Foodies Clan

A Supreme Court ruling makes it illegal to discriminate against an employee based on sexual orientation or gender, but that barely begins to address the unique pressures and harassment faced by trans service workers

On June 15, in a historic case, the Supreme Court held that federal law forbids discriminating against an employee solely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Such an action would be considered discrimination under Title VII, as “an employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex,” writes Justice Neil Gorsuch. In other words, a workplace couldn’t legally fire a man for having a husband because it wouldn’t fire a woman for having a husband. If “the employer intentionally penalizes a person identified as male at birth for traits or actions that it tolerates in an employee identified as female at birth,” it’s discrimination “because of … sex.”

Much of the praise for the ruling comes from the fact that it’s been a long time coming. Until now, it’s been legal in more than half of U.S. states to fire someone for being gay, bisexual, or trans, even though it’s clearly a discriminatory practice. “The Supreme Court’s decision provides the nation with great news during a time when it is sorely needed. To hear the highest court in the land say LGBTQ people are, and should be, protected from discrimination under federal law is a historic moment,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, in a statement. However, she notes, “we still have more work to do to ensure that transgender people can fully live their lives without fear of discrimination for being who they are.”

The food service industry has often been a place for society’s “outcasts,” including LGBTQ people, to find acceptance and community. But while this ruling is a win for LGBTQ rights in general, trans and nonbinary people in the food service industry are questioning how much of an effect it’ll have on everyday life — and imagining what could be done to effect tangible change.

Niko Prytula, a nonbinary person who lives in Virginia, only recently stopped working in food service after eight years, most recently at a fine dining establishment with extremely formal practices. At most of their jobs, they were never open about their gender identity. “I was always out as queer, and there were not that many places where I was the only queer person on staff,” they say, “but when I was working fine dining, that was the first time where it felt like it would be a genuine obstacle to be out.”

Most of that was not because of the risk of discrimination from management, but rather from customers. Prytula recalls the extraordinarily gendered style of service, which required serving the oldest woman at the table first, referring to coworkers and patrons as “Mister” or “Miss,” and serving mostly older, white customers. “I do think [coming out] would have just made things very complicated,” they say. “I feel like it would have required me to create almost like a flowchart for my coworkers of like, ‘Okay, so I want you guys to use the correct pronouns for me, but you can let the tables misgender me all they want, because I don’t want to get in an argument with some elderly person when it’s literally a matter of my income.’”

Lucky Michaels, a trans rights activist and bartender at Storico at the New York Historical Society, says “as a trans person, job security is huge.” Michaels, a nonbinary trans woman, has been working in hospitality since the late ’90s, and says that because of the need for job security, “most of the trans people that I find [in the industry] are absolutely in the closet, stealth because it’s a really toxic work environment for people in general.” It’s not just discrimination from customers; it’s also the hypermasculine kitchen culture that persists in restaurants to this day.

Having a job is a high bar to clear for many trans people, says Michaels. “If you don’t have a house to go home to, or a place to change your clothes and shower or eat, how are you going to be able to get or sustain a job in the first place?” While the risk of losing a job is worrisome for everyone, unemployment, homelessness, and food insecurity are things that affect trans people more across the board. According to an April 2020 report from the Williams Institute looking at pre-pandemic numbers, “78.1 percent of trans adults are in the workforce, 12.8 percent of whom are unemployed, translating to an estimated 139,700 trans people unemployed (and looking for work) nationwide. In comparison, between 3.9 percent and 4.9 percent of U.S. adults in the labor force are unemployed.”

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated those numbers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the unemployment rate at 13.3 percent for May. And according to the Human Rights Campaign, trans people have been more likely to have lost their jobs during the pandemic and economic crisis: “19 percent of transgender people and 26 percent of transgender people of color have become unemployed due to COVID-19, compared to 17 percent of LGBTQ people and 12 percent of the general population.” The numbers are particularly bad for the food industry. The BLS reports that an additional 1.2 million jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector were lost in May, on top of the 7.4 million lost in April. And HRC reports that LGBTQ people are more likely to work in industries affected by COVID-19, including 2 million (15 percent) who work in restaurants and food services.

The SCOTUS decision sets a precedent, both legal and social, and signals to employers that there are bigger consequences for discrimination, but bigoted employers will always find other ways to alienate and push out trans employees. (The ruling does not apply to contractors, like most delivery drivers or Instacart shoppers.) Both Prytula and Michaels note how rare it would be to have “evidence” of a boss firing someone because they are trans. “I can’t tell you the number of times that people have tried to get rid of me because I’m trans without saying, ‘This is because you’re trans,’” says Michaels. “I’ve had managers and chefs try to get me to quit or leave, that have thrown around really horrible language. They’ll be using ‘faggot,’ I’ll be barred from the restroom of my gender identity, they give you inappropriate schedules, they give you inappropriate uniforms.”

The nature of the ruling also just doesn’t apply when much of working in the food service industry involves interacting with customers, who are essentially your bosses for 90 minutes at a time and are under no legal requirement to treat you fairly. “If you’re no longer allowed to be fired for being queer, but your income depends on whether or not guests find you palatable, or performing the right way, or, god help you, attractive, it doesn’t really help that much,” says Prytula.

Then there’s the issue of at-will employment. If you work without a union that has argued for just-cause termination, in most states, your boss can fire you without reason anyway. “Often the unique circumstances and additional burdens queer, and especially trans folks live with can make them more susceptible to ‘fireable offenses,’” says V Spehar, a nonbinary person who has worked in the hospitality industry for years, and who most recently was the Director of Impact at the James Beard Foundation, focusing on Women’s Leadership & LGBTQ programs. “Being late, having to grin and bear rude customers’ comments, lack of emotional or mental support, lack of secure housing or familial support” are all reasons that an employee could be seen as “not the right fit.”

