Two weeks ago, when the thermometer dropped below 20 degrees and indoor meals were still banned in the city, intrepid New Yorkers continued to cling to traces of their social lives.
On East 60th Street, customers from the once bustling Le Bilboquet were huddled in open-air cubicles, wearing hats and scarves while nibbling on Cajun chicken and drinking Bordeaux. A block up, 10 tables at the La Goulue club struggled to share four heaters while customers took bowls of onion soup to keep warm.
But just a short flight away – in Tony Palm Beach, Florida, where La Goulue recently opened an outpost that is a mirror image of his Manhattan mothership – all the indoor tables and bar seats are occupied. Customers are laughing and having fun, apparently unaware of the dangers of fraternization during a pandemic.
“I escaped from New York!” Declared the owner of the bistro, Jean Denoyer. “We measure everyone’s temperature when they arrive and keep doors and windows open so that fresh air can circulate. ”
Le Bilboquet owner Philippe Delgrange is also in Palm Beach, where his famous southern nightclub sister debuted this week.
“[Palm Beach] is really working with you, not trying to put firewood on your wheels, ” he said, no doubt referring to how New York City restaurants now, after two months of closure, can accommodate internal customers with 25% capacity . “I have seen so many friends of mine, I cannot believe it. And our entire New York team is asking to work here. ”
Denoyer and Delgrange are among the hordes of New Yorkers who now enjoy life in Palm Beach County, where the influx of energy is palpable. Although masks are required in commercial establishments across the county, people can, of course, remove them while eating or drinking, and there are no specific spacing rules – so it is not uncommon to see bars full of well-packaged customers without a mask.
Next
Confusion, delays and objections abounded on the completion of Saturday’s roller coaster …
Some northerners feel as if they have landed in a parallel universe, with old friends and favorite meeting places transported to a sunnier setting.
Upper East Sider Joe Wagner, 63, arrived in South Florida in late January with plans to stay for two weeks, but decided to stay until March. He’s dining at home in La Goulue. “Sometimes I feel a little insecure. In New York, I was stuck at home. But it seems that many people here are more relaxed because they already had COVID, ” the developer told The Post. “They say, ‘Don’t worry, I have the antibodies’, and I say, ‘This is great, but could you back off a little?’ “
In fact, Palm Beach County COVID infection rates have increased this week to 7.57%. In New York, it fell to 5.08%, from an increase of more than 7%.
New York restaurants are finally able to host indoor dinners at 25% capacity from February 12, but Palm Beach establishments are operating at full steam.
Café Boulud in New York is closed until the end of 2021, but in his brother Palm Beach, customers mix in the courtyard with lush landscaping. New York’s Bice, Sant Ambroeus and Almond restaurants are all located on the island. Even the extinct Swifty’s on the Upper East Side was resurrected in Palm Beach.
While legendary New York venues such as 21 and Cipriani are closing, an elegant Monkey Bar debuted at the new Opal Grand hotel in Palm Beach County this week, and New York’s restaurant group Host (Campagnola, Bill’s Townhouse) is unveiling a new Delray Beach, Florida., Steakhouse, Avalon, at the end of the month.
It is difficult to find an empty seat in any of the trendy restaurants in the area. “I can’t believe the amazing number of people here this year – it’s like escaping from prison!” said John Lehmann, 59, who lives on the island and runs a sports marketing company.
“I feel alive again. I could move here for the rest of my life, ” enthused Long Island housewife Erica Holzer, 47, at the seaside Opal Grand, where she and her husband are staying for eight weeks. “They take precautions, but they are not absurd. We went to Monkey Bar and had a lot of fun. It is so liberating to be here. ”
This sense of freedom goes beyond just restaurants. Exercise addicts can only do masked spin sessions with a virtual trainer at gyms in New York, but SoulCycle is now teaching outdoors on the lawn of the island’s Royal Poinciana Plaza. It is next to an outpost in New York’s Paul Labrecque salon, where customers soak up the sun on the patio while their colors fix and their nails dry.
Lincoln Center, Broadway and Carnegie Hall are all gloomy, but live jazz performances have just been announced later this month at the Kravis Center in West Palm.
“It is a relief to be here. It looks like we can finally breathe, ” said Greenwich, Connecticut, event consultant Boo Huth, 60, who visited South Florida for nine days.
While most people who migrate to the New York area are undoubtedly privileged, bargain airfare and hotel stays are allowing a broader spectrum of visitors.
“The irony is that living in Florida is actually a third cheaper than living in New York – and young people are realizing it, ” said Gene Pressman, 70, a former Manhattan resident whose family founded Barney’s and who now lives in Palm Beach.
“Palm Beach used to be full of urban areas [Manhattan] people, but now the downtown people are here, ” added Pressman’s wife Christine, 48.
And after the New York blockade, the Palm Beach social scene – and its lack of social detachment at some points – can cause culture shock to newcomers.
“People say this is like the Wild West,” said Todd Herbst, owner of the new popular restaurant in Palm Beach, Elisabetta’s. “They are surprised at how open everything is here. It is as if COVID does not exist, but we require that all employees wear masks and do not allow parties with more than 10 people. “
“I arrived here last week and it feels like a different world,” says Charles Rosenberg, a Soho resident who works in commercial real estate. The 30-year-old plans to stay in Palm Beach for a few weeks. “But I think when spring comes, New York will feel that way again.”
Still, Upper East Sider Joe Wagner is not ready to head north anytime soon. “A friend of mine sent me a picture of you in La Goulue, New York, wearing a hat and two scarves and saying that your fingers were turning blue,” said Wagner. “I sent him a picture of my pool.”