About Coronavirus 2020
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Hospitality guru Danny Meyer has temporarily closed all of his restaurants, including 19 venues in New York and his two new DC ventures: Maialino Mare and Anchovy Social. The Union Square Hospitality Group hotspots, which opened in January in Navy Yard’s brand-new Thompson Hotel, halted operations at 3 PM today—the first two major District restaurants to pause business due to coronavirus.
Shake Shack, the international burger chain Meyer founded, is not part of USHG and remains open.
Between widespread museum and entertainment venue closures, event cancellations and postponements, and travel restrictions, hotel restaurants like Maialino are poised to be particularly hard hit. An employee of Maialino Mare says the restaurant may open up as early as middle of next week, but customers should call or check the restaurant’s website for the latest updates.
Meyer issued the following statement:
“We are living in uncharted territory with no preexisting roadmap or compass except for how we do business: nothing matters more than the safety and health of our team members, guests, and the communities in which we do business. With all that we now know about Federal, State, and City-wide mandates, as well as the science that has provided evidence urging everyone to reduce non-essential social contact, we have made the difficult, but for us, obvious decision to temporarily close our restaurants.
For those of us who find our purpose and passion in bringing people together in a spirit of healing, it is nearly unfathomable to confront the reality that the very thing at which we thrive could in these times be a threat to the health and safety of our community. This decision brings with it very real sacrifices for our team, but I feel it is necessary that USHG do our part to prevent the spread of this pandemic. By fully facing this storm today, we all hope to return to serving our community sooner than later.”
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
