Wine & Spirits - April 2021 - 63

D I S PA T C H E S F R O M T H E F R O N T L I N E S

" I didn't realize how windy it could
get. I had never thought about the
weather this much my entire life. "

WASN'T SURE WHAT TO EXPECT when they shut down indoor dining. Now, even
in the cold, on weekends, we are full all day, every day. Now I have a whole wardrobe for serving outside.
I've been stunned to see how many people are willing to come out. There were
several people in one-piece snow suits, like you would see on a mountain, skiing-maybe a little more stylish, as this is New York. I've asked them, " Did you
buy that this year? " And all of them said yes, because they want to go out to eat.
Even though it is twenty degrees out.
Is there a limit? Should we think about the safety of people when it gets this
cold? Our answer has been to do what we can do until we can't. Never in my wildest
imagination would I have thought we would do this much
outdoor business in January.
We're doing about as well as a restaurant could be doing.
We've been open, with the exception of a six-week period
starting in mid-March, when everything shut down. We
started retail wine sales then.
When we reopened, we were working with World Central
Kitchen, José Andres's group, making 250 meals a day for
them; we got a stipend for each meal. Now we've been doing
pasta kits and selling them to Baldor [the restaurant supply
company]; they've been selling direct to consumer. We're
also doing prepared soups. And last Monday, we launched
our Laptop Dinners-like a fancy TV dinner. They are not
as expensive as takeout-about $16 or $18 per meal. People
put in orders for ten at a time. There's a big market for highquality food that you don't have to prepare.
It was a very cocktail-heavy summer. People didn't have
a taste for expensive wine or anything esoteric. The wines
people were buying were chilled, fun reds. I had a reserve
list for anyone who asked for it, but very few people asked.
Now it's all about hot cocktails. Last year, wine was 75 percent of our alcoholic
beverage sales; this year, it's 50 percent. I'm ordering Tequila at the same rate I'm
ordering nebbiolo.
Since we've reopened, every week something else has been taken away: now you
don't have any back waiters, or another manager-my co-manager saw us through
the summer, then moved to South Carolina in September. There are days when I
am the sole front-of-house employee on duty, bartending, bussing tables, serving
the food, taking phone orders, polishing silverware. Those are less busy days, hopefully-otherwise, I get destroyed. It's given me a lot more respect for the back waiters.
Our accountant-she's very optimistic that, with this staff level and this level of
business, we can ride this out indefinitely. I would hope for indoor dining to reopen
sooner rather than later. You read these articles about the staff that doesn't want to
go to work but has to. That hasn't been my observation. The people who came back
really wanted to. They had COVID already; I had it, too. Over that last weekend in
March, a lot of people got sick because we didn't know to take the precautions. Now,
I know my staff would rather be at work than on unemployment. ●

Photographs (left) by SARAH KARLAN and VICTOR LLLORENTE

FA S T FA C T S

Who
Christine Wright

What
General Manager

Where
Hearth
New York

Hearth was already a
beloved institution in the
East Village when Christine
Wright took over as general
manager in 2014. Chefowner Marco Canora
oversees the kitchen while
Wright takes care of the
wine and, increasingly, a
pandemic run on cocktails.
In fact, as summer turned
toward fall, Wright donned
more and more hats, then
gloves, sweaters and coats as
guests have continued to fill
outdoor seats mid-winter.
-JOSHUA GREENE

WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2021

Wine & Spirits - April 2021

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