Plywood Gourmet
New York magazine|October 24 - November 6, 2022
The Pandemic Gave 12,000 Restaurants a Once-In-a-Lifetime Chance to Crab Land. They're Not About to Give It Back.
By Simon Van Zuylen-Wood. Photographs by Thomas Prior
Plywood Gourmet

Long after the shutdown of indoor dining and the advent of socially distanced picnicking; after takeout cocktails and Cuomo sandwiches’; after to-go-box trash ziggurats and 69 delivery-app veal parms from Carbone; after Jersey-barriered roadway cafés and tabletop hand sanitizer and QR-code menus and a wave of shuttered restaurants; after the run on PPE, the rush for PPP, 25 percent capacity indoor dining, contact tracers, and Plexiglas; after masking up to pee and unmasking to eat; after vaccines, vaccine mandates, Excelsior Passes, and easily faked screenshots of Excelsior Passes; after a vaccine brawl] at Carmine's and a germ-shedding Sarah Palin at Elio’s; after subzero date nights under feeble electric heaters in yurts, igloos, and corporate-branded winter villages”; after the return of full-capacity indoor dining; after Delta and Omicron, after boosters and the bivalent jab; after mask edicts ended and return-to-office drives began—after New York’s pandemic era faded out— one key vestige of covip-19 remained right there on the street: the outdoor-dining shed.

This story is from the October 24 - November 6, 2022 edition of New York magazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the October 24 - November 6, 2022 edition of New York magazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM NEW YORK MAGAZINEView All
LIFE AS A MILLENNIAL STAGE MOM
New York magazine

LIFE AS A MILLENNIAL STAGE MOM

A journey into the CUTTHROAT and ADORABLE world of professional CHILD ACTORS.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
THE NEXT DRUG EPIDEMIC IS BLUE RASPBERRY FLAVORED
New York magazine

THE NEXT DRUG EPIDEMIC IS BLUE RASPBERRY FLAVORED

When the Amor brothers started selling tanks of flavored nitrous oxide at their chain of head shops, they didn't realize their brand would become synonymous with the country's burgeoning addiction to gas.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
Two Texans in Williamsburg
New York magazine

Two Texans in Williamsburg

David Nuss and Sarah Martin-Nuss tried to decorate their house on their own— until they realized they needed help: Like, how do we not just go to Pottery Barn?”

time-read
3 mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
ADRIEN BRODY FOUND THE PART
New York magazine

ADRIEN BRODY FOUND THE PART

The Brutalist is the best, most personal work he's done since The Pianist.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
Art, Basil
New York magazine

Art, Basil

Manuela is a farm-to-table gallery for hungry collectors.

time-read
4 mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
'Sometimes a Single Word Is Enough to Open a Door'
New York magazine

'Sometimes a Single Word Is Enough to Open a Door'

How George C. Wolfein collaboration with Audra McDonald-subtly, indelibly reimagined musical theater's most domineering stage mother.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
Rolling the Dice on Bird Flu
New York magazine

Rolling the Dice on Bird Flu

Denial, resilience, déjà vu.

time-read
5 mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
The Most Dangerous Game
New York magazine

The Most Dangerous Game

Fifty years on, Dungeons & Dragons has only grown more popular. But it continues to be misunderstood.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
88 MINUTES WITH...Andy Kim
New York magazine

88 MINUTES WITH...Andy Kim

The new senator from New Jersey has vowed to shake up the political Establishment, a difficult task in Trump's Washington.

time-read
6 mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
Apex Stomps In
New York magazine

Apex Stomps In

The $44.6 million mega-Stegosaurus goes on view (for a while) at the American Museum of Natural History.

time-read
1 min  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025