Restaurants in 12 of Maine’s 16 counties may reopen to dine-in service Monday, but must take certain health precautions to protect against the spread of COVID-19.
Some are jumping right in, some are taking more time to prepare, and others say the size of their dining space just doesn’t make limited table service economically feasible.
This story is part of our series “Deep Dive: Coronavirus.” For more in the series, visit mainepublic.org/coronavirus.
It has been a busy morning at the Fairground Cafe in Topsham, where regular customer Diane Meservier and a group of friends are together again at a table near the entrance.
“This is the first time that we’ve done this together in a restaurant,” she says. “It’s been a long, long time,” she says.
Owner Perry Leavitt says when he learned earlier this month that restaurants would be allowed to reopen — with limits — in 12 counties including Sagadahoc, he had his mind set on being ready.
“It was a great relief, I was very excited, but yet as it got closer there was some nervousness too because it’s a responsibility to keep everybody safe,” he says.
“I find it very safe here because he did a wonderful job separating the tables at a distance, and the waitresses all wear their masks — so does Perry,” Meservier says.
Sporting a Dallas Cowboys mask, server Mary Rumery says she’s a people person and has missed seeing familiar faces.
“So great. It was almost like a sigh of relief when I walked in and saw our regulars. We have some new people over here who have never been here — super exciting,” she says.
But an hour up the coast in Rockland, Chef Kerry Altiero stands alone in front of his popular restaurant Cafe Miranda, which by late morning would normally be in its busy prelunch prep mode, getting ready to move orders of deconstructed nachos, Thai chicken noodle soup or its special “Fabulous Bowl of Meat.” But Altiero says the coziness of his dining space, which was a good thing before the pandemic, has made reopening a challenge. His concern is the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19.
“I don’t want to contribute to that second round because I don’t think the economy or certainly me has the capital to do this again. So I want to be very, very sure that we can be safe for our customers, and certainly for the staff. Everybody is as important as everybody else,” he says.
“Many or all, that I’m aware of, restaurateurs are really taking their time to make sure that they’re getting it right,” says Tom Peaco, president and CEO of Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Peaco says he believes most restaurants in Knox County that can open want to, but are taking extra time to make sure they have adequate supplies of personal protective equipment and cleaning procedures in place. And then there’s the staffing challenge.
“You have businesses that have furloughed employees, and in some cases they’re finding that employees may not want to come back to work for a variety of reasons, so just being able to staff up to be open to the public is another issue,” he says.
Peaco says he expects more restaurants in the area to open their doors in the next few weeks.
Altiero says he’s selling slabs of wood-fired street pizza and plans to begin offering takeout soon, but doesn’t imagine opening table service in the near future.
“That’s a big lament of all of my colleagues, because we don’t do this just for the food — that’s kind of our ‘ego place.’ The other part of the grandness of the personality to be hospitable. That’s what we do this for. And when you take that piece out, it’s like, yeah, I’m still getting satisfied making these pizzas, but we’re not getting the whole experience and neither are you,” he says.
Altiero says table service at Cafe Miranda would not be feasible until the threat of COVID-19 is diminished by a vaccine, substantive testing or therapeutic treatment.
