While no one can accurately predict what the long range economic effect of the Coronavirus will be on the restaurant industry, individual owners and restaurant groups agree that change is a certainty.

Bar Roma

After a career in banking, Julia Zhu, together with partner and veteran restaurateur Howard Davis, opened Bar Roma, a casual Italian restaurant in Andersonville in December, 2016. Zhu says choosing to do an Italian restaurant when neither partner is Italian is a testimony to the cuisine’s universal appeal and diversity, plusses that are even more important now than they were when the restaurant opened.

meatballs at Bar Roma

 Zhu estimates her pre-virus profit margin at about seven per cent. That’s seven cents for every dollar a guest spends. It’s a slim margin, thanks, in part, to the cost of add-on services customers have come to expect.

pasta Bar Roma

“Hiring an online reservation service can cost the restaurant as much as $1.50 a person,” Zhu explains. “And then there’s valet service if there isn’t enough street parking. Luckily, we don’t need it, which is a big saving. Delivery service, on the other hand, is a must.” 

Bar Roma

She continues, “Delivery and carryout used to account for 25% of our business; now it’s 100%. If we did our own deliveries, it wouldn’t reduce costs as much as you might think. In addition to paying the driver, we’d have to pay for insurance and benefits to cover the driver. Like it or not, if we want to stay in business, we have to keep pace with the new normal.”

maki rolls at Koi

Sandy Chen is a partner in two very different restaurants. Koi, her Evanston restaurant, focused entirely on Chinese food when it opened in 2004. As time went on, the menu expanded to include Japanese specialties, such as sushi and maki rolls. At Le Sud, her restaurant in Roscoe Village, the pre-Coronavirus menu concentrated on dishes typical of southern France.

Koi

“I think of Le Sud as a neighborhood restaurant,” Chen says. “But a lot of people-the moment they hear the food is French- think it’s going to be pricey.”

Le Sud

To dispel that image and-at the same time- give the chef more flexibility, Le Sud is expanding its focus to include dishes from Spain, Italy, and various other countries bordering the Mediterranean.

Le Sud

“It will take us time to create the new menu,” Chen says. For now, with our business limited to carryout and delivery, we’re going to focus on moderately priced family meals.”

Le Sud

Le Sud

Complete with sides and a baguette with butter, the meals are designed for a family for four, with prices beginning at $50 for a chicken dinner. Appetizers and desserts are available for an additional cost. Wine prices, which are also listed on the to-go menu, have been cut as much as 50%. 

Bar Roma, 5101 N. Clark Street, 773.942.7572

Koi Fine Asian Cuisine, 624 Davis Street, Evanston 847.866.6969

Le Sud, 2301 West Roscoe Street, 773.857.1985

Joining the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Fire, Cubs and White Sox, the Sky now have their own face masks with team logos on them. The MLS will donate its royalties from the purchase by the vendor to Feeding America (for US sales) and Second Harvest Canada (for Canadian sales).

Sky masks are available for purchase here.

Tribune Publishing may earn a commission if you purchase a product through one of our links.

With most sports around the world on pause, revisit iconic sports moments from the past to help fill that void.

Former Bull Scott Burrell joins David Kaplan to talk about “The Last Dance.” He discussed Michael Jordan constantly talking trash at practice to motivate him.

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National Safe Boating Week begins this Saturday, May 16 and continues through Friday, May 22.

This is an annual celebration of boating and a reminder of safe boating as most boat owners use the Memorial Day Weekend as the Opening Day for boating.

Boaters across the country bring their boats out for the first time after being is storage or covered with tarps, sitting dormant since last fall.   So before the boats reach the ramps with family and friends looking for a fun day on the water, this week, and prior to that day is a good time to be reminded of some safety rules and preparations.

First of all the best thing to do is get your boat prepared for the water.

Get you boat out of storage and on your driveway for a dry test run.  Make sure all batteries are fully charged.  Water in the batteries should be checked and use distilled water to bring the levels up where needed.  Also make sure that each battery is secure so they don’t move around in their compartments.

Check your lights and horn.  They’re required by Coast Guard rules to be in good working order.

As odd as it may sound, make sure that little critters haven’t made your boat their winter home.  This will happened on occasion and you could find chewed up life preservers, wire coating chewed off, wood damage and more.  Fix and replace everything if you find a problem.

Too often boaters get to the ramp, launch their boat then find that it just won’t start.  Hopefully you used a gasoline stabilizer product at the end of last season to keep the gas in the boat good.  It’s a cheap insurance policy to do this every time you put your boat away for a long period of time.

