For Restaurants Owners Post-Pandemic, Change Is the Only Constant | Eater
"Owners Randi Lee and Jeanette Zinno took over the storefront in February 2020, wound up doing the demo themselves after their contractor got stuck, and when they finally opened in December 2020 the space looked nothing like planned. Lee recalls, "Instead of lunch, we had vinyl hour, a place where you could come and put your laptop up, maybe have a cocktail and some snacks. Back then we just had snacks and fresh bread. It was unusually warm — like 65 degrees — and we just put tables outside. We didn’t even know what we could do." The pair stayed nimble thereafter: Zinno learned to bartend, they built dining cabins on the sidewalk outfitted with donated heaters, and most importantly they leaned on relationships with local farmers—"The thing that made us survive is that our local farmers were there, more than happy to just give us as much food as we could handle," says Lee—which yielded an ever-changing menu. The venue also programs events like butchery classes, vermouth tastings, and special holiday menus in response to diner interest." - Jaya Saxena