On an encouraging note, there are other legislative pushes that, while helping all workers, could protect trans people specifically. Prytula says doing away with tipped minimum wage would mean trans food service workers would be more likely to earn a living wage without monitoring their appearance for the sake of transphobic customers. Doing away with at-will employment could do a lot too, as Sarah Jones writes for New York Magazine, as trying to sue your former employers for trans discrimination “can burden workers who don’t have the independent means to hold their former employers accountable.”

Spehar also says more change needs to come from within the industry, and not only from outside legislation. “Without creating a culture of understanding for the out-of-work burdens that disproportionately affect the LGBTQ community, we are all still held to the same ‘professional’ standards and expectations created by cis white culture,” they say. That means restaurant owners and nonprofits prioritizing anti-bias training, putting resources toward helping queer and trans people open their own businesses, and centering the fact that the food industry “is built foundationally on black, queer, women’s, and immigrant’s labor.” And making sure these issues take priority outside of Pride month, when many businesses use the LGBTQ community for marketing gimmicks.

Michaels still sees the food service industry as a place where trans people can thrive. She notes that James Beard was an out gay man at a time when that wasn’t widely accepted, and how restaurants and bars, especially Black- and women-owned restaurants and organizations, are committing themselves to diversity, equity, and inclusion work. But she also notes there’s a bigger picture outside the rights of those who find employment. “I don’t know that it is in legislation,” says Michaels. The SCOTUS ruling is an important piece in the massive, and mostly incomplete, puzzle of legislation and activism that’s needed to truly secure equitable treatment for trans people. “Legislation, as we’ve seen, can be fickle, and driven by administration, politicized,” says Spehar, “and in the end will never do what humanity and compassion from the industry can do.”

Make this fresh pasta dish that only takes 15 minutes, from the beloved recipe developer

There are home cooks who embrace spontaneity, eschew recipes, and thrive with a “oh, I just tossed this together” vibe. Then there are fans of J. Kenji López-Alt, for whom no dish is too simple for precise directions and exacting technique.

As the managing culinary director of Serious Eats and author of The Food Lab (which grew out of a column on Serious Eats by the same name), López-Alt’s approach is scientific: He embraces the recipe development process, not just recipes per se, and why a recipe works the way it does. That’s why his writing focuses so much on techniques and explanations; as he told Eater back in 2016, “You can follow the recipes as written, but I like to think of it more as handing someone a map that lets them then decide their own path.”

Which is also why Kenji’s gained a reputation for tackling down some of the simplest dishes and foods — chocolate chip cookies, boiled eggs — and breaking them down into their precise, technical elements. The cooking expert is joining Eater’s Instagram Live to demo a simple pasta recipe, requiring only five ingredients and a total 15 minutes to prepare. Tune in Tuesday, June 30, at 4:30 p.m. ET — and before you do, grab the ingredients below so you can cook alongside Kenji.

Five-Ingredient, 15-Minute Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

Serves 2

Extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of fresh garlic
2 ripe beefsteak or 4 Roma tomatoes
Handful of fresh basil
200g (7 ounce) of pasta (like spaghetti or rigatoni)

You’ll also need:
A 12-inch skillet
A 3-quart saucier (or a medium saucepan or 10-inch skillet)
A knife
A box grater
A mortar and pestle (optional)
Cheese like pecorino Romano or Parmesan for serving, if you want

And tune in on Instagram Live on Tuesday, 4:30 p.m. ET as Kenji demos the recipe.

Plus, the UN says the pandemic has pushed millions into hunger, and more news to start your day

The reclosures come after COVID-19 cases continue to spike

Last week, officials in Texas, Florida, and Idaho were the first to roll back business allowances in the face of rising cases of COVID-19. Bars were no longer allowed to operate for walk-in service, and in Texas, restaurants had to reduce indoor dining capacity from 75 percent to 50 percent. Now, California and Pennsylvania are following suit.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered nightlife and bars to close in seven counties, and recommended that eight other counties do so, as well. “Californians must remain vigilant against this virus,” he said in a statement. “COVID-19 is still circulating in California, and in some parts of the state, growing stronger. That’s why it is critical we take this step to limit the spread of the virus in the counties that are seeing the biggest increases.”

Also, health officials in Pittsburgh and surrounding Allegheny County in Pennsylvania ordered all bars closed for on-site consumption, restricting operations once again to take-out drinks and cocktails. As Eater’s Nick Mancall-Bitel wrote, basically everything to love about bars, especially dive bars, is what makes them such hotbeds for the spread of disease: “Dives are cherished for their dark interiors, raucous atmospheres, and egalitarian walk-in only service, all aspects that make it hard for dives to accommodate social distancing.” In many of these states and counties, activities like outdoor dining, personal care services, and moderately-sized gatherings are still permissible.

And in other news...

• Inmates at Washington State Penitentiary are going on a partial food strike to protest poor COVID-19 safety practices. [The Daily Chronicle]
• The pandemic might encourage the spread of ghost kitchens. [New Yorker]
• The Momofuku Group issued a coronavirus safety guide. [NRN]
• Schools don’t have enough money to continue meal programs, which has led to a renewed call for Universal Free Lunch. [Civil Eats]
• Over 60,000 lbs. of chicken nuggets are being recalled. [CNN]
• According to the UN World Food Program, the pandemic has pushed millions into hunger. “The number of hungry people in the countries where it operates could increase to 270 million before the end of 2020.” [ABC]
• Wendy’s is heading to the UK. [Eater London]

• All AM Intel Coverage [E]

Maybe stay out of bars?

When beans became grocery stores’ hottest commodity in the pandemic, the chef turned to cauliflower for her homemade falafel

When the pandemic first hit and lockdown orders across different cities began to loom, beans were among the first food items to sell out in many grocery stores. That’s when Eater video producer McGraw Wolfman had the idea to challenge chef Nyesha Arrington to make a chickpea-less falafel. “[Cauliflower] was the only thing I could get you, there were no chickpeas,” McGraw says of the surprise box of ingredients that he sent to Nyesha for this challenge. “And I feel like cauliflower gets a bad rep.”

