where are we even?

if you had told us in January that in a few months we’d be required to wear a mask at work for the entire shift, that our favorite cocktail bars in nyc would close their doors forever, that the stock market would plummet very shortly, or that on long island, we would only be allowed to seat half of our dining room, we would have cut you off and closed out your tab. sent you on your merry way.

but here we are!

since the pandemic hit home ariana has been managing a farm to table restaurant that is offering indoor and outdoor seating and adhering to all of nys covid guidelines. rich has decided to grow his photography business (shouts out to kahnscious media) and has left the bar which he had managed pre-covid.

as of today neither of us has had a sip of alcohol in 11 days. aiming for 30.

being in this industry is tough, it always was. obviously now it’s harder. the easiest thing was to drink it off and go to bed to wake up and do it again. which is what went on for a few years.

but we have the opportunity here to rebuild ourselves. we’ve seen a lot of our friends take covid by the balls and challenge themselves to be better. patrick cap and ryan morimando channeled the energy into making their bodies stronger. tracy johanna started a to go cocktail business. frank antonetti is putting in WERK at rust and gold, which has an undeniable ripple through the entire community.

so what happens when a global pandemic hits long island you ask? we keep our heads down and we keep going. because when you’re in the weeds, you don’t just sit down and let the service tickets consume you. you grab a machete and come out the other end a better person.

looking forward to the new next normal, and seeing how we can be a part of it.