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Food Fight from p23 to get his employees working again. “We
wanted to get supplies in. We had a plan.” That plan was thwarted by Mayor
Philip Levine’s decree, which cost the restaurant group as much as $100,000 per day in lost revenue, according to Ayora. Things were very different in New York and New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy whipped through there in 2012. “As soon as the winds died down, people were back to work,” says Ayora, who was there at the time. “It’s the American way. We just want to get back to work with- out the government deciding for us.”
Sam Gorenstein and Roger Duarte — partners in My Ceviche and Zuuk Mediterranean Kitchen — were less frustrated, perhaps because of more ad- vanced planning. Long before Hurricane Irma formed at sea, they added a hur- ricane plan to employee manuals. They found out firsthand how their action plan worked this week, Duarte says: “By Tues- day, six of our seven restaurants were open with a limited menu. By Wednes- day, we were active and ready to roll.”
With his reputation on the line for serv- ing fresh seafood, Duarte says he was care- ful to make sure everything was safe to eat. “I’d rather close for a month than serve bad food. People always mention seafood, but chicken is just as dangerous. Keeping [ev- erything] cold is the most important thing.”
The operations manual, which included food safety, came in handy. A centralized kitchen kept its integrity during the storm as national purveyors somehow rolled in supplies. Duarte says his employees and the community are now first priority. “We have 150 employees, all in South Florida, and we have to take care of them. I opened up my house to anyone who needs it.”
My Ceviche and Zuuk will also give half of the restaurants’ proceeds from September 15 through 17 to hurricane- relief efforts organized by Feeding South Florida, a local charity. “They’re experts,” Duarte says. “Our community is what puts the roof over our heads and helps us meet our financial obligations.”
Duarte adds that although his hur- ricane plan worked well, there’s always room for improvement. “Everything in life is a lesson learned. You can say ride a storm out or put a policy in place and make it better every time. With cell tow- ers out, could we create an employee buddy system to better communicate?”
Duarte, who also owns George Stone Crab, won’t even speculate on how Irma might effect his other business.” We’ll take that step by step. There’s nothing I can do. What I can do is help people in the community... There’s so much more than business right now. Crabs walk backward; people don’t.”
At the Fair Expo Center, Dewey LoSasso is working with a crew of ten to provide meals to Keys residents displaced by the storm. The chef, best known for his work at the Forge in Miami Beach and Schnebly Redland’s Winery in Homestead, proudly notes the company he currently works for, Bill Hansen Catering, has fed four U.S. presidents, a pope, and, as of Irma,
scores of evacuees for the Red Cross. He says a call came in Tuesday at 3 p.m.
to help feed the people living in a makeshift shelter at Florida International University, and Bill Hansen, the name behind the com- pany, immediately agreed to serve 2,000 breakfasts, lunches, and dinners a day. Be- fore daybreak Wednesday, LoSasso and his team began preparing a makeshift catering kitchen in the dark. “Our culinary team was dealing with no power. We were work- ing with flashlights on propane stoves.”
The first meal they served was simple — bagels with cream cheese, cereal with almond milk, and orange juice — but the reaction was extraordinary. “People were coming to us and saying, ‘We haven’t eaten much for days and our homes are down, and
you’re giving us bagels... and cream cheese.’ ” LoSasso says that although he often
serves fine food, this work is all about giving people a hot meal. “The bulk of the meals came from donations from purveyors, including Cheney Broth- ers, who stepped up to the plate to pitch in. I’m serving a Stouffer’s lasagna and I’m telling this woman it’s my mother’s recipe. You do what you have to do when someone hasn’t eaten in four days.”
LoSasso made sure the pasta was served with a fresh salad with house-made vin- aigrette. He says among the cross section of humanity that showed up — including police officers, people with special needs, and Red Cross personnel — a family of Mexican migrant workers carrying their
belongings in a plastic garbage bag stood out. “It was hard,” he says. “For a moment, I had to walk away [to gather myself ].”
He and his team plan to continue their work, but first he’s heading home to col- lect avocados to make guacamole for his neighborhood police department in Miami Shores. Says LoSasso: “They’re dealing with a lot of personalities right now.”
The chef says he can also relate to police officers putting the public be- fore themselves. “In a way, I think of chefs, cooks, and catering companies as first responders. We also show up and take care of you. It’s what we do. We feed people spiritually with food.”
Laine.Doss@MiamiNewTimes.com
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