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
Welcome to the tenth part of a series where we showcase the noteworthy food and drink experiences of a very weird year. In the spirit of the holidays, it s also a very special collaboration between the food writers of the Houston Press and Houston Food Finder, the online publication founded by former Houston Press restaurant critic and food editor Phaedra Cook. This tenth edition explores some of the innovative changes restaurants made to survive the pandemic. Part eleven will explore some of our writers favorite stores and products.
Favorite General Store Addition to a Restaurant
Local Foods, multiple locations: To shore up sales and be more useful to customers, many Houston restaurants added grocery sections, offering multiple products for retail sale. In some cases, those products came from excess inventory that was available because of a sharp reduction in dine-in food sales. Local Foods, though, went the extra mile and owner