Illinois restaurants, bars officially close dining rooms amid COVID-19 pandemic
CHICAGO - At the well-known White Palace Grill near Roosevelt and Canal, history is being made.
"We’ve been here 80 years and we’ve never been closed,” said Peter Chiampas. “We don’t have keys to the door, we had to call the locksmith to put locks on the door.”
They are closing up for two weeks per Governor Pritzker’s mandate. All bars and restaurants will shut down to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
These only impacts dine-in services, restaurants can still have curbside pickup, carry out and deliver.
Orlando Medina is a driver for Door Dash and says he expects to work from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. now, but he's ready.
“Full tank, really not touching nothing, people's food when you hand it to them, they grab it from the bottom, no physical contact,” he said.
Tourists say they are shocked to see Chicago so empty.
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“A lot more dead than we expected,” said Gage Wassweiler, who is from Alabama. “Fewer people out and about, some of the bars and restaurants closed down so we don’t get to experience it and dinner tonight is Lou Malnati's.”
Tavern on Rush is busy getting ready for delivery and pickup orders and looking forward to a busy summer.
“There’s going to be a lot of people who are ready to come out and spend money, people working from home still getting paid, they will be ready to spend their money come our patio season,” said Grace Clark-McHale, Tavern on Rush Manager.