With nighttime temps in the 50s, the challenges of outdoor dining are coming into relief. Places are erecting plexiglass panels that, if you squint a little, kind of look like walls. Raising philosophical questions about what is and is not ‘indoor’ and ‘outdoor’...

Most restaurants’ winter-proofing efforts involve some degree of enclosure. The half-in/half-out concept at Calexico also seems promising, if energy-inefficient and difficult to scale.

Ultimately, any winter dining depends on heat lamps. Installing gas heat lamps is very complicated in the city (requires natural gas; no propane). The heat lamp permit process is outlined below, as well as an excerpt from the FDNY’s study guide for the test to operate heat lamps.

Electric heaters? I don’t know much about them but don’t they draw a ton of power - will restaurants have the amperage to dedicate to a bunch of heaters? And wall-mounted units will only benefit a small subset of restaurants. Sidewalk - good. Open streets seating - not so good.

And then there’s the bigger question of whether this is something diners even want - to eat in the cold, even with heat lamps. Tonight seemed right on the edge of pleasant and a little too chilly. @yenbakas gets to the difficult heart of the matter:

https://gothamist.com/food/whats-stopping-nyc-restaurants-offering-outdoor-dining-year-round

I wish we’d had a ‘Manhattan Project’ for Manhattan (and boroughs) outdoor dining while there was still time. Would have been a great engineering challenge - some Dyson-esque innovation could have changed the heating game forever, and in turn the history of NYC dining. Oh well.

This is another take on the ‘when is outdoor dining no longer outdoors’ debate. Fushimi, in Williamsburg, installing corrugated plastic paneling on three sides of their corral. Sensing a ton of urgency on the part of restaurants as nighttime temps fall.

I have heard at least one NYC restaurateur plans to use portable propane heaters - which are currently illegal - through the fall, and will budget enough money to pay a city fine every night. Not sure how the math works out or if it will even happen. We’ll find out soon enough...

Last night was the first time I saw electric heaters at play at various restaurants. None were hard-wired; these were all basically space heaters. Maybe this works out well enough for the next month or two.