First, Nysehsa makes some dough for homemade pita bread, and sets it aside to rest. Then, after looking up recipes for traditional falafel which requires almond meal, she decides to grind toasted walnuts as a substitute. “The walnuts are great because they’re a little bit dryer,” she says, also noting their “meaty” quality, both of which will help bind with the watery ground cauliflower. “I’m going to pulse down the rest of the cauliflower and squeeze out all of the liquid and I think that’s going to give me a similar texture to chickpeas. ...I don’t want a lot of water in the falafel because what’s going to happen is it’s going to be too gummy, and I want it to be light and fluffy.”

Having a can of butter beans on hand in her own kitchen, Nyesha decides to add those to the mixture. “I think it’s going to give it a little bit of starchiness, and a kind of tender texture. The beans are going to act like a binder.” Then Nyesha adds chopped garlic, flour, olive oil, baking powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, black pepper, lemon zest, egg whites, and tons of fresh parsley, cilantro, thyme, and spinach. “I’m always kind of trying to find ways to add vegetables to things that I cook, and I think it will also just give it a nice light airy texture,” she says.

After testing out her first falafel ball, Nyesha heads back to the mixture, deciding it needs more egg white, lemon zest, cumin and cayenne pepper. “All the flavors are there, I just really want to amplify them.”

Now it’s time for Nyesha to make the sauce. As a former saucier at two-Michelin-starred Mélisse in LA, this is a task she takes seriously. Combining roasted garlic, cumin, cayenne, lemon juice, salt, oat milk, tahini, and oil, Nyesha makes a light and tangy topping for her falafel.

After cooking her pita dough in a cast iron pan, and frying her falafel balls, Nyesha puts it all together adding lettuce, feta, and tomatoes. “This is so freaking good!” says Nyesha, happy with her results. “My personal thoughts are I freaking nailed this recipe, an epiphany to my soul.”

“I had my doubts about cauliflower falafel but I think this came out great.”

Chicago watches as Texas and Florida closed its bars

“In light of critical conversations about racism and systemic social issues” across the country, the company is dropping “Dixie” from its name

Some of America’s fanciest restaurants have become America’s fanciest groceries

To be fair, the produce looked absolutely incredible. Why wouldn’t it? It came from Blue Hill Farm, Dan Barber’s farm and restaurant, which has gained international fame for its commitment to sustainable practices and its bespoke vegetables. In better times, it offers $278-per-person tasting menus (before beverage and tax) sourced from its own and other local farms. Now, like many restaurants around the country, it has become a grocery, offering premade boxes filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, stews and purees, grass-fed milk and cheese, cultured butter, organic eggs, flowers, and meat from cows raised on the farm.

These are not your typical beets-and-too-much-zucchini CSAs. Blue Hill’s “Garde Manger” box features what it calls “essential supplements for your lunch or dinner,” sourced from its pantry: There are handwritten labels on glass bottles of milk! A giant rustic cracker! Yogurt spelled with an “h”! Lardons and whipped liver! It’s a fantasy of sustainability, a glimpse into a future where we all prioritize local farming and pay our farmers directly for an exemplary product. It costs $98.

Blue Hill calls its grocery assortments “to-go boxes,” and like the offerings offered by many restaurants in this moment, they’re sold on an a la carte basis, not as part of subscription-first CSA. Generally, CSA (community-supported agriculture) and farm-share programs are first and foremost about that C — ”community.” The idea is to cut out the middleman and forge direct relationships between people and the farmers who feed them. By subscribing to one “share” of a farmer’s annual crop up front, you guarantee income for the farms you support for the whole season. CSAs have seen an uptick in subscribers since the onslaught of the pandemic. And as dining rooms remain closed or under harsh restrictions, restaurants around the country have been trying to riff on that model, and keep both themselves and their suppliers afloat by selling produce and pantry goods directly to customers.

Restaurants of all price brackets have been engaging in this new business plan, but it’s hard to ignore the sex appeal of the markets and boxes coming at the more upscale restaurants. Republique in LA offered fruit and pastries; there’s bread and popcorn from Brooklyn’s Olmsted, and foraged mushrooms and natural California wine from San Francisco’s Verjus. There’s even a box from the legendary Chez Panisse.

In the Before Times, restaurants like these were not just places to get a great, expensive, and usually well-sourced meal, but sites to be seen doing so. It may not have been the main point for every diner, but it was at least a bonus to be able to say you have the knowledge, the taste, and the money to have been. Now, their proto-CSAs take the trend to a new level — they are an exercise in community, but also a way to make it known — through aggressive Instagramming and sharing on social media — exactly who that community is. It’s groceries for the 1 percent.

Farms and restaurants certainly need support right now. According to a survey, conducted, no less, by Dan Barber through Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, a third of independent farmers don’t foresee being able to continue operating by the end of this year. Though some farmers have found success through these restaurants and other CSA programs, they are facing a summer without restaurants operating at full capacity. Part of the appeal of any farm-share box or grocery is the knowledge that you’re doing good by supporting sustainable practices, and paying people fairly for their labor. In a pandemic, that feels newly crucial.

“We had been looking for ways to support restaurants and everything about this appealed, especially Blue Hill produce,” says Lisa, who has twice driven up to Tarrytown from New York City with her husband to pick up their box. Everything she describes sounds like a perfectly curated experience, down to having someone “offering a little aperitif via a long pizza peel each time as you progressed through the line in your vehicle.” Lisa says in general, she’s been putting more of an effort into buying from smaller, independent producers.

