It was a whim stop. Driving through Winter Park’s Hannibal Square, my companion and I spotted an isolated table outside Café Frustos Selectos, more commonly known as CFS Coffee. It was brunchtime, Sunday, and we were weary of takeout. So we took a chance on dining onsite.
But there being no table service, we did have to go inside to order our food (which we preselected from a paper menu outside the front door.
As COVID-19 numbers increase throughout the state, restaurant owners are learning that staff or customers or both have potentially brought the coronavirus inside their newly reopened dining rooms. The responsible ones are choosing to close for deep cleaning and full-staff testing. Some, according to anonymous and unverified reports, choose to continue with business as usual.
Among those that have reclosed, most have indicated that when they are cleared to reopen, they will go back to offering only takeout and delivery. They seem to think it was too soon to start offering on-premises dining.
I’m staying with takeout, for the more part, too. So let’s go over some things to consider when ordering takeout or delivery.
Vanbarry’s Public House, on a hill above Orange Avenue overlooking Lake Jennie Jewel, has always been a pleasant place to sit, especially with its beachy atmosphere. And it might be a good choice for those looking to transition to onsite dining – it has lots of outside seating and the indoor dining area feels like it’s outside, thanks to open walls that give good circulation.
But if you’re like me and still hesitant about venturing out, the food is takeout worthy; you just have to provide your own beachside mien.
How does Whiskey Bar George sound?
Wine Bar George, the Disney Springs restaurant and grape juice outlet owned and operated by master sommelier Geroge Miliotes, has added a signature whiskey to its portfolio: Hooten Young American Whiskey.
The whiskey is being distributed by Hooten Young Wine and Sprits, a local company that was previously known mostly for cigars. It’s owned by Tim Young and Norm Hooten, the latter a former special operations soldier with the singular distinction of having been portrayed by Eric Bana in the movie Black Hawk Down.
After closing his restaurant on Wednesday so that all staff members could be tested for COVID-19, Denny Tornatore, owner of Tornatore’s Cafe & Pizzeria, announced that enough staff results have come back – all negative – to begin serving again. The popular College Park restaurant will open Saturday at 4 p.m.
However, Tornatore said in an email message that he would go back to offering only takeout and delivery for the foreseeable future; the dining room will remain closed. As more staff members get their test results, they will be added back on to the work roster.
One important thing for customers to know: Tornatore’s staffers will be making food deliveries themselves rather than relying on third-party services. Companies like UberEats and Grubhub typically charge up to a 30 percent fee on the cost of an order, even those that offer “free delivery” to the consumer.
(A special dispensation championed by state representative Anna Eskamani allows restaurant workers to deliver food under their standard auto insurance coverage with approval from their insurer.)
“We will reopen doing [for] togo and delivery only for the near future,” Tornatore’s Facebook page announced, “until this spike in cases calms down. We will go the extra mile as normal to insure safety. The decision to close definitely cost us financially, especially during an already trying time, but it was the right thing to do.”
The note adds: “Please be safe. Wear a mask when you go out. We will get through this.”
