If you’re anything like me you spent the summer months taking full advantage of the incredible array of outdoor dining options in our great city. After a long spring, trapped indoors with our own (in my case exceptionally mediocre) cooking, it was both thrilling and heartening to see our neighborhoods begin to rebound as our local restaurants expanded into their outdoor environs—each with their own unique style.
New Yorkers poured out of doors in July. We claimed our seats in emptied parking spots at tables separated from each other with plastic covered coat racks. We ate whatever was available on limited menus, and tipped our intrepid waitstaffs graciously. We dined because we couldn’t stand our own cooking any longer. We dined because we wanted to support our local businesses. We dined because it was a way to experience, for an hour or so, what we missed so much about the city: Just being amongst our neighbors. The closeness (but not too close). The people watching. And for those of us without a balcony or terrace, it was a place to soak up some much needed sun and fresh air.
August and September brought a creative building boom of platforms and customized dividers. By the end of summer most establishments had perfected their look with elaborate flower box border walls, strings of fairy lights, and lots and lots of large umbrellas. We all (even me) finally learned how to scan a QR code for a menu! For our family, choosing a restaurant became less about the food and more about finding the perfect table with the right amount of distance from others, the perfect blend of sun (for me) and shade (for hubby), and the most adorable atmosphere and neighborhood view. It was perfection (pandemically speaking).
And now it’s winter. Now what?!
The chill of October and November brought the construction crews back out to build more hearty structures. With walls, roofs and windows—and conspicuously lacking doors—these 3-sided dine-oramas bring the feeling of theatrical venture to the streets complete with electricity and, most importantly, heat lamps! (Note the newly ubiquitous propane delivery trucks throughout the city!)
If, like me, you’re not quite ready to retreat to your own kitchens, I offer you a few of my neighborhood favorites here in the West Village providing great food, a bit of warmth and a lot of style.
