How Covid-19 changed everything.
The table-side Turnerâs wedge salad.
I first read a story about Covid-19 in January and made a casual observation to my wife, something along the lines of "Hmmm, this thing seems serious."Â
In February a friend and I were embarking on a four-restaurant food crawl and talking about the fate of Asian-American-operated restaurants across Houston. Sales were down dramatically as people avoided these restaurants, primarily because of unfounded and false rumors that the coronavirus was spreading through those establishments.
In early March it seemed inevitable that everything was about to change. By mid-month, all restaurants and bars across Harris County were ordered to close for dine-in service. In the following weeks, operators scrambled to figure out how to work a new reality. I heard the word "pivot" more times than I could count. I stopped writing restaurant reviews and, instead, focused on pantry items and kitchen equipment. Next came all those takeout meals. Dine-in started again and ramped up quickly, then was scaled back before being ramped up yet again despite an increasing number of coronavirus cases and deaths. We were frustrated, angry, worried, sad, confused, and uncertain with how the hell to live, but mostly hoping that we could all get through this damn thing.Â