One of the things I’ve always treasured as a New Yorker is that, generally speaking, you have the ability to hide away or party and play as much or as little as you like. I can, as a solo person, spend days and days holed up in my apartment if I want to, but when I want the company of others—strangers and those familiar faces I love to see—I can head to one of the many places in my neighborhood that feel like another home for me. The elusive third place. I’ve written about a few of them before. There’s Toast, the old standby that’s been here longer than I have. There’s Bettolona, the Italian joint that finally broke the curse of its location with an owner that the whole neighborhood has a love affair with. The Craftsman, an Irish-backed health food/juice bar during the day and cocktail bar at night. And The Expat, the newest kid on my block that transformed an old bodega into a restaurant and bar that serves up tasty Asian fusion fare with elevated cocktails, beer, and wine at a reasonable price. And, of course, they all have people that make you feel like family when you’re there.
It was Expat that I chose to share my last night out with. I remember drinking wine and laughing with strangers and friends as we discussed the world around us and tested boundaries with each other—including memorably yelling at a man I didn’t know to NOT TOUCH ME CUZ OF COVID. I watched our bartender Carlito navigate making cocktails with gloves on and wondered what was truly going to come in the next days, weeks, and months and looking back now there’s no way that I could have prepared.
The following day I nursed my well-earned hangover so that I could get back to the office the next, knowing that the construction on either side of my apartment might continue forever.
But then I woke up with a sore throat on Monday, the 16th. It wound up being nothing, but I didn’t know it yet and I wasn’t going to risk the health of everyone else just so I could escape my noise prison. My boss asked if we could chat on the phone. She’d hoped to be able to have the conversation in person, but she had to let me know that all staff, myself included would be laid off immediately (with exception of managers and 2 cooks) since the city and state had ordered in-person dining to close until further notice. She asked if I would help out a couple of hours with social media and website updates as they navigated the next several months of confused messaging. Of course, I agreed.
