7 Astoria, LIC Restaurants Win Grants For Outdoor Dining Setups

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Seven restaurants across Astoria and Long Island City have been awarded grants to help them "winterize" their outdoor-dining setups.

Fresco's Cantina, Macoletta Brick Oven Pizzeria, Vite Vinosteria, Djerdan Burek Astoria, Pink Nori, Levante and Makina Cafe were among the recipients of the DoorDash grants, which were named Tuesday in a news release.

DoorDash's "winterization" grants are meant to help restaurants bring in business during the winter months while adhering to pandemic restrictions, according to a news release.

The food delivery service partnered with the NYC Hospitality Alliance to offer New York City eateries a total of $500,000 in grant money. A hundred restaurants were selected.

“We thank DoorDash for their partnership in supporting restaurants and working to ensure that our industry can keep moving forward through this pandemic during the cooler months," Andrew Rigie, executive director of NYC Hospitality Alliance, said in a statement when the program was announced.

"The Open Restaurants program has been a critical lifeline to thousands of small businesses, and giving grants to restaurants to help them weatherize their outdoor dining setups and operate safely indoors will help many restaurants continue to serve their communities during the fall and winter.”

The number of local restaurants that received grants has been updated.