The road to recovery: One restaurateur tells his story | Pamela’s Food Service Diary
Updated Feb 11, 2021;
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Franco Ortega at Italianissimo, South Beach, on Wednesday afternoon as he gets ready for a Feb. 12 opening. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri
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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Franco Ortega of Italianissimo broadcasts to his customers on social media that he’s “warming up” the business on this nippy February afternoon. Right now, it is two days away from reopening New York City’s dining rooms at 25% capacity and he’s firing up an operation that’s been closed since December.
A stock rolls to a boil in the kitchen. The scent of bleach wafts through the quiet restaurant as waiter Mario Cabanas swipes a cloth along surfaces. Tables smoothed with white linen cloths stand about seven feet apart from each other. Freshly sanitized glassware glistens on a rack. The floor shines and reflects the afternoon light so sunbeams highlight points around the dining room.