Calls to Remove New York’s 10 p.m. Dining Curfew Amplify Ahead of the Super Bowl

New York restaurant groups call on Cuomo to lift the state’s dining curfew

Heavyweight restaurant industry groups in New York — including the NYC Hospitality Alliance, the Empire State Tavern Association, and the New York State Restaurant Association — are calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to lift New York’s 10 p.m. dining curfew ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday, amplifying earlier pressure by NYC restaurant owners for the same action.

The Empire State Tavern Association, which represents over 3,000 establishments in the state, is advocating for a pilot program to extend operating hours until 12 a.m. on Sunday in an effort to demonstrate that the same COVID-19 health safety compliance can be met in later hours, while allowing restaurateurs to add an extra table turn to service, the New York Post reports. The NYC Hospitality Alliance and the New York State Restaurant Association have made similar calls to lift the curfew, with Alliance executive director Andrew Rigie arguing that the curfew on Super Bowl Sunday will only drive more people to gather at unregulated home parties.

Cuomo first instated New York’s dining curfew in mid-November. At the time, Cuomo said that the curfew was put in place in part to discourage people from neighboring states with dining curfews — including New Jersey and Connecticut — from crossing state lines to eat later in New York and potentially contributing to COVID-19 spread. But now, New York’s 10 p.m. curfew is an outlier. Connecticut extended its dining curfew to 11 p.m. this week, and New Jersey and Massachusetts have both removed their dining curfews altogether.

In other news

— Dylan’s Candy Bar is getting sued by one of its landlords, which claims that the candy shop owes $200,000 in unpaid rent at its Upper East Side corporate office, according to the Real Deal.

— Restaurant After Hours, an organization founded to offer mental health support to hospitality workers, is hosting a free support group for staffers over Zoom on Tuesday nights for the next twelve weeks, from February through April. The first meeting is scheduled for February 9 at 6 p.m.; registration information is available here.

— A lawn care company (?) did an in-depth study on pizza businesses across the U.S. and found that NYC is the best spot to live for pizza lovers, based on key metrics including amount of pizza options, pizza price ranges, search interest in “pizza delivery,” and Instagram popularity of the pizza shops.

— Ramen master Ivan Ramen, who has two restaurants in NYC, is coming to Texas in a partnership with Flagship Restaurant Group. Starting February 18, diners in Fort Worth can order noodle soups, pork buns, and more from Blue Sushi Sake Grill, which will also offer takeout and delivery when it opens another location in Dallas later in March.

— Regional Chinese noodle spot Noodle Edition in Midtown — showcasing items like tingly pork noodles from Chengdu and beef offal noodles from Xinjiang — is a “deeply satisfying” stop for a quick bite, Gothamist restaurant critic Scott Lynch writes.

— Junzi Kitchen is partnering with the Metropolitan Museum of Art on an ox chili oil gift set ($48) in celebration of Lunar New Year. The gift set includes Junzi’s signature original chili oil plus two more flavors specifically created for the Met: a Silk Road chili oil with Tianjin chilis, Indian turmeric; Wild Mountain Afghanistan cumin; and Egyptian desert fennel; and a Red Lantern chili oil with lantern chilis, fried shallots, fermented black beans, and Hanyuan Sichuan peppercorns. Pre-orders are available here, and the bottles will be available for sale at the Met’s gift shop later in February.

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