Restaurants in Trouble

[Retch The Grate]

I’m not worried about BBQ places too much because BBQ works well for takeout.

That said, I do my own smoking. My smoked turkey breast I made this weekend.

looks great, I've been having fun smoking chicken breasts, we've been working through the 10lbs bags that my wife stocked up on at the beginning of the Shelter In Place when we were worried about the risk of large disruptions in the food chain. I'm learning how they behave in different areas of the grill, and what timing I need to make sure they don't overcook.

 

[tmm99]

I’m not worried about BBQ places too much because BBQ works well for takeout.

That said, I do my own smoking. My smoked turkey breast I made this weekend.

Wow, it looks delicious! What kind of smoker do you have? I don't own a smoker. Is it a lot of work?

 

[pb4uski]

I guess I meant eggplant parm is pretty easy to correctly make, but it takes a fair amount of space, time, and makes a mess (the flour-egg-bread crumbs, especially if you also use old bread to make your own crumbs). Also, frying it hot makes a splatter mess and carries some injury risk. I can get it at a local Italian place with a huge side of pastas (some home made, some not) for around $16 -- totally worth it to avoid the aforementioned space, time and mess issues.

Weeping the eggplant is new to me... it makes sense... I'll give it a try.

Recently, I've been "frying" eggplan to eggplant parm in the air fryer. I just give the basket a quick light spray of oil before frying. Also, less mess than frying in a frying pan.

 

[audreyh1]

Wow, it looks delicious! What kind of smoker do you have? I don't own a smoker. Is it a lot of work?

That was on my little baby Traeger pellet smoker which we dragged out to GA and I plan to give to my DB.

The woodsmoke flavor delivered by a pellet smoker is out of this world. They are also easy - minimal fuss. With my method poultry just takes 3 to 4 hours. I brine all my poultry before smoking, and that’s an extra step, but it means no basting during the smoke, and the bird stays super juicy.

I barely got that large turkey breast in my brine bucket, but it fit!

 

[braumeister]

I brine all my poultry before smoking

I believe that is a crucial step. I would never cook poultry without brining it overnight first.

I use a Big Green Egg, which is kind of a combination smoker and grill.

 

[tmm99]

That was on my little baby Traeger pellet smoker which we dragged out to GA and I plan to give to my DB.

The woodsmoke flavor delivered by a pellet smoker is out of this world. They are also easy - minimal fuss. With my method poultry just takes 3 to 4 hours. I brine all my poultry before smoking, and that’s an extra step, but it means no basting during the smoke, and the bird stays super juicy.

I barely got that large turkey breast in my brine bucket, but it fit!

Sounds great! I am going to looking to this. Thank you!!

 

[morriss003]

My wife and I have been dining inside our favorite restaurants a lot recently. What strikes me here on Maui is that we have had very few cases in the last two months, and yet the restaurants are still mostly empty. I can imagine how bad it must be in outbreak areas.

 

[audreyh1]

My wife and I have been dining inside our favorite restaurants a lot recently. What strikes me here on Maui is that we have had very few cases in the last two months, and yet the restaurants are still mostly empty. I can imagine how bad it must be in outbreak areas.

You are missing a huge number of tourists I imagine, so that would account for restaurants still being mostly empty?

 

[morriss003]

You are missing a huge number of tourists I imagine, so that would account for restaurants still being mostly empty?

For places like the golf course, yes. But we live quite a ways from the main tourist areas, and most of the restaurants we like are local places. People are not venturing out except to get groceries and to visit family.

 

[audreyh1]

For places like the golf course, yes. But we live quite a ways from the main tourist areas, and most of the restaurants we like are local places. People are not venturing out except to get groceries and to visit family.

Interesting, so locals are still being super careful.

 

[Ronstar]

Restaurants are like any other type of business. Sometimes things happen in business that make it necessary to change your business model to survive. Some restaurants will change and survive. Some won't change and they won't survive.

 

[Chuckanut]

For places like the golf course, yes. But we live quite a ways from the main tourist areas, and most of the restaurants we like are local places. People are not venturing out except to get groceries and to visit family.

I can only judge by what I see in my area. I will guess that for every Covidiot who goes to a 200+ person crowded house party there are 10-20x that many playing it safe. I haven't met one person yet who has dined inside a restaurant. Some dine outside on a nice day.

 

[sgstaley]

Restaurants in my area are in big trouble. They can open for inside dining at 50% capacity but hardly anyone is going into restaurants and it is too hot for outdoor dining. Every day it seems another restaurant permanently closes and some are having to shut at least temporarily because a staff person has Covid. Pre Covid we use to eat out a lot. Since Covid we try to do curbside pick up once or twice a week. I am sad that so many of many favorite restaurants are closing.

One question that I have is why some restaurants refuse to do curbside pick up. Because we are high risk DH and I have decided to not go in any restaurant and just do the curbside pick up, we try to go at less busy times and leave a very nice tip and we have several restaurants that this works out great. A few restaurants have told us we have to come in and pay and pick up our order and we say no thanks and go to a different restaurant. I heard that one of my formerly favorite lunch spots was in financial trouble and may have to close so I reached out to the owner to see why they are not doing curbside pick ups and she said the credit card company charged more for payment not in person. I had never heard that before but I suggested to her she could tack on a small curbside fee so she would not lose that business.

I hope restaurants get more creative so they can stay open.

Cash is king in some cases, too. Cash allows the recipient a lot of flexibility.

 

[sgstaley]

I can only judge by what I see in my area. I will guess that for every Covidiot who goes to a 200+ person crowded house party there are 10-20x that many playing it safe. I haven't met one person yet who has dined inside a restaurant. Some dine outside on a nice day.

