Mary Kate NcDevitt
This story is part of SLM's January 2021 cover feature, with tips on riding out the rest of the pandemic. Click here for more stories from the feature.
As restaurants struggle to stay afloat through a challenging winter, diners continue to remain sympathetic and supportive. Even in good times, January through March is the slowest period for restaurants, so many owners are appreciative of an uptick in pickup and delivery orders. As we all adapt to the changing landscape, here are some suggestions.
1. Take advantage of value pricing. Ordering to-go meals à la carte from restaurants can get expensive. Many restaurateurs have adapted by offering affordably priced family meals. The model works especially well for Italian cuisine, but finer-dining restaurants have responded with equally tempting offers. (Big Sky’s Meal Deal mania, for instance, includes a grilled mushroom and beef meatloaf dinner with tomato soup, crab cakes, and two sides.) Carnivore, on The Hill, offers a dozen dinner selections for two or four people, and the venerable Sidney Street Bistro weighs in with Dinners for Two that include two entrées, two sides, two house salads, and two nut-free chocolate chip cookies.
2. Toast the small things. As chefs work to re-create the restaurant experience at home, several have introduced special occasion meals to go. Blood & Sand provides several dinners for two (Date Night to Decadence) for pickup. Bulrush offers a tasting menu for pickup or home delivery; Vicia presents Curated Celebrations, a fully customized catered experience. And since March, Stone Soup Cottage has offered Cottage to Carriage service, in which the owners themselves may deliver coursed meals—complete with linen napkins, a candle, wine, and glass stemware.
3. Bring the restaurant to the neighborhood. In another pivot, a neighborhood rep can arrange for a particular restaurant to deliver meals en masse on a weeknight after households place their respective orders. A similar concept, To the Table, offers a mystery meal delivery service featuring Black- and immigrant-owned restaurants, a program that’s not restricted to a specific neighborhood.
4. Order directly from the restaurant. Third-party delivery services have been a boon to consumers, but restaurants are sometimes forced to raise prices by 10 to 15 percent to cover the delivery fees. (If the delivery service runs the restaurant’s online portal, customers sometimes pay the fees even when picking up.) In response, some restaurants have resorted to self-delivery, which can be faster, cheaper, more consistent, and more controllable. Before placing an online order, do some research; it could pay off.
5. Look for dishes that travel well. As the pickup and delivery business grew in response to the pandemic, restaurateurs began paying more attention to food quality and to-go packaging. The menu at Akar, for example, was specifically designed for that purpose, as was every item at Tempus, chef operator Ben Grupe’s impressive new restaurant in The Grove. At Pi Pizzeria + ¡Rico!, chef Cary McDowell’s kitchen team tested French fries for days before deciding on a particular variety. McDowell also jokes that two of their signature items, the Rico-cini (a Mexican arancini) and his crackly fried chicken breast sandwich, “might just stay crunchy until Tuesday.”
