The Intercruises Team Newsletter

    - Blog #7

Dedicated to our neighborhood establishments, who need us, as much as we need them! 

When the corona virus swept through our neighborhoods, we sheltered and began counting the weeks. Many of us unaware that our favorite local businesses had begun a different countdown of their own. 

Will our favorite restaurants and establishments survive until we emerge?  “The answer, is up to us!”  Like most neighborhoods, our local establishments rely on us for business, and we in turn need them more than we realize.  Empty shops reduce foot traffic, drop property values, and attract unwanted pests and decay.

Local establishments sustain our neighborhoods, encourage economic growth, provide us with places to meet and bring families and friends together.  We all have our favorite shops and eateries that we enjoy frequenting.  Many of them are preparing to open with restrictions and it will be up to us to let them know they are appreciated and needed.

The next time you walk by, stop or wave and let them know that they matter.  They have been waiting for us as much as we have been waiting to visit them. For many of our favorite establishments, the Paycheck Protection Program the government put in place is not helping our independent restaurants and eateries enough, and they need our support and patronage more than ever now.

 

A restauranteur stated “When the virus closed us, I had to shut my restaurant down overnight, with no dine-in service. I sadly called my staff one by one; it was an extremely low day.  Telling them I did not know when they could come back was difficult.  Now that we are getting some government funding, we have been able to hire back a small group of them. The revenue we make from doing delivery or takeout is not enough and the government payback period is for eight weeks only. We are struggling to hold on, but eight weeks does not seem long enough.  It puts me in a tough position.  I have considered just giving it back.

The Independent Restaurant Coalition asked Congress for a $120 billion-dollar stabilization fund that would help support the restaurant industry going forward. Never, has this country seen such a severe number of declining establishments at one time.

While we are missing going out to our favorite restaurant’s we’re stuck with our quarantine cooking.    So, what is quarantine cooking, anyway?   “Being in quarantine, has placed me in this food comfort zone,” said Ilene, a home baker, who has always been fascinated with Japanese baking. “I baked some Japanese milk bread yesterday that turned out really well and delicious.  And in my neighborhood, there’s a little shop that sells sandwiches, made of this fabulous bread. “It’s said that baking is food for the soul,” but it’s definitely not friendly on the waistline.

Tony, another local home baker stated, “I've been making a lot of sourdough bread, which I taught myself to do now that I’m inside so much. A loaf of bread every other day. I had to get a 50-pound bag of bread flour, because I couldn't find any more bread flour because apparently everyone in the world is home baking quarantine sourdough bread right now!!

“Some of us just really need our favorite restaurants to open again.” Naomi, a local resident stated, “Living alone I started watching everything that was going into my body, like the amount of carbs, the amount of protein, the amount of fats. Unfortunately, it didn’t last very long. Comfort began to creep in!  Whatever I craved; I began making. If I want a mac and cheese, I'd make it. If I wanted a bacon cheeseburger, I would make it. So, I decided I needed to get out and help my local community.  I’m now here in the Bronx cooking for 200 people a day with a local restaurant. We did jerk chicken. We did fried plantains and coconut rice and beans. I'm wearing a mask and passing meals to people. It's such a foreign feeling right now, but it’s where I want to be and the food I want to eat right now.”

What our local food service industry will look like in a year no one can predict, but we can involve ourselves to ensure that they will be here.  The next time you walk outside remember to visit or at least wave to your local proprietors showing your appreciation.  They have been waiting for you as much as you have been waiting to visit them.

In Hoboken there is a place called “The Roost Outpost”.

It's a cozy cafe and lifestyle store nestled in one of the oldest buildings in historic Hoboken. This place is so unique that their neighborhoods and communities are hoping they will survive. Don’t forget to wave as you pass by and help support them in whatever way you can.

The Roost has introduced a unique twist on the traditional coffee shop experience.  Here you may find yourself enjoying a delicious espresso while browsing the store’s unique clothing items, bags, home goods and accessories which are all sourced from local designers, craftsman, and artisans.  Their wares range from hand shaped surfboards to hand poured candles and soaps.  As the coffee shop is open, the rest is not and all of these local artists need your support to continue what they are doing.  The government has not given them anything as they are only a small piece of the large coffee shop.

Next, enter a Quixotic Garden of Earthly Delights, a place of make believe. It has a Bamboo Garden Patio that makes you feel you have traveled to a far-off destination not remotely close to New York and they are in need of your help and support. 

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Entering the candlelit grotto feels like an underground Eden where Adam and Eve came on their first date. Cafe Archetypus is not just a restaurant; it’s a dining environment that embodies the word quixotic in its dreaminess and romanticism. A small indoor café leads to a chamber of sculpted caverns and a small garden with the Palisade cliffs as a backdrop.  How sad it would be to lose such a place to Covid-19.  “Everything we are about is rooted in genuine respect of one another, children are no exception to this aim.” says general manager Azori Po Ovu, who is hopeful that this place can remain open as the gem in the mountain it is. 

It seems that the state and local governments are getting ready to open up - we know what the Executive Branch has been wanting - but each locale has to do what is best for them, hopefully, and the quarantine fatigue can be lessened by getting out for a car/bike ride, a walk in a park or along the shore on a beach, maybe even having a meal and drink outdoors - even sports are returning, but without fans!

Let’s pray that the coming vaccine, while in an early stage, continues to prove viable and successful.  Until then, let us all choose wisely, to all wear our mask in public, and be kind to each other.

Our very own and personable Nicholas has been very busy donating his time and baking skills:

He has been baking treats and bread for his local pub.  The proprietor has been providing work for his staff by preparing food for local hospitals and delivering food to families.  Nicholas orders food once a week by taking a nice walk into Forest Hills.  It’s his get out of the apartment adventure.  

Anyone for some fresh baked Sour Dough Bread? 

It just came out of the oven so you should be smelling it right about now…

"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow"         --Orison Swett Marden