This year, the restaurant has so far closed only its outdoor dining. Cathy Whims, the chef and an owner, said no outdoor seating was allowed on Tuesday, and “almost nobody chose to sit outside” on Wednesday. She expected to close the patio on Friday and Saturday nights, too.
Ms. Whims said it is a tough call to cancel outdoor dining, as it means losing reservations for the many people who are still not comfortable eating indoors because of the recent Covid surge. During heat waves like this, Ms. Whims estimates that business drops by 30 to 40 percent, during what is normally the busiest time of year for Portland restaurants.
She added that energy costs also spike during periods of high heat, and that places with air-conditioning “don’t have the kind of power to manage this kind of heat.”
Operating a restaurant over the last few years has been one pivot after another, Ms. Whims said. “All of these decisions are just unfortunately so in the moment, in the same way that Covid decisions were and are.”
Double Mountain Brewery, about an hour’s drive east of Portland on the Columbia River in Hood River, Ore., serves pizza with its beers — but only if temperatures cooperate. The impact of this week’s heat wave has been relatively minor for customers at Double Mountain, where air-conditioning and cold beer are able to keep them cool, said Matt Swihart, the owner and brewmaster.
The kitchen is taking the brunt of the heat, he said. The pizza ovens’ exhaust hoods, which help direct smoke out of the building, also bring in hot air from the outside. After having to close during last summer’s deadly heat wave, Mr. Swihart now shuts off the pizza ovens when the kitchen reaches 100 degrees, as it did on Wednesday and Thursday. When that happens, the brewery switches to a sandwich-only menu.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/29/dining/pacific-northwest-restaurants-struggle-as-temperatures-spike.html
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