The pandemic has hit restaurants as hard as just about any other industry in Arizona. But in many ways, the state has been trying to help.
In December, Governor Doug Ducey introduced a grant program totaling $1 million to help restaurants expand their outdoor dining options in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Called the Safest Outside Restaurant Assistance Program (SORAP), it provides up to $10,000 per restaurant to expand its patio seating. Ducey also issued an executive order earlier in 2020 that temporarily reduced regulations on patio seating, allowing restaurants to expand their patio size into areas normally restricted by law, like sidewalks.
Katherine Davis-Young
As an example, group No. 5’s menu lists an appetizer involving crispy salted duck from The Cellar (Shannon L. Rush), followed by eight-hour pork, beef, and oxtail ragout-filled cannelloni from Nonna Urban Eatery (Valentina Huerta), and a buttered rum cake from The Breadfruit & Rum Bar (Danielle Leoni).
Participants may choose one of the five offered menus, placing their order by 10 p.m. the Wednesday prior for pickup or delivery the following Friday or Saturday night. Pickup locations and more details are listed on the menus themselves.
Some background on JBFWomenofAZ: It s a group encouraged by the national collaboration Let’s Talk, part of the James Beard Foundation Women s Leadership Program. Let s Talk was founded by Rohini Dey, Ph.D., owner of Vermilion in Chicago and a trustee of the James Beard Foundation.