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Joyful reunions as regulars reunite with their favorite restaurant workers
As beloved haunts reopen after hibernation, thereâs relief, hope â and even tears.
By Kara Baskin Globe Correspondent,Updated April 20, 2021, 9:46 a.m.
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Bar director Gabe Bellegard Bastos serves a drink to Sarah Clark at Atlantico in Boston.Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe
At Sweet Basil in Needham and Waltham, owner Dave Becker chats with plenty of regulars, but he doesnât usually get hospital requests. The pandemic was different. One of his longtime guests â a chipper Ernest Hemingway doppelganger who looked straight out of âGulliverâs Travels,â he says â was critically ill with COVID-19. Heâd been on a ventilator. Heâd lost 50 pounds. He wanted to get well, of course. But he also wanted to get out and have some of Beckerâs short rib tacos.
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Al fresco dining is coming back to Boston ahead of schedule.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced Friday that the 2021 Outdoor Dining Pilot Program, originally scheduled to start on April 1, will now begin on March 22. One caveat: North End restaurants will still be required to wait until April 1 before debuting their outdoor patios.
“Outdoor dining was one of the bright spots last summer and fall, and we’ve seen the benefits it has had on our neighborhoods: supporting local businesses, a safe and enjoyable experience for restaurant patrons, and an added resource for Boston’s small businesses during this challenging time,” Walsh said in a statement. “I’m thrilled we are able to start this program even earlier, and I look forward to businesses and residents taking advantage of it.”
MILFORD Christina Larson was doing well in her career in restaurants when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
In March, the 31-year-old Southbridge native found herself laid off from her job as a pastry chef where she oversaw four Bar Mezzana locations in Boston.
But Larson, now living in Wrentham, said the setback proved to be for the best.
As a supplement to her full-time job at the Boston restaurant, Larson had started a pop-up doughnut and coffee business called Basic Batch Donuts. The operation was open just once a month, on Saturdays, mainly for fun, Larson said.
And when Bar Mezzana s management called her back two months later to offer her job back, Larson declined.