But let’s face it: If it were just about the quality of the vegetables, no one would care to name the restaurants. Lisa notes “even a Blue Hill parsnip is still a parsnip.” Part of the appeal is the brand, the experience, or the slight humble-brag of saying that even now, you’re the kind of person who’s in with Chez Panisse, or has access to “the most exclusive produce boxes in NYC.” Instagram is filled with “unboxing” photos unpacking each box, showing its contents in flat-lay, or shots of luxurious meals made with their contents; all iterations of that photo have temporarily replaced the I’m Eating at a Fancy Restaurant ’gram. There’s an added pull of showing off just how beautiful the butter is, how alluringly “ugly” the vegetables, how perfectly the Instagrammer threw together a gorgeous meal with such bounty.

This is not new. Aside from restaurants, there have always been more upscale markets, like Citarella or Dean & DeLuca (RIP). And it’s not to say expensive restaurants aren’t also deserving of support. But while $100 for a box of ethically grown food may not be so exorbitant — eggs are $1 each from Blue Hill, a baguette is $4 from Verjus, a selection of ground meat and sausage from J&E general is $30 — it’s more than what you’d pay at Stop & Shop. And right now, that divide between people who have the luxury of prioritizing ethical food spending and those who do not is incredibly stark. Americans are experiencing unprecedented food insecurity. One in five children isn’t getting enough to eat, lines at food banks stretch for miles, and jobless claims just passed 40 million. Just as most people could never afford these restaurants, most could not afford these groceries.

This divide shouldn’t exist. Paying farmers, fishers, and restaurant workers a living wage shouldn’t mean only the richest have access to thoughtfully grown food. Farmers shouldn’t have to throw away thousands of pounds of crops while the country goes hungry. But it’s hard to get around the fetishization these boxes inspire, and that farm-to-table restaurants inspired before them. At their best, these boxes help farmers and restaurant workers stay afloat, and encourage ethical farming practices. But at their worst, they’re a way for rich people to project their tastes and show off, even if they don’t intend it. Usually those two things are happening at the same time. The very social media posts and word of mouth that boost farmers and workers, alerting others to their existence and the fruits of their labor, also signal the elite access of the poster.

Ultimately, it’s the trap of consumerism as activism. The only way to “do good” under that approach is to buy something, and while that doesn’t hurt, it also doesn’t eradicate the larger problems both the farming and restaurant industries face. You can’t buy your way out of the problems caused by capitalism. Until ethical farming practices become the norm across the country and ethically grown food is truly affordable for everyone, there will be no way around that. Buying the “right” thing will never lead to structural change. But ideally, it can be the first step to reveal just how much more is needed.

New York-based restaurateur Joe Campanale shares his picks for can’t-miss Sicilian wines

Just off the toe of Italy’s boot is where you’ll find Sicily, the largest among the Mediterranean islands. Agriculture on the island is quite the phenomenon; from pistachios, lemons, and oranges (Sicily is Italy’s largest producer of citrus fruits) to wheat, almonds, and olives, Sicily’s mountainous terrain paired with an enviable sun exposure produces an enviable bounty.

Of course, there’s wine too. The grapes most commonly-grown in the region include nero d’avola (the most widely planted) and frappato for red; and catarratto, grillo, and inzolia for white grapes — all which you’ll find across Sicily’s key wine regions like Sicilia, Etna, and Marsala DOCs. And while many of the wines produced in Sicily never even make it to the U.S., the ones that do have always represented the best the local wine regions have to offer.

As part of our Eater at Home series, Joe Campanale, co-owner and wine director of Brooklyn’s Fausto and LaLou, shared on Instagram the Sicilian wines that best represent the region to him.

They include, of course, a nero d’avola and frappato blend from winemaker Arianna Occhipinti, which Campanale says would sing with just about any pairing but whose earthy and bitter chocolate notes would do especially well with grilled meat. There’s also a blend of grecanico and insolia that sees about 7-10 days of skin maceration, giving it its orange hue, and that’s described as being high in acidity and minerality with notes of white tea and honey.

Below you can find these recommendations and a few more:

• Eduardo Torres Acosta “Versante Nord” bianco 2018 Sicily, Italy ($37.32)
• Nino Barraco Grillo 2017 Sicily, Italy ($35.99 for the 2018)
• Azienda Agricola COS Rami 2018 Sicily, Italy ($27.99)
• Arianna Occhipinti Cerasuolo di Vittoria “Grotte Alte” 2015 Sicily, Italy ($89.96)
• I Vigneri VDT Bianco Cariccante Aurora 2018 Sicily, Italy ($35)
• Graci - Etna Rosato 2018 Sicily, Italy ($22)
• I Custodi, ‘Pistus’ Etna Rosso 2017 Sicily, Italy ($32)

Looking for more wine recommendations from some of our favorite somms? We’ve got you covered with five pét-nat picks from wine director Miguel de Leon and the American sparkling wine New York restaurateur Ariel Arce wants you to know about.

Worries about the pandemic, slow business, and fewer jobs for servers are all creating obstacles to rehiring

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced one Miami restaurant to shut its doors in mid-March, its management laid off 47 of their 55 employees. Expecting the worst, they were surprised to realize at the end of May that they were doing so much business through takeout and delivery that they were on track to meet their original sales predictions. And yet more business didn’t translate to more staff: The 200-seat restaurant still employed fewer than half the workers it had before the pandemic.

While the city of Miami has allowed restaurants to operate their dining rooms at half capacity since May 27, this particular spot is remaining closed for dine-in service until its owners can offer their customers a more “on-brand” dining experience — meaning fun and easygoing — rather than a modified, cautious night out. As such, there is no work available for bartenders and servers.

The restaurant’s general manager, who asked that both her name and that of the restaurant remain anonymous because of the sensitivity surrounding hiring practices, says she’s able to offer these still-unemployed workers little more than daily check-ins and free food. She knows that other, fully reopened restaurants might end up offering them the jobs she cannot. “I found a lot of loyalty in the team we were able to build here,” she says. “Hopefully, we get them back.”

After the pandemic shut down dine-in service around the country in March, some 6 million restaurant industry workers lost their jobs. But as reopening gets underway, those 6 million people are not necessarily returning to work. Instead, many restaurants are facing significant obstacles to both rehiring existing workers and searching for new ones.