We traveled to Southern Illinois recently. We stopped at a popular chain restaurant around 11 am. Dining was open. The staff were the only one's wearing masks. We had out lunch. When we left, at around noon,, there was a line of around 15 people waiting to get in.

I might add that there are not many cases of covid in that part of the state and people just are not over hyped.

 

[Retch The Grate]

The woodsmoke flavor delivered by a pellet smoker is out of this world. They are also easy - minimal fuss. With my method poultry just takes 3 to 4 hours. I brine all my poultry before smoking, and that’s an extra step, but it means no basting during the smoke, and the bird stays super juicy.

I haven't tried brining the breasts yet, they are boneless and skinless, generally quite juicy out of the bag. Is it ok to brine isolated breasts as opposed to whole birds? If so I'll have to give that a try! I'm finding juiciness seems to be pretty easy to hit with the right temperatures, but it really matters where in the grill I have the breasts. The smoke comes in from one side if I use the side chamber, so the grill is much hotter around that entry area, if I smoke them over coals in the main chamber, it is more even but they heat up much faster, I've done some by putting them in while the coals are heating for direct grilling steak.

 

[audreyh1]

I haven't tried brining the breasts yet, they are boneless and skinless, generally quite juicy out of the bag. Is it ok to brine isolated breasts as opposed to whole birds? If so I'll have to give that a try! I'm finding juiciness seems to be pretty easy to hit with the right temperatures, but it really matters where in the grill I have the breasts. The smoke comes in from one side if I use the side chamber, so the grill is much hotter around that entry area, if I smoke them over coals in the main chamber, it is more even but they heat up much faster, I've done some by putting them in while the coals are heating for direct grilling steak.

I think you just brine for a shorter period. I found this: https://cookthestory.com/smoked-chicken-breast/

I don’t brine chicken that I grill which usually just takes 35 mins or so. I haven’t had any trouble with dryness under these conditions, and except for initial browning, I’m cooking over indirect heat.

When I’m smoking poultry I’m usually smoking at a lower temp like 225 for a couple of hours before turning up to 325 to finish it off which takes at least another hour. So the birds are in the smoker for quite a while and that’s where the brine comes in handy to keep the bird moist.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

One good that might come out of the epidemic is a big increase in outdoor dining. We've always preferred outdoors but here in the Midwest, not many places offer it. Now, many of the restaurants in our town are doing it. Some very nicely, others not (two concrete barriers and a picnic table in a parking space).

The places with imagination and a little money will find ways to make the outdoor dining desirable, and to extend the outdoor dining season- heaters, sunny side of the building, windbreaks, etc.
I remember eating outdoors in downtown Denver many years ago while it was snowing. Heaters, foot warmers, umbrellas (to keep the snow off the food), etc. Rather nice.

 

[harllee]

Outdoor dining where I live is not so good in the middle of the summer--96 degrees, high humidity, thunderstorms, mosquitos. Outdoor dining here will be better in October and November.

 

[Quantum Sufficit]

Blame the media for mass hysteria

Restaurants in my area are in big trouble. They can open for inside dining at 50% capacity but hardly anyone is going into restaurants and it is too hot for outdoor dining. Every day it seems another restaurant permanently closes and some are having to shut at least temporarily because a staff person has Covid. Pre Covid we use to eat out a lot. Since Covid we try to do curbside pick up once or twice a week. I am sad that so many of many favorite restaurants are closing.

One question that I have is why some restaurants refuse to do curbside pick up. Because we are high risk DH and I have decided to not go in any restaurant and just do the curbside pick up, we try to go at less busy times and leave a very nice tip and we have several restaurants that this works out great. A few restaurants have told us we have to come in and pay and pick up our order and we say no thanks and go to a different restaurant. I heard that one of my formerly favorite lunch spots was in financial trouble and may have to close so I reached out to the owner to see why they are not doing curbside pick ups and she said the credit card company charged more for payment not in person. I had never heard that before but I suggested to her she could tack on a small curbside fee so she would not lose that business.

I hope restaurants get more creative so they can stay open.

 

[RobbieB]

I dunno. We tried the reopening thing and the covid went exponential. It was like everyone thought it was over and you could belly up to the bar and have fun again.

I'd like to have some fun too, but I do understand what "highly infectious" means.

 

[harllee]

Blame the media for mass hysteria

I don't think the media has much to do with people being scared to eat in restaurants where I live--I think it is the numbers--in my relatively small town we have almost 1300 cases of Covid and about 50 deaths and the hospitals are getting full. I think people look at the numbers and they justifiably are scared to go in restaurants. To me it is a risk/reward thing. The risk is just too high to eat in a restaurant. I can cook good food and home and be much safer. I feel bad for the restaurants that are closing and really bad for their employees but it is not worth the risk to eat in a restaurant.

 

[RobbieB]

I still support the places I always have, take out of course. And I always tip on take out just like I was there.

 

[harllee]

I still support the places I always have, take out of course. And I always tip on take out just like I was there.

Me too! Thanks Robbie

 

[harllee]

I don't think the media has much to do with people being scared to eat in restaurants where I live--I think it is the numbers--in my relatively small town we have almost 1300 cases of Covid and about 50 deaths and the hospitals are getting full. I think people look at the numbers and they justifiably are scared to go in restaurants. To me it is a risk/reward thing. The risk is just too high to eat in a restaurant. I can cook good food and home and be much safer. I feel bad for the restaurants that are closing and really bad for their employees but it is not worth the risk to eat in a restaurant.

I want to update a number quoted above--as of today my area has 1,350 positive cases. We are seeing some big jumps in numbers.

 

[travelover]

Blame the media for mass hysteria

I know. They've scared 150,000 people to death already.