Before the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the food and beverage industry, bars were the default backdrops for many people’s lives: first dates, heartbreaks, celebrations, bad days. There was the comforting...
Drinking in America
Today, across the Eater network, we’re exploring how bars have suffered in the face of an unthinkable crisis, and the creativity and adaptability of people weathering the storm.
For many Chicagoans, the most visceral links to the city’s manufacturing-powerhouse past exist within its disappearing hot dog stands, 24-hour diners, and neighborhood taverns. These places have endured...
Dr. Anthony Fauci’s face is everywhere, which explains why it popped into Rohit Malhotra’s head. As the nation’s leading expert on infectious disease, Fauci endeared himself to the public early on in COVID-19...
With $3.21 billion already estimated lost in Music City during the seven months (and counting) of the pandemic, according to the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation, and no plans in sight for events...
One of my favorite pre-pandemic indulgences, a simple routine that’s no longer permitted in our COVID-19-battered city, was unwinding at my local Hell’s Kitchen bar. After a never-ending day staring at...
Tommy Stephens knew that COVID-19 would change the course of his business. The owner of the Raven Lounge & Restaurant had been observing the spread of the novel coronavirus as it steamrolled its way through...
Around 6 p.m. on a Wednesday night in September, two women wearing cloth face masks stood inside the Gibson cocktail lounge in Washington, D.C., and discussed the finer points of bartending. Jewel Murray,...
In Minnesota, where the winter nights last longer than the days, there is a culture of drinking the cold away, especially in the working-class areas. It’s not uncommon to see children yanking towering...
It’s universally accepted that Miami is known on the world stage for its white sandy beaches, year-round tropical temperatures, and opulent nightlife scene, amplified by its massive nightclubs, all-night...
On September 24, 2020, the rosé-hued wine bar and restaurant Bar Diane celebrated its one-year anniversary. For half of its lifetime, however, the Northwest Portland spot has looked completely different...
Before March, when the novel coronavirus pandemic prevented restaurants and bars from operating normally, approaching the Living Room’s entrance included a charming treat for me: a doorbell. I always around...
The foreboding arrived before the coronavirus. In the midst of a busy mid-March shift at downtown Minneapolis’s cocktail hot spot Parlour, the bartenders were talking about the likelihood of a restaurant...
Few American cities can claim a bar and drinking culture as intertwined with their mythologies as New Orleans. The port city is a fabled destination for its expert boozing and “go-cups” — the beloved beverage...
In August, Al Jara was in the process of figuring out how to lease and operate a food truck. The idea was that the truck would allow him to apply for a new permit so that his bar, the Marquis II, could...
By 3 p.m. on Saturday, when Dutch Kills’s cocktail window opened for business, there were already a half-dozen people lined up outside. The famous Queens “speakeasy” has given up the last pretense of secret,...
Before the world turned twice over, Matt Meyer and Daniel Paez were understandably giddy. “The dream has always been there. The idea of like, everyone wants their own spot, you know?” said Meyer, longtime...
Running a bar of their own was an enduring goal for Jenna and Randy Elskamp. Both veterans of the local bar community, Randy was a fixture at Cantina Mayahuel, and Jenna the longtime bartender and manager...
When Gov. Tom Wolf announced that the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board would shut down on March 17, temporarily closing all liquor stores in the state, citizens went out in droves to stock up. News of...
On the night of March 2, a tornado churned through Nashville, ripping through whole neighborhoods and damaging swaths of restaurants. Among the businesses hit was the Lipstick Lounge, a lesbian-owned for...
It’s been a rough couple of months for craft beer. Like the coffee and wine industries, the entire beer ecosystem was upended as the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered breweries, closed bars, and scared people...
Standby, one of Detroit’s premier cocktail spots in downtown, has been largely dormant since mid-March. Even as the stay-at-home order in Michigan lifted in June and bars and restaurants — including its...
Chicago has become a magnet for pop-up bars, where bar owners bank on nostalgia to promote their business. Proprietors have mined properties from Die Hard to Stranger Things to Rick and Morty to Fleetwood...
A few months ago, Gay Gilmore was beginning to feel desperate. When the COVID-19 crisis first reached Seattle, the co-owner of Capitol Hill’s Optimism Brewing knew that staying afloat would be an unprecedented...
“Bob & Barbara’s Lounge is a tradition in Philadelphia,” says owner Jack Prince. He has run the bar with his wife Gretchen for the last quarter-century, but it originally opened in 1969 and still bears...
On a recent Saturday evening, Brooklynites competed for the attention of a bartender. They were not, of course, crammed inside an indoor bar, nor were they flagging a server at one of the to-go cocktail...
A little bit of history was recently made in Grand Mound, Washington. In late June, Talking Cedar — a massive new gastropub with its own brewery and distillery — became the first facility in the country...