Pillsbury Press: Dining Out

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Dining Out

More than 100 days ago Governor Murphy shuttered restaurants in the state of New Jersey. Within a couple of weeks restaurants started to provide take out, which was a help both to their bottom line and to our taste buds. Still, it is not the same as ordering off of a menu and having someone serve you.

In some ways take out felt like more work. There was research involved. Which restaurants are open? What are they serving? What are their hours? What are their rules? Some wanted cashless transactions, other preferred cash. Some are closed days they used to be open. Some wanted to put it directly in the trunk while we stayed in the car. Others you had to go inside and pick up from their counter -- wearing a mask and limiting the number of people inside, of course.

This added to anxiety of the times.

On June 15th Governor Murphy allowed patio dining. Of course that brought its own new set of rules. Which places are open? What days are they open? Who is offering patio dining? Do you have to make a reservation? What is the menu?

The pandemic has changed all the rules, and continues to change them.

On Saturday, June 27 Ashley and I dined at Zoe's Kitchen. As that is a counter service restaurant, it was nice to eat outside, but didn't quite have the appeal of a full-service restaurant. Still, it was nice to sit outside and wait for our food.

I still wanted someplace special to celebrate Ashley's high school graduation.

I heard through the grapevine the Mountainview Country Club in Ewing was offering outside dining. Normally a catering place, they have a nice, permanently covered patio that has been converted into outside dining. I drove there because I could not find their menu on line. I found items the three of us would eat on their limited menu and asked about reservations (none needed that night).

The only other issue was the weather. It poured at 4:45 then cleared up. We thought we were safe, so we went to dinner.

Of course it poured again, but since their outside dining had a permanent cover, we were able to stay mostly dry.

It was heavenly.

What made this more special than take out in the park, or dining at Zoe's Kitchen, was we were forced to talk to each other while someone else made our dinner. Conversation has been lacking. The feeling of lounging over a meal has been lacking (even though there isn't much to do during a pandemic). We were also finally able to celebrate Ashley's graduation from high school and make it feel like a celebration.