City Perch: A Fort Lee Mainstay

These days are times of sacrifice. We're in this hardship together, cutting out many luxuries that we may have taken for granted a few months ago. Each of us is dealing with the loss of many sources of comfort. Some of us miss going to movie theaters, music clubs, or the gym. For me, the thing I miss most is fine dining. In our current quarantine culture, it is simply not possible to go out and sit down at your favorite restaurant. While I believe wholeheartedly in the importance of the current stay-at-home orders, I'm sure I can't be the only one who misses being able to enjoy a delicious night out.

When the initial panic of this pandemic spread across the world, restaurants were closing in droves in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus. Thankfully, however, many of my favorite restaurants have now been able to re-open with new procedures in place to protect the health and well-being of their customers as well as their employees. Going out to eat is not on the table—and likely won't be for the foreseeable future—but that doesn't mean you can't get your fix. Now is the time for take-out and delivery to truly shine.

I encourage you to support your favorite eateries by ordering from them as often as your budget allows. This pandemic is taking its toll on all of us, and small businesses are no exception. Like all small businesses, local restaurants depend on their communities to survive. We're not talking about multinational food factories like McDonald's here. Rest assured, those corporations will be just fine. I'm talking about the neighborhood kitchens; the mom and pop shops that live and die alongside their communities.

One of my personal favorite restaurants is City Perch Bar + Kitchen in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The New American eatery opened its Hudson Lights location a few years ago and has been a mainstay of the community ever since. When businesses were still operating normally, City Perch's brunch was second to none. At the end of the day, you could enjoy a seat at their swanky bar and imbibe a few of their creative craft cocktails. The current environment means we can't enjoy the gorgeous atmosphere right now, but the kitchen is open for take-out and curbside pickup orders! If you are in the area, you owe it to yourself to check out City Perch's current offerings.

Just about every restaurant that has re-opened for take-out service has had to limit their menu for practicality. City Perch is no exception, but they are still able to offer a wide variety of delicious, locally-sourced dishes to please any palate. The classic Perch Burger is a never-miss menu option, or you can go veggie with the Beyond Cheeseburger (make it vegan by dropping the cheese and subbing out the secret sauce).

The Brussels Sprouts are technically a side order, but they are delicious enough to be the star of your meal. And if we're talking A-tier side orders, don't sleep on the Mac+Cheese made with artisanal farmstead cheese. Add short rib or shrimp and you have a winning dish.

If it's date night, City Perch has included some of their more upscale options on the take-out menu as well. The Dry Aged NY Strip and Sesame Seared Tuna Steak are both excellent options if you've been yearning for a taste of luxury.

To accompany your meal, it would be a sin to ignore City Perch's wine list! City Perch has always had a top-shelf bar, so do yourself a favor and peruse their wine list before you place your order. According to their take-out menu, you can even get 30% off a bottle of wine with a food purchase, and I can't think of a better excuse than that!

While the notion of eating out can seem superfluous in times like these, consider all the moving parts that come together in order to provide you with a meal. In fact, let's say we stop ordering food in this trying time: What do you think will happen? Most restaurants operate on paper-thin margins, and without any income, it's only a matter of time before they'll have to lay off staff or close their doors indefinitely. And if that happens, chances are slim to none that those doors will ever open again.

But let's not stop there. If a restaurant closes, potentially dozens of staff members (hosts and hostesses, servers, bartenders, cooks, and more) are now out of a job. And the impact doesn't end at the restaurant doors, either. When the restaurant is no longer around, that turns into bad news for the restaurant's food suppliers. Large chain restaurants often get their ingredients from large conglomerates (think Sysco and US Foods) who can handle the impact of a few closures, but this is far from the case for thoughtful, localized eateries like City Perch.

City Perch sources its ingredients locally and adjusts its menu with the seasons in order to get the freshest ingredients from local farmers. Because of this, restaurants like City Perch are cornerstones of local economies. Letting this restaurant close its doors would not only mean damaging the livelihood of its many skilled employees, but the livelihood of the local farmers and fishermen and other suppliers who depend on City Perch for their own income as well.

Next time you find yourself craving an upscale dinner, or you want to share a romantic meal with your significant other, or even if you just don't feel like cooking tonight, place a take-out order with City Perch. You'll be supporting an entire ecosystem of food service workers and suppliers who depend on restaurants like City Perch. And even better, you'll be rewarded with a delicious meal.