ORWIGSBURG — Free food, meal specials, refurbished seating areas and musical entertainment are all on the menu to entice restaurant customers back to the table today.
As Schuylkill County moves into the green phase of reopening from the COVID-19 pandemic and Gov. Tom Wolf’s order, area eateries can open at 50% occupancy for indoor seating. During the yellow phase, restaurants were only able to have outdoor seating, carry-out and delivery.
The Bum’s Rush Restaurant & Pub, 655 Route 61, Orwigsburg, and King’s Palace, 100 S. Centre St., Pottsville, are two eating establishments ready to welcome the hungry.
Other county restaurants report that, despite the green light, they will remain closed for indoor seating or will only offer outdoor seating and takeout service for now.
The Bum’s Rush
The Bum’s Rush will be unveiling a new look.
“We’ve done quite a bit of renovations and it looks amazing,” restaurant partner Janet Hooper said. “We took the dining room from 1983 to 2020 with a real ‘roadhouse’ feel.” It boasts new pine flooring in the seating area and new walls in the dining room and kitchen.
Moonshine tastings with the affiliated Hillbilly Hooch can begin once again.
Even with the green-phase restrictions in place, the restaurant will be able to seat about 100 with its occupancy size and its outdoor seating, according to Hooper. It can also turn over the tables at a rate of three times starting at 4 p.m., she said.
Tables have been spaced apart for social distancing and each one is sanitized between users. Every table comes with its own hand sanitizer bottle.
Carla Zimmerman, chef and restaurant partner, said although the indoor seating is now available, takeout orders are still welcome. Some of the specials the restaurant will offer Friday are fresh, never frozen, scallops; beef tenderloin; sliders made with caramelized onion, smoked cheese and a brioche bun; a 21-day aged New York strip steak; and homemade mango salsa. The restaurant will be serving about 90% of its full menu, Zimmerman said.
Jeremiah James will provide musical entertainment.
A few among the counties eateries preparing to welcome back the public are:
King’s Palace
Steven Wong operates the King’s Palace restaurant with his wife, Odaliz, who is also the chef.
The restaurant will give away free hot dogs and hamburgers, beginning at noon today.
“We want to give back to the community and all the people who are hurting. They can come down and enjoy the day and bring their kids,” Wong said.
They will have a full menu available today, including Spanish offerings — fried plantains, Cuban sandwiches, pork pernil with white rice and beans, gandules rice and baked chicken.
King’s Palace will have outdoor seating, as well as half capacity seating in the bar and night club area. Throughout the pandemic, Wong said he kept his staff employed.
Several eateries, though, will not be seating patrons indoors just yet.
Wheel
“We are going to continue the services we are offering now with curbside and delivery, as well as sidewalk dining to maximize capacity,” Savas Logothetides, owner of Pottsville’s Wheel restaurant on Market Street, said.
Logothetides is also Pottsville Area Redevelopment Corp. executive director.
“Fifty percent of capacity is not enough for us to be successful with, so we are utilizing every opportunity we have including working with the city for our ‘Dining in the Street’ program on Friday nights,” he said.
Main Street Moonshine
Main Street Moonshine in Schuylkill Haven is not opening its bar or restaurant for inside dining at this time, according to Lori Michael.
“We continue to have food vendors that benefit the Rainbow Hose Company outside and adult drinks to go with an expanded list of available drinks,” she said. Freeway Jam will be playing in the parking lot from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Jar sales of alcohol will continue in their lobby.
“People are welcome to bring a lawn chair and sit outside or down by the river,” Michael said.
O’Neal’s Pub
“Our county is going green on Friday, but due to all the restrictions we have decided to hold off opening,” O’Neal’s Pub, a bar and restaurant in Pine Grove, posted earlier this week on its Facebook page.
Green Phase Dining
The state Department of Health reports, “Retail food service businesses, including restaurants, and bars located in counties designated as being in the green phase are permitted to provide takeout and delivery sales, as well as dine-in service in both indoor and outdoor seating areas, so long as they strictly adhere to the requirements of the guidance, including maximum occupancy limits:
• Bar seating may be utilized if customers are seated and comply with the physical distancing guideline of at least six feet or physical barriers between customers. Standing in a bar area will not be permitted.
• A maximum of four customers that have a common relationship may sit together at the bar, while adhering to the physical distancing guidelines or barriers between other customers.”
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