Indoor dining resumes at NYC restaurants

(30 Sep 2020) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4276670

New York City reached a recovery milestone on Wednesday as indoor restaurant dining was permitted for the first time since March.
On a beautiful fall day, only a few diners chose to eat indoors at Veselka, a dining institution in Manhattan's East Village neighborhood.
"Everything that opens up is good for the psyche of the city," said Barry Birnbaum, who was the restaurant's first indoor customer of the day.
Restaurants patrons in the city are required to submit to temperature checks to eat inside, and restaurants have been limited to 25 percent capacity.
"I'm hopeful. I mean, I have mixed feelings, I'm a little concerned about my staff being it's being more exposed and we're trying to -- we're teaching everybody to be really conscientious about wearing a mask," said Tom Birchard, co-owner of Veselka.
Veselka co-owner Tom Birchard says for now, he'll be able to stay afloat as the city has allowed him to expand his outdoor dining into the street, but fears that the 25 percent indoor capacity won't be enough to pay the bills once the weather turns cold.

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