Good day, Feastlings,
My cheap (i.e., free) weather app predicts a 15% chance of rain, which I’m guessing means it won’t, but I’ll do my best to hope for the emphasis on the rainclouds behind any extraneous silver linings. Rain beats silver any day, especially with the weak and muggy monsoon season we’ve had thus far.
It also turns out that 15% is the chance that an independent restaurant has of survival in the United States right now without legislation designed specifically to aid the hospitality industry. Not to get too dark about it, but here’s something to consider: imagine your business or industry was forced to either stop conducting business or cut its revenue by anywhere from 50% to 80% for, say, half a year. Or more. And bars? Closed altogether for much of that time. How would you fare?
We in Tucson, believe it or not, are lucky, in that while we’ve all taken a huge hit, the bulk of that hit has taken place during an already slow time of year. Let’s hope for a little more normalcy as our season gets closer. But if you want to support independent restaurants before they disappear, and even if you don’t have piles of money to donate or spend, you can still let your elected officials know that you’d like to see some support for the industry that employs, when it’s functioning, 11 million people, plus another 5 million, give or take, in industries that depend on restaurants for their own business to succeed. It will literally cost you nothing to chime in here, and, in fact, will end up saving the entire country a significant chunk, rather than paying for us all to go on the dole. But enough clouds.
I’ll keep the nuts and bolts of this email relatively short, partly because I’m in a mad scramble to get the rest of the September menu written, partly because I’ve got two wines tastings to get ready for this weekend, and partly because in this new pandemic lifestyle I’m living, I often don’t know what day or time it is and think I’m probably repeating myself. So, at the risk of repeating myself, you’ve got a couple of days left for a host of items. First, there’s the August menu.
Next, there’s your chance to order up the Saturday wine tasting of lean, clean Central European whites:
or to order up the Sunday wine tasting (with larger pours and food pairings):
And of course there’s your opportunity to support a front line hospital worker by treating them to a midnight snack (this one is going to those who work nights and weekends at the VA Hospital):
Whatever you’re up to, we do hope you include us in your plans this week in one small way or another, and by golly, we thank you for it.
Your friends at Feast