If you ran your tanks dry last season, obviously fill them up with good fresh gas.  Where you need to add oil to the gas, make sure you follow the manufacturer’s recommendation.  If you have an oil reservoir, check and fill to the top with fresh marine oil.

Start your motor up on your driveway at home.  You can buy a pair of muffs to put on your motor’s lower unit to feed it water from a garden hose.   Don’t run the motor dry.  If you try to start your motor without water, turn it off immediately it if starts and leave it at that.

This is also a good time to check your prop for any dents or dings.  Fix or replace it if necessary.  Check for fishing line wrapped around the prop shaft.  Remove any that you find.  Check your lower unit oil too.  This should be changed annually.  If you can’t handle it yourself, take it to a marine dealer and have the work done there.  They can inspect to see if you need a new water pump too.

As for the life preservers, you’re required to have one for each passenger in the boat and they should be of the size that is proper for the person wearing them.  Children can’t wear adult preservers and adult must have one that’s large enough so they can zip it up or buckle it closed.

Wear life preservers at all times when the boat is in motion.  It doesn’t hurt to have them on at all times.

Check the expiration dates on flares.  They’re required when on big water like Lake Michigan and connecting tributaries.

When on the water, pay attention to what you’re doing and where you’re going.  Be aware of  other boaters and where they’re going.  Always be on the look out for persons in the water.   And after a big rainfall, be on the lookout for debris floating in the water.  Logs and big branches could bring your boat to a dead stop and send passengers flying.

Boating is fun.  And it’s even more fun when you have safety in mind and you’re prepared for a day on the water with no boat issues.  Get ready during National Safe Boating Week and have a great time getting Back in the Outdoors.

I recently received a south suburban fishing report from Husker.   He’s getting out and enjoying a little time Back in the Outdoors.

Let me share his report….

Hey Don,

Area lakes- The cold front has pushed both bass and crappie off the first drop. Work those drops with lipless crankbaits for bass and wedgies under a slip float for crappie. Normal temperatures later in the week will have fish starting to move up. 

TTYL

Husker

Filed under:
Fishing

Tags:
back in the outdoors, bass, crappie, don dziedzina, fishing, husker, illinois outdoors, local report

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  Don Dziedzina

  Don Dziedzina of Illinois Outdoors Inc., has been involved in the outdoors industry for over 40 years.
  
  Don has written columns for numerous outdoor magazines and many local newspapers. For a couple years he wrote outdoor columns for the Chicago Tribune in the Sports section.
  
  For over 20 years ago Don was the producer and host of the Illinois Outdoors TV show. It aired on Comcast, Insight, and MediaCom Cable stations having a reach of nearly 7 million viewers every week.
  
  Don joined Jim DaRosa as a co-host of the Fishing and Outdoor Radio Show. The very popular outdoor radio show aired every week, simulcast on WCSJ AM 1550, WCSJ FM 103.1, WSPY FM 107.1, WSPY AM 1480, WSQR FM 93.5 and WSQR AM 1180.
  
  After two years of retirement from writing, TV and Radio, Don started a new blog on ChicagoNow titled Back Into the Outdoors.
  
  On the Illinois Outdoors TV Show, Don always says, “Great Fishing (or hunting) is not that far away.” tm That saying is still popular today.

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Latest on ChicagoNow

• Fishing Report from Husker

  from Back in the Outdoors by Don Dziedzina
  posted today at 5:12 pm

• National Safe Boating Week

  from Back in the Outdoors by Don Dziedzina
  posted today at 4:55 pm

• NBA lookback: Scott Burrell talks Michael Jordan’s intensity at practice

  from ChicagoNow Staff Blog by ChicagoNow Staff
  posted today at 4:32 pm

• WNBA introduces face masks with Sky logos

  from ChicagoNow Staff Blog by ChicagoNow Staff
  posted today at 4:11 pm

• The New Normal

  from A Bite of Chicago by Barbara Revsine
  posted today at 3:37 pm

Read these ChicagoNow blogs

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  Cubs Den

  Chicago Cubs news and comprehensive blog, featuring old school baseball writing combined with the latest statistical trends
  • Baseball: Past, Present, And Past
• 

  Pets in need of homes

  Pets available for adoption in the Chicago area
  • Goldie and Junior — Petraits Rescue
• 

  Hammervision

  It’s like the couch potato version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
  • Movie Review: Extraction

Read these ChicagoNow Bloggers

• 

  Dennis Byrne

  from The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor:
  Your papers, please
• 

  Weather Girl

  from Chicago Weather Watch:
  This day in history
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  Natalie M

  from Everybody DanceNow:
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