‘It’s nice to have people back’ Restaurants in DuPage, western Cook counties welcome return of indoor dining

When Olivia Stepanek opened the doors of Egg Harbor Cafe in Downers Grove Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m., a customer was right there waiting for her.

Talk about a sight for sore eyes.

It’s been three months since restaurants around DuPage County could welcome patrons, but the wait is over. Region 8, which includes DuPage and Kane counties, officially moved to Tier 1 of the state’s mitigation level on Tuesday, meaning restaurants could reopen for limited indoor dining. They followed restaurants in suburban Cook County – Region 10 – which moved to Tier 1 on Saturday.

“It’s definitely a feeling of excitement,” said Stepanek, the manager at Egg Harbor Cafe. “It was nice seeing people in our place again. A lot of our customers treat us like family.”

It’s not completely back to normal yet, though.

Under Tier 1 restrictions, restaurants are limited to 25% capacity or 25 people, whichever is fewer. Tables must be six feet apart, and indoor service reservations are limited to two-hour maximum duration and a maximum of four persons per party.

Stepanek, who reported that business Tuesday was “pretty good,” “here and there” because of the snow, will take it.

While some restaurants in DuPage County and throughout the state chose to ignore the governor’s indoor dining ban, Egg Harbor Cafe has limited itself to online and over the phone carryout orders since October.

“We’ve been doing about half the business of what we usually do,” Stepanek said. “We’re not 100% back to our regular ways; being able to interact with customers was probably the best thing to happen to us. Seeing regular customers rather than just seeing their order come through, being able to speak to them again and socialize, it’s a lot of excitement.”

Palmer Place in La Grange was never completely closed, said co-owner Phil Palmer, as it had outdoor dining in the winter months through heated tents. Palmer Place had a maximum capacity of 160 outdoors with four heaters, and perked things up with a television and Christmas lights.

Still, it was good to come in out of the cold Saturday.

“It’s certainly much easier to be all inside,” Palmer said. “I know the customers appreciate that, even though the tent is warm.”

While Palmer Place has received plenty of calls from diners asking if the restaurant is ready for indoor dining, Palmer said there is still a hesitancy from other customers about eating out.

“And for good reason they’re careful about going out, and limit going out and whatnot,” Palmer said. “We’re certainly not at anywhere near full capacity and full business but we look forward to whenever it happens.”

Palmer Place’s maximum seating inside, if every table is filled, is just over 200 people, but “we’re about half that” right now, Palmer said.

“Things have changed. Our carryout business is probably as close to as strong as the dine-in business,” Palmer said. “It was at 10 to 20% before, and now it is rivaling 50% of our business. The way peopled are accustomed to doing things, ordering patterns, everything is turned on its head.”

At Los Corrales in Berwyn, the restaurant is adhering to protocols spacing tables six feet apart, and requiring diners to wear facial coverings when they leave the table to go to the bathroom or go outside.

Los Corrales kept up business the last three months through pickups and delivers with Uber Eats, Door Dash and Grubhub, but on Saturday happily touted on its Facebook page that they were open for dine in, “waiting for you.”

“It’s a big difference. We sell more with the dining than pickup and delivery,” said manager Manny Martinez, who said that the restaurant was busy Saturday and Sunday, but slower the last two days, which is typical. “Everybody is happy that we are open. A lot of people were waiting for it.”

Egg Harbor Cafe has put in several safety measures in light of COVID-19, including iWave air purifying technology, plexiglass booth dividers and no- contact payment options. Stepanek said they’ve done a lot of deep cleaning to keep people as safe as possible as the restaurant’s regulars anxiously awaited the reopening.

“We can say, honestly, that we have customers who come in daily, weekly, monthly. We have a good set of regular customers,” Stepanek said. “Our Cook County locations opened first. We had an idea we’d be open soon.”

Palmer Place first closed its doors because of the pandemic on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, its biggest day of the year, but was able to reopen May 29 for summertime. The La Grange restaurant had a surge in staff that was needed, and was able to get a Paycheck Protection Program loan to keep people employed.

“Now we’re trying to get more servers that have been away for a while,” Palmer said. “Hopefully they’re ready to come back when more indoor dining is available.”