Peter Luger and other restaurants with hard-to-get reservations offer takeout for 1st time
While restaurants continue to adapt their business models amid the coronavirus pandemic, some have kept their kitchens open to fulfill to-go orders for the first time -- and for meals that would have previously had diners waiting hours, days or weeks just to snag a reservation.
Here are some of the best restaurants across the country with once hard-to-come-by tables that have turned to take-out orders and delivery services.
New York City
Peter Luger
While it may be a while before diners see the inside of the wood-paneled walls of Peter Luger Steakhouse in Brooklyn, the Williamsburg institution is offering its famed dry-aged steaks, thick-cut bacon and other classic menu items for call ahead orders and delivery.
"In order to continue to serve the local community during the pandemic, we will be making limited menu and butcher shop items available for pickup and delivery from our Brooklyn location," the restaurant said on its site. "We will also be serving a limited selection from our wine list to customers over the age of 21."
To place an order for pickup or delivery, which is available from 11:45 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. daily with limited availability, customers can order online or call the restaurant directly.
Minetta Tavern
While you won't get to whisk through the thick velvet drapes into the dimly lit bar and dining room to be seated next to framed sketches of famous New York elites, the Greenwich Village steakhouse known for its beef has switched gears to deliver menu favorites like the black label burger for the first time since their doors opened in 1937.
Keith McNally's Michelin-starred restaurant houses some of the finest steaks, chops and, of course, burgers in the city -- let alone the country -- and New Yorkers can get their fill amid the pandemic through pickup or delivery options.
Blue Hill
The garden-level Greenwich Village restaurant that usually takes reservations up to a month in advance is known for its daily rotations of fine farm-to-table offerings, and now Dan Barber's locally sourced pantry items are available in take-home form.
The Garde Manger Box, for example, has all the essentials for lunch or dinner with vegetable stews and purees, fresh pasta, condiments, crackers, butters and more.
While the kitchen is not crafting its usual menus for diners, this is the first time the restaurant has offered a take-out box option for any of its fresh produce, prepared food, bread, meat and wine.
The orders can be scheduled online for pickup and includes an option to donate a box to front-line health care workers.
Tomoe
This popular sushi spot would usually require patient seafood fans to queue for hours just to dine at the restaurant, until now.
The same sushi menu that New Yorkers have stood their ground to get can now be ordered by phone right to your home.
Boston
A little over 215 miles up the East Coast, more city dwellers relegated to their homes can enjoy dishes from some of the top restaurants that have never before offered their dishes outside the dining venue.
Fox and the Knife
That's right, the James Beard Award semi-finalist for best new restaurant is one of the best new delivery options in Southie.
"Top Chef" alum chef Karen Akunowicz has reinvented the kitchen operation to offer two different kinds of take-out meal services.
Fox at Home curates a fresh lineup of dishes available on the daily menus for takeout and delivery every night, and Fox Pasta offers fresh made pasta and sauces to-go from Wednesday to Sunday.
Chicago
Au Cheval
This burger has certainly been dubbed "worth the wait," but with a change in the previously packed burger joint's structure, the highly popular restaurant is doing delivery and takeout for the first time in its 8-year history.
The New American diner style restaurant and bar is offering delivery and curbside pickup to keep diners happy and fed at a safe distance amid the pandemic.
Elske
David and Anna Posey's Michelin-starred restaurant that has started to fulfill take-out orders for the very first time, has a new menu each week.
The contemporary American eatery that sits alongside other incredible dining and nightlife options in the West Loop neighborhood offers the menu three days a week, Friday through Sunday, and asks diners to make a pick-up reservation ahead of time.
Los Angeles
Gwen
Australian Chef Curtis Stone and his brother Luke's highly-acclaimed butcher shop and restaurant on Sunset Boulevard now sells its fresh made offerings on Postmates, Uber Eats and Caviar.
From grass-fed steaks to duck fat fried potatoes, Gwen's menu is still dishing up its house favorites from soups and salads to main dishes and desserts.
Additionally, the butcher shop is selling its raw retail items in vacuum-sealed packages to keep the cuts at peak freshness for delivery and take out orders.
Maude
Curtis Stone's upscale 24-seat Beverly Hills Michelin-starred restaurant said they have "flipped our intimate dining room into Maude Marketplace," which is open from Tuesday to Saturday for grocery and retail pickup.
Orders of the daily offerings that include soups, salads, pantry staples, wines and rotating family meals can be placed online through the restaurant.
Birdie G's
The Santa Monica-based supper and cocktails restaurant that serves elevated takes on comfort food with various cultural influences may not be bustling inside the natural light-filled dining room, but it has a whole new takeout experience.
Now, in less time than it used to take to get across the 10 freeway from Downtown on a weekend, diners can call ahead and pick up an order from the highly-buzzed about spot in no time.
Plus, in addition to the offerings from Jeremy Fox’s eclectic menu, the chef has opened up "larder," which gives customers access to place retail orders from the walk-in fridge and pantry of ingredients along with family sized prepared dishes.
