Irma Enriquez, owner and operator of Humboldt Park restaurant La Encantada, is hoping for a better year.
The financial blow has been so severe that Enriquez changed La Encantada’s business number to her personal cell phone number to cut back costs on paying multiple phone bills.
Prior to the reintroduction of indoor dining in late January, dine-in establishments faced the challenge of seating customers in a way that both complied with the city’s COVID mitigations and protected customers from the harsh Chicago winter. While indoor dining has recently made a comeback in Chicago, these unique dining methods remain implemented.
At Swift & Sons, the yurts are available by reservation only, where up to six guests can enjoy a “five-course prix fixe menu” to the tune of $85 a person, not including gratuity or beverage taxes. Despite the high price tag, general manager Wesley Conger says customers have been “ecstatic” about the yurt village.
“You can’t really leave [the domes] up if the weather is very bad,” she says. “At Jerry’s we take them up and down every night, because they’re right on the public square. And we were worried about vandalism and theft.”
For Enriquez, the prospect of reopening for indoor dining was one she eagerly readied herself for. Despite having her doors open the first weekend of newly reimplemented indoor dining, Enriquez did not seat a single customer on her first day.
