A South Miami restaurant tried serving ‘socially distant’ meals. ‘Haters shut us down’
Chef Brian Hill thought he tiptoed right up to the line when he offered a pair of diners a “socially distant” dinner for two at his new restaurant in a South Miami food hall.
Instead, police told him, he stepped over it.
The first-season “Top Chef” contestant opened Chef Brian Hill’s Comfort Kitchen in South Miami’s Yumbrella food hall, located at 5701 Sunset Dr., four days before Miami-Dade County closed all restaurant dining rooms to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Since then, he, like other restaurants still open, has relied on takeout and delivery through Uber Eats to sell his fried chicken sliders and boneless fried chicken and waffles. It’s a model restaurant owners have said is only a band-aid keeping them afloat. Many still await government help that has mostly eluded them.
Hill said he noticed walk-up customers, including some cyclists, picking up their orders and sitting at a nearby bench to eat. So he and his landlord, who also owns Killer Melts in the food hall and in Kendall, wondered whether they could serve people while staying within the rules. (The county has written that even outside seating areas are to be closed during the pandemic.)
They posted on social media that they intended to give away one date night each day.
They measured out 6 feet — the distance set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to slow the spread of the virus — and roped off a single outside table. While wearing gloves and masks, Hill and another server dropped the orders, inside plastic containers, at the end of the table, complete with plastic utensils.
“I like dining. I take three-hour lunches. ... I wanted people to feel special,” Hill said.
But in an Instagram video of the promotion, Hill pulls up his fabric face mask just before he serves. He reaches over the ropes and places the dishes within a couple of feet of the pair, who immediately reach to grab it.
It shows just how difficult — if not impossible — it is to serve at a restaurant while following guidelines recommended to keep the virus contained. A recent New York Times story described the challenges restaurants will face when they try to reopen.
Police were sent the social media video Tuesday, Yumbrella owner Steve Simon said, and they stopped the promotion. A short-lived post read “Haters shut us down.”
“I thought, ‘Why don’t we offer people a quarantine date….’ It was as safe as you can imagine,” Simon said. “I feel for people.”
Simon understands the limitations and said he is working on a new promotion: A special celebration for anyone who had a birthday during the pandemic — when restaurants are finally allowed to reopen.
“We all want to make certain people are safe,” Hill said.
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 5:58 PM.
