Triangle restaurants grapple with New Year’s Eve plans amid yet another COVID surge
Sitting in a long procession of cars at a COVID-19 testing site Thursday morning, Jimmy Kim watched with dismay as a car cut in line.
Kim, the owner of Cucciolo Terrazza, made the call Wednesday to close his new Raleigh restaurant through the new year, amid the spike in local cases and a positive case on staff. That decision meant losing numerous reservations for New Year’s Eve dinners, but Kim said it was a straightforward, if costly, choice to make.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but the safety of staff members and guests is more important than a few days of service,” Kim said.
In the days leading up to New Year’s Eve, one of the year’s biggest dining out holidays, restaurants are grappling with the latest wrinkle of the coronavirus pandemic.
The omicron and delta variants, combined with holiday gatherings, have led to a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, prompting a cascade of closings this week. Numerous restaurants are waiting on test results for staff members, uncertain whether they can open.
Some went ahead and packed it in for the year with many restaurants calling off New Year’s Eve plans. Chapel Hill’s Hawthorne and Wood announced the surge had convinced owners to close through the end of the year, while popular bars like Durham’s Kotuku Surf Club and Raleigh’s Person Street Bar called off Friday night events.
Cucciolo Terrazza will stay closed through Jan. 3, forcing it to miss out on its first New Year’s Eve service, Kim said. Its sister restaurant in Durham, Cucciolo Osteria, will serve New Year’s Eve diners, then take a week-long break.
“We were booked pretty full for the last three days of the year,” Kim said. “We’re hoping this is the beginning of the end.”
Two years of spikes and valleys, good times and grim have left restaurants and diners in a somewhat numb space for the holidays, Kim said. But the latest surge of cases, expected to rival last year’s post-holiday spike, is a wake-up call.
“People in general are acting oblivious to COVID,” Kim said. “In the beginning we didn’t know what this was and everyone freaked out. Now people are just tired, we’ve had some better times and now this bigger spread hits. I think the spread is much bigger than most people realize; it’s just staggering.”
Test results prompt uncertainty
For some bars and restaurants, a new kind of limbo has emerged this week, as testing demand and delays have left some spots uncertain if they can open on a shift-to-shift basis.
Downtown Cary’s popular cocktail bar Sidebar canceled service Wednesday while awaiting test results. Owner Matthew Bettinger said this latest spike appears more prevalent, but that it’s a dance restaurants and bars have become all too familiar with.
“We’ve all been through this a couple times now,” Bettinger said. “We’re not going to fight it, if we need to miss a day or miss two days awaiting test results, we’ll take that time. I’m not going to increase the risk or increase the workload on available staff. Your employees are your biggest assets.”
Durham’s NanaSteak closed Tuesday and Wednesday waiting on test results for staff members, but expects to reopen Thursday and Friday. Co-owner Graham Weddington said the recent surge has led to a number of reservation cancellations for New Year’s Eve, but that the warm weather offers some relief for wary diners.
“We were outdoors only from August 2020 to April 2021,” Weddington said. “It’s been a warm winter so we’ve been able to have a robust outdoor section. We may push more of the bar tables outdoors.
Situated next to the Durham Performing Arts Center, NanaSteak is one of the city’s most popular pre-show dinner options. While DPAC is open and busy, Weddington said steady theater traffic is a pleasure that still feels distant.
“Someone asked me the other day if I’m excited about ‘Hamilton,’ which opens in May,” Weddington said. “How can I think about May? I can barely think about this week.... We just have to be ready to adjust to when new things happen and new data is available. The only thing we want to do is be as safe as we can be.”
