‘I can do this’: How Filipina-run Grill 21 in New York remains open during lockdown

NEW YORK, USA –  Days into lockdown, a dear friend and fellow Filipina-holed-up-in-Manhattan messaged me, “Check out Grill 21; they’re still open.”

I was intrigued. She was referring to my favorite Filipino restaurant in New York. The pandemic had already shuttered majority of the city’s commerce, turning its iconic bright and bustling streets into dark, deserted spaces. How was an unassuming Filipino establishment on the corner of 21st Street and 1st Avenue still standing?

Though I didn’t know her personally, I reached out to Grill 21’s owner, Rose Teves, to find out, and to place an urgent order for their rich, creamy, falling-off-the-bone oxtail kare-kare.

Rose openly shared stories from the roller coaster ride Grill 21 had been on since New York’s restaurants were ordered to cease dine-in service in March. This was 80% of their business. Without it, there was no way to cover even salaries.

While other places closed, Rose gathered her team for a battle plan. “My staff had no other income,” she said. “We had to try something.” To address her biggest cost, she reached out to her landlord for a reduction on the rent. Then she focused on reviving sales. 

Since quarantine, Rose has been at the restaurant Mondays to Saturdays from 10 am to 6 pm, and depending on orders, some Sundays too. Her team worked in shifts so that each day, she had two cooks and one delivery guy supporting her. When she wasn’t making calls and sending messages to promote their take out and delivery services to every customer on their database, she was taking orders and payments, posting on Facebook, assisting order preparations, managing inventory, dealing with suppliers, and completing paperwork.

She would also be updating the restaurant’s systems to keep up with the city’s ever-changing pandemic-related ordinances, like no-contact take out, and taking time to counsel each member of her team.

“Everyone is stressed,” she explained. At 6 pm, she took over from her delivery guy and made the drop offs herself until 7:30 pm. When she got home, she resumed taking restaurant calls forwarded to her personal line and reaching out to more customers to invite them to place orders. 

I was exhausted just listening to Rose recount her schedule. “Why do you do it?” I asked, curious about what drove her, beyond concern for her team. 

She started to say something about providing for her family then broke off mid-sentence. “Did you know that I can carry 50 pounds of rice?” she said.

Our call went silent. I understood that she was trying to make a point about grit but couldn’t quite process that a Filipina like me – middle aged, 5 foot, and not particularly muscular – could carry a 50-pound sack of rice. 

“I just think ‘I can do this’,” Rose said, referring to both rice and life’s challenges. “I prefer to spend my time on solutions, and there are always solutions.”

Indeed Rose’s resourcefulness has begun to pay off. Since hearing Grill 21 was still open, the restaurant’s loyal dine-in customers have become regular take-out clients.

“It’s comfort food,” said Thomas Fox, a diner who worked nearby and fetched his lunch from the grill every day. “And it’s very pleasant dealing with Rose.”

Delivery orders have started increasing too. In the past few days, they included a week’s worth of food to a family uptown, pre-packaged meals to out-of-state Filipino nurses in New York to help with the pandemic response, and catering trays to Lenox Hill Hospital gifted by a family who called the order in from Florida.

Will Rose’s fortitude be enough to ensure Grill 21’s survival? In February and March, she covered the restaurant’s losses using personal funds. As of the writing of this article, she and her team were still struggling to break even in April. Her landlord had yet to reply to her plea for reduced rent and it was an uphill battle chasing sales when the city’s demand was so depressed. “Its remarkable they keep going,” Tom observed.

But Rose was unfazed. “There’s always Christmas,” she said. “Nothing can stay bad forever.”

As for me, I’ve been calling my orders into Grill 21 regularly. I figured that if I want the post-pandemic world to be one where resilient Filipina role models like Rose triumph and thrive, I better do something about it. Lucky me that ‘something’ involved Grill 21’s crispy and glutinous with just-the-perfect-tinge-of-anghang sisig.

Grill 21 is located along 346 East 21st Street, New York. It is open from Mondays to Saturdays, 10:30 am to 7 pm. – Rappler.com