Have a Drink in New York Without Ordering Food

Jorma Kaukonen at City Winery on April 22; 
City Winery offers a robust menu and encourages contactless ordering

If the New York State Legislature gets its way, restaurants and bars will be able to serve alcoholic drinks without an accompanying food order. This announcement could be revealed in just a few days, according to the New York State Restaurant Association (NYSRA) and the New York City Hospitality Alliance.

The June 2020 mandate for restaurants and bars to serve food with alcoholic drinks was an attempt by the state to encourage table seating and discourage loitering. A year ago, the government was encouraging citizens to stay home; a year later the government increasingly encourages its citizens to get out and revive the economy. As bars and music venues reopened last summer, the venues that previously did not serve food had to either move with the mandate or remain closed. Those that did serve food have made changes with the new times.

City Winery NY, for instance, has had a robust menu since first opening at its original location in 2008; the music venue adapted to the times and is encouraging contactless ordering whereby customers scan the QR code assigned to each table. The 11th St. Bar, which went from five nights of music per week to one night, has a much more limited menu, presently featuring five items. The 60-year-old Bitter End had to reintroduce a food menu after approximately 40 years without food. The Anyway Café, the Corner Bistro, Groove, the Red Lion, Rue-B and other music venues that built curbside sheds last summer now serve food both indoors and outdoors. Baby Brasa, which was an entirely indoor venue prior to the pandemic, is now an exclusively outdoor music venue and restaurant.

Several music bar owners found inventive ways to follow the Covid-era guidelines and restart their businesses. Marshall Stack, one of New York City's first bars to open and present live music, began giving free cheese sandwiches with drink orders. Although the Bowery Electric did not present live music to live audiences until April 2, several months ago the venue gave its outdoor customers complimentary cheese platters with their drink orders. Similar stories abounded all over town, for instance the undisclosed venue that reportedly charged an extra dollar and handed the customer a hot dog with each drink purchase.

Shepard the Breeze at the Bitter End on April 17; when the 60-year-old venue reopened on April 9,
it reintroduced a menu after some 40 years without food service

"We're encouraged by the news that the State Legislature plans to eliminate the burdensome mandate that food be purchased with alcohol," NYSRA President and CEO Melissa Fleischut posted on social media today. "This will singlehandedly boost the bottom line for restaurants and bars all over the state, and many have yet to reopen because of this specific requirement. While this is a win for the industry, and one that the New York State Restaurant Association has been pushing for months, this is just one step. Let’s work together to create a plan that details full reopening."

As the vaccinations became increasingly available and the infection rate stabilized, the governor began relaxing many of the strict guidelines he imposed on restaurants early in the pandemic. In recent weeks, he expanded indoor dining capacity for New York City restaurants from 35 to 50 percent and extended the curfew for bars and restaurants from 11 p.m. to midnight. Groups like the NYSRA and the NYC Hospitality Alliance continue lobbying for a return to pre-Covid normalization.

"This repeal is common sense and is a step in the right direction," reads the website for the NYC Hospitality Alliance, "but we need to also responsibly loosen other business restrictions like removing the ban on barstools that prohibits customers from sitting at a bar, and modify the midnight curfew, which pushes people from regulated restaurants and bars into unregulated homes and underground events."

The 11th St. Bar featured the Irish Seisiun on Sunday evenings; the menu consists of five items

During a press conference yesterday, a reporter asked the governor about the science behind the restaurant and bar curfew. Cuomo responded that "national experts will say that it is a source of spread and one of the more significant sources of spread…41 people died yesterday…You can’t just dismiss that, we’re not past it."

"Curfew restrictions on restaurants are not based on facts," Fleischut responded in a press statement yesterday. "We have yet to see data confirming that a restaurant staying open later at night is riskier than an afternoon. It's time to remove these arbitrary restrictions." She concluded by saying, "any suggestion that the hospitality sector had anything to do with the 41 COVID-19 deaths that the state reported from yesterday is misleading and irresponsible."

Axel Barragan (second from right) performs at Rue-B on Sundays;
Rue-B has a complete menu and serves both indoors and outdoors

In other news, Governor Cuomo announced today that the maximum capacity at outdoor stadiums across New York will increase from 20 percent to 33 percent as of May 19. This will be a boon to sporting events, but the percentage is too low for concerts. The one announced stadium concert, starring Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Poison, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts at Citi Field on July 15, was postponed last summer. Originally booked with the expectation of 100 percent capacity, it remains to be seen if the concert will happen if the state government does not increase the capacity limitation significantly.

If the concert does happen, ticketholders will need to wear masks. Though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today announced that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear a mask when they are outdoors, this does not apply to large gatherings such as concerts, sporting events or parades. The contradiction is that the stadium owners may require the wearing of masks, but they also want ticketholders to purchase food and drinks.

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The Manhattan Beat covers New York City's live music developments as they happen. For a list of Manhattan venues that are presenting live music regularly, swing the desktop cursor to the right and click on the pop-up tab "Where to Find Live Music." For a listing of this month's upcoming live concerts for live audiences, visit The Manhattan Beat's calendar.