“Love You, Miss You, Be Back Soon”
A Look Back at How Carroll Gardens Restaurants Hibernated in Winter
There’s a padlock on the gate of a nautical-themed seafood restaurant called the Kittery. The outdoor structures, built to eat lobster at a distance, are covered in grey snow. Brown parchment paper is taped to the windows with a “See ya soon” note.
You’d think this was a Montauk lobster shack, closed for the winter. But this is Smith Street, Brooklyn, as it looked in February 2021 — where several eateries opted to take a winter hiatus to wait out these cold COVID months. Close by, Claudine’s, Bar San Miguel, Big Tiny Bistro, Jolie Cantina and Barely Disfigured had joined the list of places that closed temporarily.
Why hibernate? The consensus is that it’s a cost-efficient strategy to wait out the winter. With COVID outdoor dining being so weather dependent, the logic is that staying open might not be worth the economic risk. As spring arrives, these restaurants will slowly wake from their winter sleep.
For Jeremy Andre, owner of Barely Disfigured, the temporary closure came down to numbers. “We save now to open later, use the time to rethink and refresh. I was also needing a vacation. Our landlord gave us a 30 to 40% discount on the rent for six months, which made the decision that much easier.”
Dominique Drevet, co-partner at Big Tiny, figured that had they stayed open, they would’ve had to pivot their model to a takeout business. “We would’ve needed three people to do deliveries, redesign the menu for travel, we didn’t think it was appropriate for our place.”
“While many restaurants are planning to be closed until March or April, they would be perfectly able to change their minds and reopen sooner,” said Kathleen Reilly at the NYS Restaurant Association. Temporary closures are “an informal decision that’s up to the restaurant,” and do not require state approval. They are agreed upon privately between the owner and landlord.
As these restaurants reopen they will receive financial support from President Biden’s $25 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund, part of the recently passed American Rescue Plan
Finances aside, these temporary closures came with mash notes to the community. Benjamin Tretaut, the owner of Big Tiny Bistro and Jolie Cantina, commissioned a sign by artist Jen Mussari which reads “Together We Are Tougher, We Will See You Soon!” There’s a matching plaque on the door that reads, “Love You, Miss You, Be Back Soon.”
Mussari (@jenmussari) painted the plaques to fit inside the windows. “These signs are a love letter to the neighborhood that has supported them for so long,” said Mussari.
Bar San Miguel took a more straightforward “Gone Fishing!” approach, with a Sharpie note: “We are taking a winter hiatus. See you again in the spring!” Barely Disfigured pasted an adhesive to the window: “Due to all restrictions, we decided to close this winter,” and encouraged customers to check their Insta page for spring reopening updates.
For Abi Yavuz, manager at Verde, the decision to close for the winter was tempting, but never an option. “I have 16 employees, and they all have families. I can’t do that to them.”
Storefronts that remain open notice the absence of their neighbors. “To see people that have gone through all that effort to make their business successful and then to have to close…it’s just awful,” said Brian Dykeman, partner at Zombie Hut.
Though owners like Jeremy Andre are saving money to reopen with an outdoor bar come spring, they are placing bets that COVID-19’s threat will decrease by then. Given that restaurant workers became eligible for the vaccine on February 2, 2021, it’s a reasonable hope.
“We don’t know where we’ll be, but we’re doing this to make it to the other side,” said Andre.
With spring’s warm weather and the vaccine rollout, it’s looking like they will.
