Two Restaurant Critics, Two Perspectives on Indoor Dining
The New York Times
Our New York and Los Angeles critics discuss Covid precautions, testing and dining-room anxiety.
As the Omicron variant surges across the United States, Covid cases are at an all-time high. But unlike in the spring of 2020, restaurants largely remain open (with a growing number of exceptions). Our restaurant critics, Pete Wells and Tejal Rao, are based in New York and Los Angeles, respectively. In both cities, restaurant workers are required to be fully vaccinated, as are diners eating indoors. The two critics conversed about their comfort levels with dining indoors, and the differences — or similarities — they are seeing in their cities.
PETE WELLS So neither one of us is eating in restaurants this week, I hear.
TEJAL RAO I’m trying to remember my last meal inside a dining room, presenting my vaccination card. I definitely remember the last reservation that I canceled, just before Christmas. I was really looking forward to it, but the place didn’t have outdoor dining, and I was about to visit my parents. And on Instagram, so many of the restaurants I follow were reporting infections. I thought: Well, this is it. I haven’t been inside a restaurant since my story earlier this month about Los Angeles sushi; I’m sticking to takeout or outdoor dining.