Many small, independent spots don’t yet have enough work to bring back their employees, particularly those in front-of-house positions. And restaurants that thrived doing only takeout and delivery — often chains with more than one location — are now increasing their staff, only to find that workers aren’t returning for a variety of reasons. Some are staying away because of health concerns or caretaking responsibilities; others are reluctant to resume minimum-wage, now possibly unsafe jobs that don’t pay as well as the combined income provided by their state unemployment benefits and the federal government’s weekly $600 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance check. Because of the extra federal assistance, two-thirds of eligible workers are making more than they did before the pandemic, according to a paper by economists at the University of Chicago.

Meanwhile, some restaurants are stuck in a catch-22 created by the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program. PPP loans turn into grants if they cover payroll or other specific expenses, but in order to have the loan forgiven, restaurants must rehire their employees, and many don’t have work for rehired employees to do.

Underlying the complex calculations around rehiring is demand, or lack thereof. “Restaurant employment will rebound slowly because demand will be far lower than normal, likely at 40 percent of normal,” says Andrew Stettner, an economist at the Century Foundation. But fears that recovery will be stymied by employees who choose to remain out of work are unfounded, he adds: “The pace of recovery will absolutely be driven by the level of demand, not unemployment benefits.”

The level of demand directly correlates with the pace of recovery at Xperience Restaurant Group (XRG), which operates a national chain of Mexican restaurants under nine brands, including El Torito, Las Brisas, and Chevys Fresh Mex. After the pandemic hit, XRG furloughed 80 percent of its employees. Those who remained helped its restaurants pivot quickly to takeout and delivery. As a result, the group’s takeout business more than doubled compared to last April, and it soon found itself trying to rehire a number of its employees. Between April 20 and June 1, the XRG career site posted more than 500 jobs; some were new positions, and some were vacancies left by former employees.

“We have already brought the bulk of those [furloughed] team members back, even at units that haven’t yet been cleared to reopen for dine-in business,” says Rosie Davenport, XRG’s vice president of marketing. But other employees have chosen not to return because of concerns about their health, she adds.

In Chicago, Michael Schultz, who runs the Fairgrounds Coffee chain and the hospitality group Infuse, says he has been “getting a lot of applicants, very talented people who typically otherwise wouldn’t be available.” As iconic restaurant groups have shuttered, he explains, “people who’ve planted their roots with them for successful careers — now they’re looking.” Although a few of his company’s employees told him they were making more money out of work, Schultz felt his applicant pool was big enough that he did not worry about replacing them. He is now hiring for 17 positions at Fairgrounds locations in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles, including team leads, prep cooks, and certified baristas.

Down in Nashville, Mary Pillow Thompson, the founder of the local restaurant hiring platform Foh&boh, has seen a similar movement. “There will be a lot of shifting around,” she says. “People saying, ‘Well, Jimmy wasn’t that great anyway, I’m happy to try to get someone better.’ And on the other side, candidates saying, ‘I’m going to try to get the job I always wanted instead of going back to my old place.’” Thompson has also noticed former truck drivers and construction workers signing up on her platform to look for jobs. “Before this, the people we were getting were industry professionals,” she says.

Unlike XRG and Fairgrounds, many American restaurants, especially smaller ones, did not enjoy a surprise business boom during the pandemic. And so as their states and cities reopen, their goal is simply to bring back enough former employees to support the level of business they’re able to do. But even that is not a straightforward process, given that they often lack human resources departments that can spearhead substantial hiring efforts.

At the Kansas City restaurant Fox and Pearl, chef Vaughn Good and his partner Kristine Hull had to furlough three-quarters of their 50 employees in March. Although the 130-seat bistro, which had previously made $10,000 a night, pivoted to selling groceries, family-style meals, and alcohol for pickup, “we were not busy,” says Good; sales sank to $1,000 a day. Good and Hull applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan to cover payroll when business picked up.

Things began to turn around after May 11, when Missouri restaurants were allowed to reopen their dining rooms under new safety regulations; on a recent Saturday, Fox and Pearl did 70 covers. That was enough for Good to rehire all the kitchen staff who wanted to return. But for Hull, who runs the front of house, scheduling servers has been harder than bringing back cooks, in part because of health concerns around interacting with diners.

“I didn’t want to force people,” she says. So far, enough servers have asked for the shifts Hull has needed to fill, even as the restaurant has expanded to half capacity per Kansas City guidelines and sales have followed suit, rising to 50 percent of the restaurant’s typical pre-pandemic revenues. The next phase, which Hull hopes will go into effect on July 5, would allow her to bring back everyone who wants to return, but she knows she may have to look for new hires. “Some of my staff has decided during the quarantine period to do other things,” Hull explains. “We have a couple that graduated college and are now pursuing careers, and some that have decided to shift their focus. I think that the slow reopening has allowed folks to make the decisions that work best for them both physically and financially.”

Even restaurant owners who appear busy say that they would rather make do with a smaller crew until they have a clearer idea of what the future holds. Since reopening under Florida state guidelines on May 13, Cafe Boulud Palm Beach, which is located in the Brazilian Court Hotel, has seen business in its main dining room jump back to the same level as it was this time last year. The restaurant seats about 120, and half of the tables are outside. General manager Lucian Vasile Puscasu has brought back about half of his 102 front- and back-of-house employees, a mix of part-time and full-time workers. That’s partly because the once-busy events business remains closed, and partly because summer is the off-season in Palm Beach. But it’s also because some employees did not want to come back.

“They declined to return for various reasons,” Puscasu says, “from finding better opportunities to not feeling comfortable about the possibility of exposing themselves or finding the unemployment benefit a better fit for now.” He expects to see more potential workers applying in the fall, after the pandemic unemployment benefits run out in July and the season starts up again.

