONE is going to be actually monitoring or enforcing the suggested restrictions and policy.

Thankfully I think things will slowly move toward normal dining in because 79% of those polled said that they would still be staying home or using take-out and curbside pickup. We will just have to watch and wait to see if the cases increase again with the slacking off of stay at home policies.

WE won't be eating out in any sit-down restaurants for quite some time. I just don't believe that reopening restaurant dining rooms is safe or prudent yet at this point in time.

[clarencebunsen]

I agree. I don't envy restaurant owners. In my opinion the fallout rate may be 30-40%. So far we have been doing take out once per week. Our last was from Panera's. Barb ordered it on her phone. They asked how to recognize me for the pick-up. I said, "Santa in a blue Murano." Barb substituted "white haired gentleman."

[Clipper]

Hahaha! I like the santa in the blue Murano better. We are dying to go to our favorite Mexican place in Kingsport with our friends or to Longhorn for a steak, but we are not going to anytime soon and the other couple we normally dine out with agrees.

[clarencebunsen]

Michael brought a big chunk o' beef tonight. Almost 20 lbs of prime rib he got for $4.90/lb. We are splitting it 3 ways. That's about what hamburger costs. The only buyers for cuts like that are restaurants and they are tanking. It's not take out food. He sliced steak sized portions for the grill.

[Clipper]

Wow CB. What a bargain. You have my mouth watering for a nice ribeye steak cooked on the grill. Kathy and I both love prime rib, but I have always been afraid to buy it to cook at home for fear of improperly preparing it and turning it into nothing more than very expensive roast beef. Another factor that comes into play is the fact that there are only two of us. I have heard that to get restaurant quality prime rib that at least a five pound or more roast is necessary to achieve the proper cooked product that everyone loves and the seasoning process they use would be hard to equal at home. For us it is more desirable to just order it in a restaurant when we want it.

A well marbled ribeye steak done on the grill so that much of the fat renders down is a real treat that I will enjoy only occasionally. We used to grill steaks and chops on the grill 3 or 4 times a week and I would savor the flavor that was provided by fat. I have slowly acclimated to a point that I don't miss having he salt shaker at my place at the table where I used to salt everything without so much as tasting it first, and we eat a lot more poultry and seafood and when buying meat I look for the leaner cuts.

I no longer eat fatty or salty, but there was a time when the steak house at Turning Stone served a 32 ounce prime rib dinner. I would order it, eat the entire 32 ounces, sprinkled liberally with salt and pepper, and the side salad, leaving the potatoes and side vegetable on the plate.

Enjoy your prime rib CB. Savor that flavor. I am extremely jealous.

[Clipper]

Well, the restaurants were permitted to reopen in-house dining yesterday. The first thing I saw this morning when I got my newspaper was a photo on the front page of a local diner. People sitting on every other stool at the counter and neither the owner or the cook were wearing a mask or gloves. The stools are only a couple of feet apart. So much for safe distancing. It is like "I will have the eggs over easy and toast and a case of Covid19 to take with me. People just don't seem to take the situation seriously.

[clarencebunsen]

I read an article today about Sweden. They are not in any sort of lockdown. Their infection rates and death rates are more than double that of Norway, Finland and Denmark. They are OK with that as long as their health system keeps up.