STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — It might be tempting to break bread all together in New Jersey just over a bridge where it’s legal to dine inside a restaurant. But your local restaurants need you more than ever. Consider this a Hail Mary Pass just before the normally quiet times of January and February set in.
If you live in or drive through Dongan Hills you’ll go quickly from the Yellow Zone to an Orange Zone. So pay attention to places like The Colonnade at 2000 Hylan Boulevard. With no indoor dining allowed, the diner’s long-time server Lois Donofrio can bring to the door a pre-paid order of Cheeseburger Deluxe, panini or breakfast omelets paired with house-made home fries.
Orange versus Yellow Zones a few blocks apart. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)
Lois has worked at the restaurant for 32 years.
“Look at the size of this place!” she said of the empty seats behind her. In the more promising days before the indoor dining shutdown management installed several hand sanitizing stations. Staff continually bleached and scrubbed down the booths after each customer and ensured there were six feet (or more) between occupied tables. They embraced COVID protocols and actually thought they were doing things rather well. Customers continued to come back and the staff settled into the new routine.
Lois’ response when the phone rings these days: “...I’m sorry we can’t have indoor dining. You can take your order to go. I know, honey. Yeah, thank you.”
About a block away, Lois points out, guests can step inside to one of the few seats at Lobster House Joe’s or a linen cloth-lined table up the stairs at Cafe Bella Vita. But not at her place.
“Why is this happening?” said the distraught server, who is looking at her shifts soon dialed back to only once a week.
“Everyone was closed for three month [during the Pause], I get that. But how could you close this diner down and other places are open? I don’t know. You know, the customers are still coming through the doors,” said Lois. She detailed how guests hope to sit in a booth or at a table and can’t understand why the answer is “no” on communing over omelets at this particular address. So they leave.
“We’re taking it daily right now,” Lois confessed.
Chilean sea bass with roasted tomatoes (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)
The marina area with its recreational area is lightly populated with residences. Yet it turned from a white zone into an Orange Zone overnight last week, a stunning turn of events that perplexed proprietors in the section.
As the holiday season would normally be underway, it’s unusually quiet at Marina Cafe in Great Kills. That’s Party Central by any other year’s standards. Now they’re open daily noon to 8 p.m. and intend to tough it out over the winter. Maybe the toll on this business thus far can be best expressed in indefinite furloughs.
Co-owner Rosemarie Saladino said, “It’s very hard to sustain a business and keep employees working when we can only do takeout. We added delivery. But Marina Cafe is a fine dining restaurant in which most people don’t do takeout. So things have been very hard financially for business. And also my heart breaks that I have to lay off staff that’s been working with us for over 30 years.”
Oysters on the half shell are one of the cold appetizers at Fiore di Mare Ristorante at Great Kills Harbor. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti)Staff-Shot
Across Mansion Avenue, Fiore Di Mare built out an extensive tented space with heating, a space carved out of the cold for their spectacular seafood dinners.
And Cole’s, also in the marina, also buckles down for winter.
Cole's Dockside in Great Kills' Fettucini Lobster Carbonara (Courtesy of Ian Cole)
Ian Cole said, “We are open all regular hours for outdoor dining on our enclosed deck and we have curbside pickup. We are resilient and not going down without a fight.”
Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.
Cole's Dockside's Tomahawk short rib (Courtesy of Ian Cole)
Ian and his dad, long-time chef Larry Cole, are quite proud of their most recent specials — Lobster Fra Diavalo, Block Island blackfish served piccata-style with mussels, Tomahawk short rib and a steaming hot fettuccini with lobster carbonara. Sure, they all translate better on a plate in a sit-down setting but the deliciousness does travel well.
Cole's Dockside's Lobster Fra Diavolo (Courtesy of Ian Cole)
What else can we do but talk up the specials? Now all we need are the patrons to come find the local deliciousness to bring home.
Turkey BLT with cheese on Melone Brothers bread (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)
Speaking of which, we should be finishing the last of our Thanksgiving leftovers. A 20-pound bird goes a long way with a family of four plus a few neighbors to feed — turkey BLT’s, turkey quesadillas, turkey stock for soup and turkey Tettrazzini with mushrooms and peas over ditalini, the latter absolutely not gobble-gobbled up by the children. As our 13-year old joked, “At this time of year it’s good to be a chicken.”
Chickens in the yard (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)
Keep in touch.
Pamela Silvestri is Advance Food Editor. She can be reached at silvestri@siadvance.com.
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