How COVID Is Destroying the Restaurant Industry

(Matt) So fermentation is one
of your big passions, right?

(Will) Yeah absolutely,
that's a big part of what we do

(Will) Overall, there's a lot of
spices and things going on here,

but we're going to be doing
a little root vegetable

mix served like a Hokkien type of thing,
but really my own sort of combination

ambient music

We're going to throw in a little bit of
salt and, unlike a proper,

like a lactic fermentation

We really don't need a huge amount of salt
you want to give a little bit of a mix

right there

And then simultaneously as you do that,
we got this lovely little

golden bear honey, that we're going to
throw into too for, uh, sweetness

We're also going to throw in here,
a good amount of uh, cumin.

This is a mix, I just made it in the
kitchen, of anchoes and chipotle,

just regular, uh, ground cinnamon,
nutmeg, and some fresh lemon

(Matt) I'm already smelling this, kind of
Mexican flavor profile

(Will) Uh why don't you give that a taste
and see where we're at?

(Will) How we doing chef, we alright?
Starting to taste good?

(Matt) It's incredible
(Audible Laughs in the background)

(Matt narrating) Fermentation is one of
the more enigmatic processes in any chef's

bag of tricks, it's not quite baking,
nor is it cooking, but the unique

alchemy achieved by coaxing the natural
processes of decay and transformation,

can produce indescribably
wonderful results.

Mastering the basics may be easy, but
achieving something memorable

let alone repeatable, isn't.

It's a lot like opening a good restaurant;
by some combination of vision,

serendipity, and faith, something magical
happens,

like Ducks eatery

(Julie) "Good afternoon, Ducks eatery".

(Matt) Brother and Sister, Will and

Julie Horowitz, have been running this
East village eatery since 2012

In restaurant years, that's an eternity
for a charming gem of a neighbourhood

place like this.

But like thousands of restaurants across
NYC and the country, Ducks had to

announce that it was shutting down for
good.

COVID-19 has been brutal for the
restaurant industry. As winter approaches,

the prospect of mass closures is a
near inevitability.

Absent and over-night influx of
government support, band aid fixes

like out-door dining and partial capacity
seating,

offer little hope.

(Julie) "You take care, bye"

"And in a fun spin, our diners
drivers and dives, episode is aired"

(unintelligible chatting)

"Son of a b*tch"

(Matt) "So take me through the next 48
hours, this is it right, this is the last

hurrah"
(Julie) "This is it!"

(Matt) "What are you guys doing tonight?"
(Julie)"So tonight is our last brisket

night, is something we started way back in
the day, nice and overbooked for, which is

super-complicated to navigate during the
the pandemic, um but really touching,

I mean people have come out of the wood
work, it's really - it's pretty amazing

(Julie) "We opened about four months

before Hurricane Sandy hit, so we're sort
of bookending our experience here with uh

major major events, um which kind
of feels right".

(Matt) "Looking back on these past few
months, do you point the finger at anyone

specifically?" (Julie)"I mean this is
just a huge, huge loss, um and you know if

I had it my way, the money that went
to the airline bailouts, you know would

be distributed more evenly.

(Light funk playing)

(Matt) "So tell me a little bit more about
Ducks, what differentiates you guys like,

what have you set out to do
with this restaurant?"

(Will) "I guess the biggest thing that
differentiates us from other restaurants

is that we didn't set out to do anything
I think spent so long trying to piece

together the funds and everything and
screws and nails and wood to build this

place that I think, if I remember, like
the night before we opened me and my other

chef kind of freaked out because we forgot
to make the menu.

(Will) "You know when we first started
smoking briskets in here and winning

awards, we were sleeping on the tables
just um, you know, so we could be closer

to that process and make sure we didn't
f*ck anything up".

(Will) "We were going through our
farmers and butchers saying "Ok, what do

you have extra? What can't you use
anymore? What's garbage right now?"

"Give it to us, let's figure out how to
make it into something delicious by

looking at these ideas back in time,
like smoking and slow cooking

and aging. That's sort of the beauty of
these old techniques and you know we

did it like over and over again, in our
restaurant and people thought we were

being like really creative and you know
artsy and sh*t, but the truth is we were

survivalists".

(Matt) "I want to talk about the
pandemic a little bit"

(Will) "The places that you see here that
are busy, they're still losing thousands

and thousands of dollars a month, like
it's just a show,

it's not for real,

there's very few people

that are coming out of this thing
unhinged".

(Matt) "Are you angry?" (Will) "Yeah I'm
pretty pissed off, I think from like

bottom to the top,

our leadership has failed
us. You know there's been

nothing for us, you know, and right now
we're all looking at the end of the barrel

down cold winter most likely. Everyone's
PPP money has, you know, dried up".

(Will) "And you know there's really no way
coming out of that".

(Will) "What we're looking at is something
far worse than that because, we're looking

at you know the hundred year old places
and mom and pop places, shutting down

and that wasn't an issue in 2008".
(Phone starts ringing)

"Let me get this".
"Hi this is Ducks eatery".

"Yeah what country are you calling from?

ah wow that really means a lot to me
I really appreciate that a lot

My name is Will Horowitz, I'm the chef"

(chuckles lightly) "Um I have to get back
in the Kitchen. We're smoking brisket for

the last time tonight, but I really
appreciate you calling from Italy and um

I appreciate everything you've said and
how special it was to you"

"Have a good day and stay safe, ok?"

"Bye".

(Chuckles lightly) "That was amazing
was trying to see if I could speaker

phone that, I swear someone was on the
other line, um " (everyone chuckles)

(Door clanging noises)

(Will) "Wow"

(Matt) "You can see these guys, have
like really, kind of like

a perfect bark going on to
these".

(narrator) Tonight marks the end of a
chapter for the extended family that has

come to call "Ducks" home but for the time
being, any bittersweet feelings will have

to wait, the kitchen was starting to get
busy and folks were starring to arrive.

(continues) Outside, it was beginning
to feel like so many of the NYC

restaurants I've come to love and cherish
over the years.

"Tonight was the last night they were
doing their brisket special,

so I knew today
was like, the end all, be all"

(Another woman) "Duck's eatery is family
for me, it's my life, it is my home

it's everything, all my memories here are
special

I got engaged here,

I fell in love with my person here".

(Man) "It really built a culture
on this street, um I've stopped in

here I think, every month since
they've been open,

and I love you guys

and I'm here for you, as always

onto the next thing".