Outdoor Seating Areas Set To Reopen Friday At Skokie Restaurants

SKOKIE, IL — Local restaurants are set to begin offering in-person dining for the first time in more than three months Friday, as Gov. J.B. Pritzker is expected to allow outdoor dining as part of the next phase of his Restore Illinois reopening plan.

Skokie village and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Sunday published guidelines for restaurants to be able to open during the COVID-19 pandemic. No more than six people per table will be permitted, employees should wear face coverings and customers should cover their face when not seated at their tables, according to the rules. A reservation or call ahead model was also strongly recommended.

In Skokie, any restaurants, bars, coffee and tea shops, ice cream shops or other similar businesses that provided on-site seating for patrons to consume their products are eligible for outdoor dining without a new permit and an application fee. Those that already have permits will have the fee waived upon renewal of their license.

Tables and may be set up within parking areas and driveways if the dining area is protected by barriers, according to the village guidelines. In specific cases, businesses may be allowed to put tables and chairs on public on-street parking areas.

More than a half-dozen local restaurants could begin offering outdoor seating once allowed by the governor, according to Howard Meyer, executive director of the Skokie Chamber of Commerce. About 50 have expressed interest so far, he said, and restaurants at Westfield Old Orchard shopping center are preparing to open with expanded outdoor seating the week of June 8.

A full list of restaurants with outdoor seating permits was not available Wednesday from the village or chamber, and it was not immediately clear how many will be seating diners on Friday.

Randy Miles, owner of the Village Inn and former president of the now-defunct Independent Merchants of Downtown Skokie business association, said the patio seating area of his pizzeria at 8050 Lincoln Ave. would be ready to welcome guests as the state enters the next phase of reopening.

Miles, who has been donating pizzas to workers at local hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic, is expanding the restaurant's outdoor seating area by about 50 percent to a total of 15 tables. He described feeling a mixture of apprehension and excitement about having to implement a series of new protocols, most of which have been introduced over the course of just a few days.

"I'm going to be a policeman for the first week or two, I'm sure of it, and I don't want that job," Miles said. "I don't want to tell people they can't come, they can't sit, they have to put a face mask on, and then you see what's going on with the Walmarts of the world and the Targets where people are being adamant about not wearing a face mask and getting into either verbal or physical altercations with staff, and I don't want to subject my staff to that kind of stuff."

More: Restore Illinois Phase 3 Business Guidelines Released

Outdoor seats at Village Inn will be available by reservation only for 90 minute windows, there will be no waiting for tables on premises and patrons will have their temperature taken the time of arrival, according to the restaurant's new rules.

Miles, who has had to cut down his staff to about half of its pre-pandemic size, said he and other local restaurateurs are exploring new collaborative concepts. But the future remains uncertain.

"We need to start to think more community-minded on these issues and start to build the confidence in our town for what we're doing — forget about what the rest of the world is doing — let's try to build our neighborhoods back up, because I believe that's how the rebuild is going to have to happen: one neighborhood at a time, one community, one block, one set of merchants who can work together."