NYC Wants You To Follow These Guidelines if You Choose to Dine Indoors

Dining rooms are open, but that doesn't mean you can let your guard down.

By kyler alvord

Published on 18/02/2021 at 05:32 PM

After nearly two months of closure, Gov. Andrew Cuomo allowed New York City restaurants to resume indoor dining services on February 12. While the hospitality industry desperately needs the extra revenue-a recent survey revealed that 92% of NYC restaurants couldn’t afford rent in December-there’s still widespread fear that Cuomo’s decision will create another spike in COVID-19 cases, which have steadily declined since early January.

“With indoor dining back at 25 percent, we want to focus on the right way to go about it,” said NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio during a press conference Wednesday. “We also want to focus on the right way to protect the folks who work there, we owe it to them to protect their safety.”

In an effort to help reduce the risk of eating indoors, NYC officials just released the following safety guidelines that diners should follow before, during, and after visiting a restaurant.

MORE: NYC Restaurant Workers Can Now Get the COVID-19 Vaccine

Before You Go Out

1. Limit the size of your group.
Keep your party to four or fewer people, and only invite members of your household or immediate bubble.

2. Confirm that nobody has symptoms.
If anyone in your group is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, or has recently been exposed to someone with the coronavirus, delay your outing until everyone’s in the clear. What’s the rush?

3. Get tested.
Encourage everyone in your group to get tested. Free, rapid testing is widely available. Find the most convenient testing site here.

At the Restaurant

4. Make sure the restaurant is taking precautions.
To ensure a safe experience, see that the restaurant is following protocol before getting seated. That means it’s not too crowded, employees are correctly and consistently wearing face covers, tables are spaced at least 6 feet apart, and there are no self-serve buffet areas.

5. Wear your face cover whenever you can.
Wear it when you arrive, wear it when you are seated, wear it whenever staff members approach the table. Only take your face cover off when you are actively eating or drinking.

6. Wash your hands.
Before you eat, after you use the bathroom, just because… wash your hands frequently and thoroughly.

7. Keep your distance from other diners.
Stay at your table whenever possible to maintain social distance between you and other guests.

After You Dine

8. Keep a record of your excursion.
Take notes of where you went, when you went, and who you went with. If you test positive later on, you can report these details to your contact tracer and help them alert anyone else who may have been exposed.

9. Get COVID tested regularly.
Even if you don’t have symptoms, NYC officials now recommend getting tested for COVID-19 at least once per month. Testing sites are easy to track down on nyc.gov/COVIDtest.

Following each of these steps may sound tedious, but considering what’s at stake, they’re important guidelines to follow. Here’s to hoping we achieve herd immunity soon.

Kyler Alvord is a news writer at Thrillist. Find him on Twitter and Instagram. Or don’t. It’s really up to you.

New York

Scavenge for Peeps Cookies and More Fun Treats in NYC This Easter

The best Easter desserts in NYC this spring include Easter Bunny Churros and Carrot Cake Macarons.

By alaina cintron

Published on 03/04/2023 at 09:05

As spring makes its way through New York City, not only do we get to enjoy beautiful weather, stunning cherry blossoms, and cool activities priced at $Free.99, but it’s also the perfect time for some limited-edition desserts.

With Easter fast approaching, bakeries are filling their shops with tons of chocolate eggs, carrot cake-flavoured everything and all types of flavours that offer both nostalgia and innovation within the city’s dessert landscape. After you’ve picked up a cake from the city’s best new bakeries, from Easter Bunny Churros to Carrot Cake Macarons, here are 8 Easter desserts to try in NYC right now.

Magnolia Bakery

Throughout April
Various locations
There’s great news for devotees of Magnolia Bakery’s Classic Banana Pudding: For Easter, the spot is mixing up the iconic dessert’s vanilla pudding with some carrot cake. The Carrot Cake Pudding is filled with freshly grated carrots, coconuts, pineapples, raisins, and walnuts. And if both bananas and carrots aren’t your thing, they’ll be offering their Classic Vanilla Cupcakes in pastel colours with a Cadbury chocolate egg hidden inside.

Funny Face Bakery

Through Easter Sunday
NoHo and Seaport
Known for their celebrity face and meme-worthy decorated cookies, fans of Funny Face Bakery know that a new fun design is always just around the corner. For Easter, they’ve created the adorable Hoppy Easter decorated cookie that resembles a classic box of marshmallow Peeps. Along with that, they also have the return of their fan-favourite Caramel Pretzel Chip cookie flavour, plus a set of three mini-decorated cookies perfect for gifting.

The Doughnut Project

Friday, April 7 through Easter Sunday
West Village
With the ever-changing flavours at The Doughnut Project, it’s super easy to miss out on trying out a new debut. But this Easter weekend, there will be two new flavours available. One is of course, a carrot cake doughnut topped with a cream cheese glaze, and the other is known as the Doughnut Nest-a French cruller “nest” with a cream-filled doughnut hole “egg” in the centre.

The Fragile Flour

Wednesday, April 5 through Easter Sunday
East Village
For stellar vegan desserts this holiday, head to The Fragile Flour, a plant-based bakery and dessert wine bar. They’re known for going all out for each holiday with a variety of new pastry options that you can pair perfectly with a glass of wine. This Easter, they’ll have a whole dessert menu that’s both delicious and gorgeous for posting on IG. The menu includes Stuffed Carrot Cake Cookies, a Lemon Cake (whole or by the slice), some festive cupcakes, and specialty macarons.

Kreuther Handcrafted Chocolate

Through mid April
Midtown
For a luxurious take on Easter chocolates, browse the selections available at Kreuther Handcrafted Chocolate. You can even pick the Easter Signature Chef’s Selection for a special box curated by award-winning chefs. For something other than chocolate, choose between the Carrot Cake Macarons or the cake flavored Easter Marshmallow Trio, both of which are almost too cute to eat.

La Churreria

Throughout April
Nolita
This churro-centric spot is putting the cutest Easter spin on their crispy cinnamon churros by twisting them up into bunnies and bunny ears. At Churreria, choose from a Bunny Churro Lollipop topped with your choice of chocolate or dulce de leche and sprinkles, or the bunny ear churros in the Ube and Matcha ice cream sundae or the Ube Milkshake, both of which are made with ice cream from il laboratorio del gelato.

Lafayette

Throughout April
NoHo
You’ve surely seen this croissant tons of times while scrolling through IG or TikTok, whether it’s the Pain au Chocolat one or the latest of the month. Known as Suprêmes, these filled croissants went viral and continue to live up to the hype each time a new flavour comes out. April’s flavour-sour cherry amaretto with a Luxardo custard and toasted almonds. While you’ll have to be super early and wait in line during one of their three drops of the day to get a taste, we promise you it’ll be worth it.

Levain

Seasonal
Various locations
We all know the iconic cookies from Levain-they’re gigantic, perfectly crispy and chewy, and well worth the long lines. For spring, the shop is launching a new flavour: Caramel Coconut Chocolate Chip. Filled with gooey caramel chips, fresh shredded coconut, and melty dark chocolate, it’s one you’ve got to try while it’s still around. To further celebrate the new season, all of Levain’s storefronts will be decked out in spring floral displays, serving as the perfect backdrop for pictures.

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Alaina Cintron is an Editorial Assistant at Thrillist. Her work can also be found in Westchester Magazine, Girls’ Life, and Spoon University. When she’s not at her desk typing away, you can find her exploring a local coffee shop or baking a new recipe.