For her part, Fox and Pearl’s Hull says she noticed a shift in conversation on the restaurant’s Slack (or chat room) channel at the beginning of June: Those who had felt unsure about returning to work last month seemed more eager for shifts in June. “A lot of people who were waiting through May are now saying they are ready if we need them,” Hull says.

Of course, legal frameworks also play a significant role in how people are brought back to work. If a restaurant doesn’t want to hire everyone back, they have to have “legitimate, non-discriminatory (and documented) reasons for why some folks were made offers and others weren’t,” hospitality attorney Jasmine Moy says over email. “For those that reject an offer to return to work, if the employer wants to include that person in their PPP headcount, they have to notify the state that such person was made and rejected an offer of employment, which will put the staff member in violation of the unemployment insurance requirements.”

Rejecting employment reflects the larger issue that many workers face as restaurants reopen: that of the calculus of staying home without pay versus returning to work and potentially risking their health. All the restaurants operators mentioned in this article say they are following regional safety guidelines to keep their employees healthy, including generous spacing between tables, rigorous cleaning practices, and the requirement that all employees and customers alike wear a mask. In addition, Fox and Pearl, Cafe Boulud, Fairgrounds, and the Miami restaurant are all providing masks to their employees. But regardless of the measures they’re taking, these operators also realize they can’t guarantee their employees won’t get sick if they return to work, which is why many say they understand the hesitation to take on shifts.

It remains to be seen whether post-COVID-19 restaurants will offer workers, especially servers, bartenders, and hosts, enough incentive to encourage loyalty to the industry. If front-of-house hospitality employees can’t find worthwhile work — meaning the opportunity to interact with customers and earn sufficient wages from both salary and tips, all while staying as safe as possible — there will likely be a reckoning.

“People have reprioritized their lives a lot,” says the Miami general manager who’s waiting to reopen until she has a better sense of the city’s new dining climate. “Right now we feel like a fulfillment center: You put the food in the bag and send it out the door.” If that continues to be the case, she adds, “then you have to find meaning in that new model. We’re in it because you provide a meaningful experience to your guests, and we have to see how we’ll do that going forward.”

As coronavirus cases spike, Texas, Florida, and Idaho are among the first states to restrict restaurants and bars a second time

As more states allow restaurants and bars to offer outdoor or limited capacity indoor, dining, the country has seen a massive spike in COVID-19 cases. It’s not quite a second wave — the first wave never ended — but the rising cases almost directly coincided with the reopening of businesses. Restaurants and bars have already been determined as particularly risky locales when it comes to the spread of COVID-19, both for customers and for service workers, and individual restaurants have already been shutting down when a case has been detected. But now, local and state governments are beginning to reimplement restrictions in an attempt to once again curb the spread.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that all bars across the state must close today at noon, and that on Monday, restaurants must revert to 50 percent capacity for indoor dining. This is a roll back from bars having been allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity, and restaurants at 75 percent. Bars will still be able to offer to-go cocktails. In Idaho, Ada County, which includes Boise, will also move back to Stage Three of reopening from Stage Four, which means bars and nightclubs must close, and while restaurants can continue dine-in service, bar tops in restaurants cannot operate. Since Stage Four began, 69 cases of coronavirus have been linked to people who visited bars in downtown Boise.

Florida, reporting record highs of coronavirus cases, is also shutting down on-site alcohol consumption at bars, effectively closing them, starting immediately. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation made the announcement on Twitter, but did not offer further guidance as to how bars were supposed to close. Three days ago, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the DBPR would be cracking down on bars that violated social distancing and capacity ordinances.

While being willing to implement restrictions in reaction to a surge in cases is promising, it may very well be too little too late, especially given that, in the case of Texas, moving from 75 to 50 percent capacity doesn’t seem like much. And the process of reopening and reclosing — rather than staying closed continually until the pandemic dies down — could wreak havoc on restaurants and bars. Reopening a restaurant is a huge cost to owners, especially considering the extra investment in specialized cleaning and protective gear for staff. If restaurants and bars are made to reduce capacity again, or shutter outright, the financial strain could close them for good.

Another detriment of the renewed closures are that employees might have to reapply for unemployment, a process that could take weeks, right as the extra $600 a week through the CARES Act is set to expire.

For months, scientists, workers, and anyone who takes time to read the coronavirus graphs have been screaming about how reopening was a bad, dangerous idea, especially given the first wave of COVID-19 never even died down. Much of this could have been avoided had everything stayed closed for longer, and had the federal and state governments implemented measures — canceling rent and mortgage payments, providing regular stipends — to keep business owners from feeling pressure to reopen. Instead, restaurants and bars are being thrown into a precarious situation where they may be forced to close again, with little warning or support.

But saying “WE TOLD YOU SO” isn’t going to stop the pandemic either. We can only hope these measures, and others that are likely to follow, will help.

Plus, goodbye to the Costco sheet cake, and more news to start your day

But for those that are open, fondue is questionably popular

Yesterday, Yelp released an Economic Impact Report, detailing the changes that restaurants, retail, and other industries have undergone because of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests. And for restaurants, it’s a dire outlook. According to Yelp, 53 percent of restaurants that were open on March 1 have since indicated permanent closures on their Yelp pages.

Of the 23,981 restaurants used in Yelp’s report, 47 percent have been labeled as temporarily closed. The report also shows that diners are eager to eat out as states encourage businesses to reopen, despite spiking COVID-19 cases. Strangely, shared food is what people are craving. Yelp names “fondue (up 123 percent), tapas bars (up 98 percent), hot pot (up 49 percent) and even buffets (up 17 percent)” as dining experiences making a comeback, while foods that were readily available through delivery and takeout — like pizza— aren’t as enticing.

Between a baffling PPP loan system, no cancelation of rent or mortgage payments, and the necessity that restaurants turn a profit while operating at half-capacity or through takeout only, it’s sadly unsurprising that 53 percent of Yelp’s restaurants have closed permanently. Those that remain open now face the risk of a second round of closures, as COVID-19 keeps spreading at an alarming rate.

