BY JASON COHEN
COVID-19 did not shutter
Patricia’s of Morris Park. In
fact, due to its relationships
with local hospitals and customers,
the restaurant was
busy the past three months.
For nearly 30 years the eatery
at 1082 Morris Park Ave.,
owned by Patricia and Calogero
Borgognone, has provided
delicious Italian food to the
Bronx.
General Manager Joseph
Schaentzler, 29, spoke
with the Bronx Times about
how the restaurant survived
COVID-19.
“We were fortunate enough
to do that because we have always
done delivery and had
takeout service,” he said. “It
was like a blessing in disguise.”
Their customers stayed
loyal during the pandemic,
Schaentzler, explained. People
constantly ordered food,
but moreover, for many years
they have had accounts with
nearby Montefi ore hospitals.
Schaentzler would check in
with doctors he knows to see
if they needed food and many
people from out of state called
the store to buy food for hospitals.
He noted that if they did not
deliver they would have been a
bad spot.
“You have to adapt,” he
said. “You have to move along
with the times.”
While most of Morris
Park was closed the past few
months, they were one of the
few places open. Mother’s Day
and Easter were huge as numerous
people had food catered
to them.
The bus boys, waiters
and servers were let go as no
one could sit inside, but the
kitchen staff was constantly
busy. Some of the guys in the
kitchen have worked together
for nearly 20 years.
“The kitchen is very tight
knit,” he said. “We understood
the severs, busboys and bartenders
were probably going
to have to go on unemployment.”
Two months ago the restaurant
received a small business
loan, which helped bring
some people in the kitchen
back and do some renovations
in the store.
BRONX TIMES R 2 EPORTER, JULY 3-9, 2020 BTR
Typically there are four
line cooks, two pizza guys,
fi ve people in the prep kitchen
and a salad guy. But when
COVID-19 hit, he had to reduce
those numbers. Schaentzler
noted that did not last long.
“By the third week it was
so super busy I had to start
bringing people back,” he explained.
On June 22, they opened
up their outdoor seating and
were granted additional space
from the city. Allowing the
customers to return has been
huge, not just for the community,
but citywide.
Schaentzler said people
come to the eatery from the
Bronx, the city and even
Westchester.
“As eager as we were to get
customers back in to have
people have some sense of normalcy,
being sanitary and being
cautious of people’s health
and making them feel comfortable
was always a priority,”
Schaentzler said.
He even spoke with a restaurant
consultant about how
to make things safe for the
Patricia’s of Morris Park thrives during COVID-19. Photo by Jason Cohen
guests. Customers are told to
wait on the side if there are no
tables ready and so far, they
have been busy and everyone
has been patient.
“I wanted to create an atmosphere
not only for people
to come back in and dine, but
I wanted them to have a peace
of mind when they are doing
it,” Schaentzler explained.
“It’s really nice to see a ton of
loyal customers.”
Schaentzler, who worked in
the medical fi eld for fi ve years
before coming to the restaurant,
understood the seriousness
of the virus. His employees
all wear masks and are
constantly cleaning the store.
He doesn’t want people living
in fear, but he also stressed
that people need to be cognizant
of the situation.
As Phase 3 of reopening is
tentatively set for July 6, Patricia’s
is debating putting
partitions between the tables
inside.
Looking forward, Schaentzler
told the Bronx Times that
operating a restaurant is defi -
nitely different than it used to
be.
“To open a restaurant when
everything was normal was
a risk,” he said. “Now try to
open a restaurant after this.”
Patricia’s of Morris Park thrives
Restaurant owners talk about their positive experiences