Dinner with Bob

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Chef Pat Trama and son Dylan of Trama’s Trattoria, Long Branch and Trama’s at One Willow, Highlands. Trama’s Trattoria in Long Branch is currently offering takeout services.

By Bob Sacks

It wasn’t very long ago that we were able to run out to our favorite local restaurants with family or friends and enjoy a nice night out with a broad variety of choices served by a friendly waitperson. Yet now, after just a couple of weeks of being deprived of that privilege, it seems like it’s been ages.

The pleasure of sharing food and drink is a deeply ingrained American habit, but we must put that aside for the greater good and only eat our meals at home to protect ourselves and one another.

When our area was hit by Super Storm Sandy, it was a finite experience – when it was over, it was over. Sure, it took our beloved eateries some time to reopen and bounce back, but virtually all did. This time is very different. We have no idea yet when this silent invader will be vanquished and when it will be safe to be out and about in the company of others again. As much as we are feeling deprived and suffering from “house arrest,” the pain of the local restaurant owners and chefs is severe and palpable. Their business is one of long, hard hours, low profit margins, much stress and little if any opportunity to accumulate a cushion of cash in the bank to tide them over when an unforeseen disaster like this hits.

The time will come when we will be able to again enjoy the freedom of dining out that we previously took for granted, but if we want our cherished local to-go restaurants to survive, and be there for us, then we need to help them now. It’s time to support them in any way we can.

That thought led me to reach out to a select number of area restaurant owner/chefs and ask them what they were feeling at this time and what they were doing to ride out this nightmare.

Pat Trama, owner/chef of Trama’s Trattoria, Long Branch, and Trama’s at One Willow, Highlands, said that because there is so much uncertainty about the duration of this, “the unknown has become the most difficult part,” and he yearns to be able once again to “provide the simple service of a good meal.” In the interim, with son Dylan at the helm in the kitchen, Trama’s Trattoria offers contactless takeout services Wednesday through Sunday; the Tuscan-inspired menu, with many signature dishes, is posted daily on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

Victor Rallo, a partner in Undici and Surf BBQ, both Rumson, and Birravino, Red Bank, wondered, “Can you imagine a community with no restaurants? This may become the new normal. Unlike Sandy, this enemy is different… there is no timeline,” he said.

“We turned to takeout to survive,” said Rallo. “If anyone in our community can afford takeout, we need them to support their local restaurants, or the landscape will be much different when the United States is healthy again.”

“Each restaurant and food business is fighting to survive,” said Shuenn Yang, owner/chef of Yumi in Sea Bright and Red Bank. “We’re committed to doing whatever it takes to stay open for our neighbors, vendors, farms, customers and staff. We have communicated new protocols and policies to our team to ensure their safety and health and implemented precautions and guidelines for our customers,” Yang said. Both locations offer takeout with a full menu and daily specials.

Gabriella Varshavsky and Frank Brusco, co-owners of Gabriella’s Italian Steakhouse, Middletown, explained that, “in the case of restaurants, there is no ‘work from home.’ ”

“Our staff is our family. We had to lay off the majority of our staff and can only hope we can rehire those employees as soon as we are allowed to open for business as usual again, as it is our team that makes our restaurant what it is.” Gabriella’s offers curbside pickup, delivery via DoorDash and GrubHub, and even individually packaged cuts of meat from the iconic Pat Lafrieda, which allows customers to cook at home without having to brave the supermarket.

Paul Diomede, chef/owner of The Little Silver Fish Market and the adjacent Restaurant Diomede, said the market is taking phone orders out to customers’ cars, and the restaurant is doing takeout Thursday through Sunday.

“Our restaurant menu is challenging for takeout, since we make everything from scratch. Sauces to salad dressings, from garlic bread to the daily vegetable selection, nothing is premade, thus it takes longer, but we think it’s worth it,” he said.

“We are doing our best to keep as many employees working as possible,” Diomede said.

He sends “heartfelt prayers and love to those in our community and around the world whose health has been compromised by this crisis.”

It is readily apparent that we are fighting an economic crisis as well as a medical one. What can we do? We can observe and obey social distancing and practice good personal hygiene on the medical side.

On the economic side, we can thank and support all of our local restaurants, the vendors and delivery people who supply them, and those who deliver their food to us as well. They have taken superb care of us for years and now it’s our turn to ensure that they will be still be here to continue to do so after this disaster has passed.

Order takeout, buy gift cards. And do whatever else you can to keep these hard-working people afloat. Next week more chefs will share their thoughts.

Follow Bob Sacks, longtime food and wine buff, on Instagram @dinnerwithbob.

This article originally appeared in the April 2nd, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.