And in other news...

• Kroger is ending hazard pay for its grocery workers, even though grocery work is still very hazardous. [ABC7]
• Costco is bringing back free samples, but is also ending the sale of its popular sheet cakes. [USA Today]
• A Starbucks customer tried to shame a barista on Facebook because he refused to serve her until she put on a mask. Now, that barista has gotten $22,000 in tips. [Insider]
• U.S. and UK ambassadors are now fighting over how to make tea, because of TikTok. [NBC]
• A food historian argues that the government should extend SNAP benefits, rather than make people endure the “the humiliation of lining up for food boxes.” [NYTimes]
• Conde Nast has suspended a Bon Appétit video editor, possibly because he was critical of the magazine online. [Business Insider]
• What if we talked about American foods the way the New York Times wrote about Southeast Asian fruit?

• All AM Intel Coverage [E]

Workers in Oakland, California, filed a lawsuit after allegedly being told to make masks out of coffee filters and dog diapers

Two recent court orders directed at McDonald’s restaurants represent partial victories for employees who seek to hold their employers legally accountable for keeping them safe from the coronavirus.

In Illinois, a Cook County judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering multiple McDonald’s locations in Chicago — including a franchisee, as well as a wholly-owned subsidiary operating corporate stores — to improve safety protocols for mask wearing, social distancing, and training, the Chicago Tribune reports. In response to workers’ and their live-in relatives’ public nuisance lawsuit, which alleged that McDonald’s failed to adequately protect them from the virus, judge Eve Reilly said that McDonald’s was not negligent and had taken measures to mitigate virus transmission, but that some locations were insufficiently enforcing mask policies and were training employees such that they believed they could stand within six feet of each other without masks, as long as they did so for less than 10 minutes.

“[T]he evidence shows that while McDonald’s has the right idea, it is not being put into practice exactly as McDonald’s envisioned, thus endangering public health,” Reilly wrote in the ruling issued on June 24. “The potential risk of harm to these Plaintiffs and the community at large is severe. It may very well be a matter of life or death to individuals who come in contact with these restaurants or employees of these restaurants on a regular, or even semi-regular basis, during the COVID-19 pandemic. And while there are many individuals who believe the pandemic is no longer a threat, science and medical research indicate otherwise. There is a long road to recovery for all of us.”

The prior day in California, an Alameda County judge granted a temporary court order requiring a McDonald’s franchisee in Oakland to adopt protective measures, such as employee temperature checks, social distancing policies, and providing sufficient masks and gloves, in order to reopen, Bloomberg Law reports. The restaurant in question made headlines last month for allegedly forcing sick employees to report to work, and for allegedly telling employees to make masks out of coffee filters and dog diapers (for your reference, this is a dog diaper). The workers, who started striking on May 26 and filed a lawsuit in mid-June, said that at least 23 people in the Bay Area became sick from this outbreak. The next hearing in this case falls on July 2, per Eater SF.

Fast-food and other service workers have faced increased risks on the job during the pandemic, often without adequate protections or hazard pay. While corporate giants like McDonald’s have been better equipped to issue standardized safety protocols and reopening guidelines — including a 59-page guide for franchisees, which make up the bulk of McDonald’s restaurants in the United States — enforcing such policies is a different matter, with heightened tensions between corporate management and franchisees over the cost of the increased safety demands. McDonald’s is not held responsible for how franchisees treat workers, the National Labor Relations Board ruled last December, but in the middle of a public health crisis, it would make sense for management to want to make sure franchisees fall in line with safety standards across the board. Eater has reached out to McDonald’s for comment; this post will be updated if more information comes in.

From cooking fat to freezer cake, these are the items that make cooking easier for Eater editors

For active home cooks or even those who generally dread the task, the freezer deserves credit for helping get dinner (or dessert) on the table. It’s a place that offers a wealth of shortcut meals and snacks, from exceptional frozen dumplings to nostalgic treats like tater tots. Frozen ingredients like chicken stock or marinara sauce can get a home cook most of the way to a finished meal. As long as people know the best way to store and defrost their freezer items, whether they’re cuts of meat or bagels, a freezer is undeniably an indispensable tool, during a pandemic and otherwise.

Here’s a roundup of the useful items Eater editors are most likely to keep hidden away in their freezers.

Cooking fat: Meat isn’t an everyday item in our house, so when we do cook with it, my partner and I like to save every last bit. That means saving the fat. Grease is one of those pesky residuals of cooking that’s harder to dispose of. It really shouldn’t go directly down the drain. Some people wait for it to cool in a container and then pour it in the garbage. However, I recommend saving that flavor. When you cook chicken, duck, bacon, or anything else particularly precious and tasty, save the drippings in a glass container and stick it in the freezer. Then use it in place of butter or oil in your cooking to impart more flavor. Duck fat is particularly tasty for cooking fried eggs at breakfast time. —Brenna Houck, Eater Detroit editor

Ice cube tray and ice cubes: The most important items in my freezer are my two ice cube trays and the ice they hold. Since shelter-in-place has coincided with my pregnancy, I’m drinking a lot of non-alcoholic beverages, each of which is greatly improved by being even colder. I make cheater iced almond milk lattes by stirring drip coffee with ice and then adding more ice and almond milk. I cool down cups of herbal tea I discover I’ve left on the counter and enjoy iced tea. I drink so much more tap water when I remember to put ice cubes in it. The trick: Refill your tray with water every time you take cubes from it. Just make it part of your routine and it’s never empty. —Hillary Dixler Canavan, restaurant editor

Frozen fruit: My biggest freezer staple is frozen fruit, mostly because I love a good smoothie. Great for breakfast or anytime you feel like you need a Vitamin C boost, the secret to a thick, filling smoothie is to use a fresh banana and frozen fruit without adding ice. I just buy the bags frozen from my local grocery store (even tropical fruits like pitaya are now pretty easy to find), but this is also a great way to store those final few strawberries before they go bad. Other uses of fruit in your freezer: cocktail ingredients, drink garnishes, a snack (especially frozen mango). —Erin Russell, Eater Austin associate editor

