www.BXTimes.com BRONX WEEKLY July 5, 2020 2
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.
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,”
Patricia’s of Morris Park thrives during COVID-19. Photo by Jason Cohen
Schaentzler said.
He even spoke with a restaurant
consultant about how
to make things safe for the
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
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