6 minute read
DIVERSIONS
about getting the vaccine. Ultimately she did so to protect the aunt she lives with, who is older and a cancer survivor: “You know what I do for a living, but it would be foolish not to take advantage of protecting the people around you.”
The Neighborhood Bar That Neighbors Discovered
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The timing of D.C.’s initial restaurant shutdown was terrible for an Adams Morgan bar that matches sports with Filipino sisig. “The biggest bunker for us was right before March Madness,” says The Game DC owner Jo-Jo Valenzuela. “For a sports bar, we were really looking forward to that. All those months that it was dead, we really counted on that to give us some money to pad the bank.”
Prior to the pandemic, Valenzuela says passersby overlooked his businesses that opened in February 2019. On top of the sports pub sits a tropical oasis called Tiki on 18th. “COVID-19 was indeed a blessing for us because beforehand, we were merely an industry place,” Valenzuela says. Bartenders and chefs occupied most of the stools. “We were also a destination place. People from New York and New Jersey came for our [Filipino] food.”
Once outdoor dining was allowed in late spring, Valenzuela set out tables and the foot traffic he was hankering for finally materialized. “When it was beautiful outside, we were always busy,” he says. “That kind of gave us hope. We’re pulling this off. … We have better numbers now than before COVID.”
But that doesn’t mean the bars didn’t have to overcome obstacles. To cut back on labor costs, Valenzuela says he was both the cook and the dishwasher for a number of months. While he’s worked in kitchens before and briefly ran a takeout place in the Philippines, Valenzuela is a bartender by trade. “Bartending is still harder,” he jokes. “You have to deal with personalities.”
Valenzuela and several of his family members also contracted the virus. “Mine started with a throat thing and body aches,” he says. His sense of taste was impacted. Staff members at the bars got it, too. “We had to shut down again and wait for all of us to be cleared.”
Operating in the rigorous conditions of a pandemic has given Valenzuela a fresh perspective. “What this did for the whole industry is made everybody work more efficiently,” he says. “What I have done differently and will do differently moving forward is not be too ambitious. I’ve always been an overachiever. I like to do things more complicated than what they should be. Now it’s more about efficiency. You’re giving up a lot of passion to survive nowadays.”
restaurant here than in Switzerland. Takeout hasn’t been a lifeline there because it isn’t entrenched in their food culture, according to Kraemer. Stable had never experimented with to-go food, fearing that staple dishes wouldn’t travel well. The cozy restaurant is at its best in the winter when diners huddle around bubbling fondue pots. But after adjusting its menu in March 2020, the H Street NE restaurant gave takeout a try. The staff had to because it’s all the city allowed. Stable’s entry into to-go food was the start of the restaurant’s yearlong experimentation with employing new strategies to stay afloat. Summer is Stable’s slowest season, and Kraemer wasn’t sure if it was worthwhile to try to secure a streatery for outdoor dining. Then a neighboring business—Gallery O on H—approached the restaurant to see if Stable wanted to commandeer the patio. Fritsche and Kraemer got to work building a seafood shack serving crabs and oysters. Pier 1354 opened in August. “It gave us the “I was concerned opportunity to do something totally about my staff and different without sacrificing the brand,” their families. Many live Kraemer says. “It was good from a PR in multigenerational standpoint and it households. We don’t allowed us to bring everyone back who want to kill grandma wanted to come back [on staff].” (In the trying to catch a dollar.” early months of the pandemic, the owners ran the business by themselves like many restaurants in the region.) “It wasn’t a money-maker, but it was good for everyone’s sanity.” When fall weather blew in, the owners regrouped again. “Silvan and myself were like ‘Fuck, I don’t know what to do,’” Fritsche says. “We sat at the bar, pounded beers, and brainstormed. Why don’t we build chalets? That’s what Switzerland is all about!” The indoor chalets were ready for business in November and booked up immediately. “It was so good to see people in the restaurant again,” Fritsche says. “Hearing the pots and pans, broken glass, cutlery. It was kind of normal again.” But then the District instituted a new indoor dining ban in anticipation of a holiday spike in COVID-19 cases. It lasted from Dec. 23 through Jan. 22. Kraemer called the move “a big slap in the face” because they had to cancel diners’ Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve reservations. Employees were looking forward to making money. Stable also built a streatery, but the holidays were rainy. Stable received a PPP loan and a microgrant from the city, but Fritsche says they’re positioned to cross the finish line because of their willingness to adapt. “I always tell people if you survived this pandemic and you didn’t learn something, you did something wrong,” The Center of Swiss Innovation Fritsche says. “You really rip your numbers
Stable owners David Fritsche and Silvan apart and go down to the bare bones to figure Kraemer, say they’re better off running a out where you can save.”
No And In Sight
By Brendan Emmett Quigley
Across 1. Job for a nearly retired Ranger, maybe 6. Ninny 10. Pulls back 14. Land ruled by Pontius Pilate 15. Creole veggie 16. “Minari” star ___ S. Kim 17. Very tiny candy? 19. Large Asian desert 20. Stinky 21. Easy-to-swallow pill 23. Hurt boxer’s cry? 26. Ex follower 27. Like many a charitable race 28. Butcher’s tool 30. Turkish tender 31. Third number in the Fibonacci sequence 34. “Boy howdy!” 35. Scrunch up a necklace? 37. Crime scene investigators: Abbr. 38. “Hot Buttered Soul” soul man 39. Imperfections airbrushed from yearbook photos 40. Noise that ensures a vault is secure? 42. “___ Don’t Lose That Number” 43. Hilton Hotels subsidiary 44. Programmer’s creation 45. Sprang (up), as tears 46. Brings home, as some cash crops 48. Launch, as a softball question 49. It might be named after a political happening 50. Handouts at some 27-Acrosses 52. Place to debate 54. Saint Exupéry Airport city 55. Do some polling on candidates least likely to win? 60. Masterwork 61. A pop 62. Show advertiser 63. Left on the map 64. Some breads 65. Like dive bars Down 1. Record players 2. “What’s that?” 3. [Points to self, raises hand] “Me!” 4. Foam toy company 5. ___ drug 6. “Station to Station” singer 7. Approved 8. It’s mined, all mined 9. Young women who pick things up around home? 10. USA symbol 11. NFL lineman’s job? 12. Cake with rum and currants 13. Make delicate cuts 18. It borders Hades 22. Med mission 23. Surrounded by 24. You might get one with embarrassment or from a sunburn 25. Skip meals and have a bad attitude about it? 27. Sent in, as one’s taxes 29. Zap in defense 30. Actress KiKi of “Coming 2 America” 32. Flirt 33. Upstate New York people 35. Modem units 36. Hard rain 38. Baller 41. “Leave me alone!” 42. Snubs 45. Toil at it 47. Young’s accounting partner 48. Scottish bodies of water 50. Taking one’s time 51. PR goal 52. Look directly at 53. Fitbit measurement 56. Light beam 57. Here’s looking at you, kid 58. Did a tour? 59. Towel off