Dino nuggets: Why eat boring chicken nuggets when you can eat chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs? It may be childish, but I will never stop getting a kick out of dino nuggets. It’s an easy lunch on a hectic day; just toss them in the toaster oven. Flip once. I guess you could make a side salad if you’re feeling fancy. But the only required side, as far as I’m concerned, is a dipping sauce — ideally barbecue sauce from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que because (a) it’s good and (b) obviously dino nuggets go best with Dino sauce. —Rachel Leah Blumenthal, Eater Boston editor

Homemade gumbo: Gumbo is one of my favorite meals to make at home, but let’s be real; it’s a project, a cooking task that’s going to clock in at a couple hours before it’s done. Luckily, since there are only two of us at home, making gumbo always means gumbo leftovers, and I don’t think there’s a more satisfying freezer meal for me than a bowl of gumbo that I simply pulled out of the freezer (stored in a quart container) to defrost the night before in the fridge, and reheated for dinner that evening. Gumbo doesn’t really deteriorate significantly in the freezer; all you have to do is throw some rice in the rice cooker, and you have an easy weeknight dinner that totally makes up for all the effort you initially put into making a roux, simmering your ingredients, and just having patience for the gumbo to finish the first time around. —Missy Frederick, cities director

Frozen dinners from mom: Being far away from my family is hard, especially now that I don’t really know when I can safely go back home to New York. Thankfully, I usually have deep-frozen containers of my mother’s home-cooking in my freezer, from my last visit home. Whenever I fly home, my mother usually asks me what foods I want to bring back (my favorites: shrimp and potol, a Bengali pointed gourd; chicken with squash), along with biryani. My mom batch-cooks everything and my dad portions out the food into 16-ounce deli containers, labels each one, and carefully packs everything into a disposable cooler with ice packs, ready to be placed in my overstuffed suitcase. This way, I can hold onto tastes of home even though it’s 1,700+ miles away. —Nadia Chaudhury, Eater Austin editor

Banana ice cream: Forget cookies and cream or chocolate chip cookie dough. Banana is the best ice cream flavor, and I make sure to keep a half-gallon in my freezer at all times. Living in Newark, I’m lucky to be within walking distance of the scoop shop that makes it best: Nasto’s. I have three scoops after dinner every night, always with a drizzle of chocolate syrup, and it’s pure bliss. I understand that ice cream isn’t the most exciting thing in a freezer compared to frozen dumplings or mochi, but the flavor takes me back to sitting on my late grandmother’s balcony in Ankara, where we would split a bowl of fruit — mostly bananas — together. —Esra Erol, senior social media manager

Freezer cake: I don’t remember what life was like before I discovered Freezer Cake. I don’t care to look back on that era. There’s something special about knowing a slice of banana upside-down cake or a thick slab of banana bread is waiting there, whispering my name gently from the back corner of the freezer. In these not-very-sweet times, being able to eat a slice of cake without ever cracking an egg or dirtying a bowl feels like a victory. All you need to do is let whatever cake you’ve so wisely frozen defrost slowly on the counter. Because sometimes turning on the oven is just too much work. —Elazar Sontag, staff writer

Stock: The one thing I always try to have in my freezer is stock. Usually it’s chicken stock, either made from the carcass of a roast chicken or from a big pile of chicken wings I dumped in my Instant Pot, because so many recipes call for it, whether a little bit to help finish a sauce or several cups to make a soup or stew. Homemade stock tastes noticeably better, and since it’s easy to keep in the freezer, making up a big batch doesn’t risk any going to waste. To freeze stock, I measure it out into plastic baggies in rough one or two cup amounts, using a ladle with a half-cup measure on it, and then lie them flat in the freezer one on top of the other, so when they harden, they’re easy to stack. When I need to defrost, I zap a frozen bag for 30 seconds or a minute in the microwave and break off roughly as much as I need, or drop the whole cup or two into the pot. I have endured the shame of throwing out all sorts of things from my freezer, but I have never, ever wasted stock. —Meghan McCarron, special correspondent

Homemade pesto: My frozen secret weapon is an ice cube tray full of homemade pesto. Pesto sauce, to me, is a special thing. Basil is a precious, flavorful commodity that seems expensive if you don’t have a farmers market nearby, and it doesn’t stay for very long either. Pine nuts are also quite pricey, so when I do make a big batch from scratch, I make sure to make it last. Pesto is so flavorful that you don’t need to use a lot for any single dish. That’s where the ice cube tray comes in. Filling a tray with pesto and freezing it into cubes is a trick I learned long ago when Pinterest was new on the scene and basically church for those interested in recipe ideas and hacks. Popping out one or two cubes of pesto as needed is a great way to make use of the sauce you may have made months ago when basil was in season, without having to defrost an entire Tupperware. It’s such an easy and fast way to add flavor to a quick pasta dish, some beans, a sandwich of any kind, and even to make into a vinaigrette for a salad on the fly. —Terri Ciccone, audience development manager

Salted caramel ice cream: If it’s freezer junk food you seek, I present Lotus Biscoff Salted Caramel Ice Cream, something I started hoarding during the pandemic. I swear it’s the softest ice cream I’ve ever found. The instructions even recommend leaving it out for five minutes to soften before you dig in. There is a straight Biscoff cookie version, but I like the salted caramel mixed in. I buy it at Target, and do a search before I venture out to make sure it’s in stock. —Susan Stapleton, Eater Vegas editor

Honorable mentions: Fresh herbs frozen in ice cube trays, bags of pre-peeled garlic, brownies, Eggo waffles, tortellini, peas, pierogis, homemade marinara sauce, cooked beans, rice cakes for stir fries, cookie dough.