Well, it’s been quite a week. A week ago, there was a lot of rumbling in various events I’m involved with whether or not it was prudent to hold events, ranging from FIRST Robotics competitions, beer festivals, and even trivia night at the local coffee shop. Then, over the space of a week, things have escalated from “caution” and exhortations to wash our hands more to wide-scale travel bans, bans on group gatherings, and wholesale shutdowns of bars and restaurants. Friday, under the loom of potential closings, I had a very nice dinner with friends at Fox and Harrow in Royalton, VT. By mid-afternoon on Monday, restaurants are now closed across the entire region. While many places locally are hustling to try to find ways to adapt to take-out and delivery, other places are rapidly deciding that, at least for now, they’ve got to close up.
Various events over the long winter got me behind in my reviews, but I’ve got a good dozen reviews queued up from recent trips to Canada, Colorado, Boston, and Vermont. But, quite frankly, writing up restaurant reviews, or reading them for that matter, just isn’t really enjoyable right now, and, sadly, I fear that when things start to return to normal, some of the places I’ve reviewed here, or even those in my queue, won’t be around anymore. So I’m going to take a break as we hunker down for a long wait as things stabilize.
It’s going to be a long, rough road to recovery. To my many friends in the restaurant and bar businesses, I do truly wish you the best of luck and hope to be able to visit and help your establishments in the future.
