Outdoor dining can resume on Monday in SC. Will Hilton Head restaurants do it?
Nunzio Patruno won’t serve a $40 veal chop on a paper plate.
The owner of Nunzio Restaurant + Bar, a two-year-old Italian restaurant on Hilton Head Island’s south end, said he won’t open his restaurant for outdoor dining on Monday even after outdoor dining regulations were lifted Friday by S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster.
Recommendations from the S.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association this week suggested that South Carolina restaurants could safely reopen outdoor dining Monday using the same regulations placed on takeout and curbside in response to the coronavirus.
On Friday, McMaster announced he was lifting restrictions on outdoor dining and leaving the decisions on when to open to local restaurant owners. While the governor did not mandate restaurants use disposable plates and cutlery, Hilton Head Island restaurant managers are now determining how to serve their customers best.
And some say they’re not quite ready yet.
Patruno said that for his restaurant to open for outdoor dining, he’d have to deliver packaged takeout food to guests outside and then offer properly spaced tables on the outdoor patio, where they would eat food from containers with disposable cutlery. Servers wouldn’t work on the patio, but he’d place a trash can outside for guests to use.
“Personally I am going to pass on that,” Patruno said. “I don’t want to see people eating out of a container. It defeats the purpose of a dining experience.”
Patruno is teeming with nostalgia for the social dining experience.
The noted chef said he’ll be ready if and when McMaster allows indoor dining with proper social distance, but said “If I’m going to serve you a veal chop, I need to do it on a disposable plate. And I’m not going to do that.”
Environmentalism and disposable cutlery in Hilton Head restaurants?
As Hilton Head restaurant owners and their staff look toward changing norms, other issues are coming up.
Restaurants that plan to open soon for outdoor dining are shuddering at using disposable cutlery and plates, which some say go against the island’s focus on environmentalism.
“We’re making some changes that go against our core values in order to keep business coming through the door,” Hudson’s Seafood on the Docks owner Andrew Carmines said Friday. “We never want to use plastic knives, forks and spoons, but this is kind of forcing our hand.”
Carmines, whose restaurant switched to paper straws two years ago, may have to use plastic in the coming weeks because he said he can’t find individually wrapped paper straws.
But after several weeks of dismal business, the restaurant plans to open for outdoor dining as soon as possible.
When Hudson’s reopens, Carmines said, guests will place orders at the outdoor bar using single-use menus and have food delivered to their table on a disposable plate. He plans to separate tables on the docks by 10 feet and check staff members’ temperatures before the shift.
“Safety has to be the No. 1 priority, if you’re looking at it like that, it makes it a pretty easy decision,” he said of changing the restaurant’s layout. “The bottom line is trying to keep people safe.”
As all restaurant owners know, plans for reopening can change day to day if the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control or the governor issues new guidelines for safe food and beverage service.
Takeout and outdoor seating
Other restaurants on the island better suited to takeout are planning to stick with what they know when they reopen.
Lee Lucier, who owns and operates Local Pie in Bluffton and on Hilton Head, as well as FISH Coastal Casual Seafood, said it’s likely that his restaurants will continue serving takeout through a window or across the bar to maintain safety.
“Our food does carry out well, and we’ve been doing this the whole time,” he said. “I’m confident we can put out a great product in a to-go box or pizza box.”
Friday’s order did not mandate disposable serviceware, but some restaurant owners consider it to be safest.
“Single-use (products) are still the best vessel for safety at this point,” Lucier said.
While it’s difficult to find a restaurant on the island without outdoor seating, restaurant association chairman Bobby Williams told The State Newspaper that restaurants can create outdoor dining to “help with overall business and carryout business.”
“I personally believe outdoor dining should have never closed. I think it’s safe, you’re outside, beautiful sunshine, you’re spaced (out),” he added.
Other restaurant changes
The State Newspaper in Columbia reported that leaning on recommendations from the Restaurant Association, McMaster put in place the following guidelines for restaurants seeking to open outdoor seating:
- Spacing tables at least 8 feet apart
- Limiting groups to 8 people or fewer
- Eliminating gatherings in the building when entering or exiting outdoor seating area
- Maintaining strict social and physical distancing guidelines
- Sanitizing tables, chairs and seats after every customer.
The group also has asked the governor to allow indoor dining starting on May 18, giving restaurants time to rehire employees and order needed supplies and food, The State Newspaper reported.
However, McMaster did not address that issue with Friday’s order.
This story was originally published May 1, 2020 at 5:09 PM.
