The former of home of Mission Chinese on East Broadway. Two milestones for the battered New York dining industry this coming week. Tuesday, March 16, will be a year since the state halted indoor dining due to the pandemic. And on Friday, March 19, restaurants will be able to increase their indoor dining capacity to 50% (it’s currently 35%). So things are starting to look a bit brighter for those restaurants that managed to survive during the past year. But it’s also a time to look back at the heavy toll of Covid on a sector that’s critical to the city’s economy and culture. The other day the New York Post noted that the East Village has been hit harder than any other neighborhood, with at least 55 establishments permanently closing since the pandemic began.