Coronavirus: Nassau Restaurant Adjusts To 'New Normal'

PORT WASHINGTON, NY — Perhaps no restaurant owner on Long Island has faced more of an uphill battle in getting their business off the ground than Hyek Chen. As Patch previously reported, in October, 90 degrees was all that separated him from opening a new restaurant just off Main Street in downtown Port Washington.

Chen was the longtime operator of iDiner, an Asian fusion joint known for serving tasty bibimbap and bubble tea. The restaurant's lease expired in September, and Chen planned to open his new restaurant, Narinatto, steps away on Irma Avenue. But Chen was among numerous businesses unable to open due to a feud between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and utility giant National Grid over a rejected natural gas pipeline.

The opening, which was planned in the fall, was pushed back months. While Chen was able to finally get natural gas hooked up to his restaurant, the restaurant couldn't have a soft opening until mid-January. In the days and weeks following the opening, business was good, he said.

"As soon as we opened, we did pretty well," Chen told Patch in a phone interview Tuesday. "Up until we hit the coronavirus."

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Just two months after the delayed opening, an unprecedented global pandemic hit New York and Nassau County like a freight train. By the third week in March, restaurants were ordered to shift to just takeout and delivery services.

"We weren’t able to have any dine-in customers" he said. "I was still open the whole time, as much as I could, but sales dropped in half."

Narinatto now closes by 8 p.m. every day. And the restaurant, which typically has six workers in addition to Chen, is down to just three workers. He can't get them enough hours — there simply aren't enough customers — and some refuse to work out of fears they may contract the COVID-19 disease, which has led to more than 18,000 deaths in New York, including 1,390 in Nassau County as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The Port Washington area has over 300 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Lunch customers are virtually non-existent nowadays, he said, so he typically works either by himself or with one other person during those hours, taking takeout orders, cooking, cleaning, handling DoorDash orders, whatever is needed. Business picks up for about two hours a day, but it's seemingly random, he said, making it impossible to plan for.

"It's usually slow, but randomly it gets really busy. Everyone orders at the same time, we run out of everything and we don't have enough people to handle it. It gets pretty hectic," he said.

Employees have always worn gloves, but now they're wearing masks and kitchen workers have to also wear face shields. Staff deep clean the building even more. Everything from doors to surfaces to the floor.

"First thing you do, twice a day, you clean handles," he said. "Front door handle. Bathroom handles. In the kitchen, the refrigerator."

Chen's staff will likely be more cautious about cleaning once the crisis passes.

"That's the new normal, I guess," he said.

He has fallen behind on rent for both his building and housing, but is confident he'll be able to catch up because he doesn't plan to completely close.

Grant money has been few and far between, too. Zero, to be exact. He applied for a small business loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, but didn't receive any money from that fund. The loan initiative, which was allocated $349 billion as part of the federal government's massive $2 trillion stimulus bill ran out of money, the U.S. Small Business Administration said in a statement. About 700,000 small business applications were left in limbo and no new loans would be issued until lawmakers gave the program more money.

The good news: Senate leaders Tuesday approved a roughly $480-billion relief package that would allow the depleted small business lending program to restart. The legislation would also inject $310 billion into the Paycheck Protection Program.

Chen said part of the challenge in applying for the loan is that he has no tax documents from 2019. He hopes that by having his accountant file quarterly tax documents, Chen's application will be accepted.

"Hopefully my CPA has enough time for me to get all the documents for the new deal," he said.

Even through all the struggles, Chen is keeping a positive outlook. Many other businesses aren't allowed to open at all, such as nail and hair salons and other nonessential services that rely on face-to-face interaction.

"At least we get to open and have some business," he said.

Editor's note: Based on information from Narinatto owner Hyek Chen, a previous version of this article erroneously reported that Chen applied for and was denied a new business grant through the Greater Port Washington Business Improvement District. He did not formally apply for the grant. A corrected version of the story is above.

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