owleryrecipes-blog

[owleryrecipes-blog]

Like all of you, we have been watching the news this week with a wild range of emotions. Sadness and anger at yet another innocent black life lost at the hands of white police officers, outrage and frustration at a racist and ignorant president who fuels hate and violence, and alternately something like hope and joy that this may be a tipping point where enough people realize that something has to change, and that it is no longer enough to be silently non-racist, but that it is time to say something, anything, and to be vocally anti-racist. While we are still closed, we ask you to think about whatever money you might have spent going out to eat or buying carryout or gift certificates from us and consider making a donation (or an additional donation) to Bloomington Black Lives Matter (Venmo: @BLM-BTOWN), or to the various GoFundMes for bail funds or for the memorials of victims of police violence. We realize that without the privilege we were born with we may never have had the opportunity to own the business that we do, and feel that now is the time to use that platform to say that we stand unequivocally with the hundreds of thousands of protestors around the country and that black lives matter.

[owleryrecipes-blog]

Not exactly soup season but it is going to get pretty chilly the next few nights. Plus this is a great recipe that probably won’t require a special trip to the grocery store and a good excuse to finish a bottle of red wine!

[owleryrecipes-blog]

Let us know if this recipe works out for you! It’s one of my first attempts at scaling something down from the size that we make it at work to something someone could make at home. Thanks to Jess for the chickpea flour tip and Anna Powell Denton for the photo!

[owleryrecipes-blog]

Update 5/14/20

Hi all,

As states begin reopening their economies, we wanted to write a quick and honest update about how we are feeling and why we are going to stay completely closed for the time being. Most importantly, we don't see any way for us to open (even for delivery/pick-up only) that still allows us to maintain practices that will guarantee the safety of our employees, our customers, and ourselves. To do even the minimum amount of business to cover our fixed costs, we would have to have at least three people working in a building that is only 18 feet wide with narrow hallways and tight work spaces. We have to work side by side in the kitchen, crossing back and forth with each other frequently. There is simply no way for us to practice social distancing at work. Additionally, we receive a produce delivery six days a week and at least five or six other deliveries throughout the week, in addition to needing to make regular grocery runs. We can try to place fewer, larger orders and do our best to sanitize everything, but that is a lot of contact with people and products. We know that many service-oriented "essential workers" are feeling increasingly at risk and often getting sick, and we do not want to place additional risk on our employees or on the delivery drivers and grocery store employees we rely on to do business. Additionally, we want to make smart financial decisions today to allow us to stay open for the long term, and for now we feel that means staying closed. We have managed to cut all our bills as close to zero as possible, and nothing would be financially worse for us than ramping things up only to have to stop again due to a potential second wave of the virus. We also don't feel ready to ask our employees to come back, especially when many of them would have to give up unemployment benefits, for a job that we cannot guarantee the future of. Finally, we simply never set out to be a carryout or delivery business - the experience of having customers dine with us is central to what we do at the Owlery. We decided to open a restaurant almost a decade ago because we love the experience of going out to eat. We love providing that experience for our guests, and it feels really good when we get it right. When we make your food, put it in a box, and watch it sit while we wait for you to pick it up or for it to be delivered... well, it's just not what we set out to do with our business, not to mention all the additional waste we would generate by putting everything in to-go boxes and plastic portion cups. We have received a lot of kind messages and we greatly appreciate those of you that have donated to our staff or purchased a gift certificate. We realize that we will likely need to make some drastic changes as we navigate this new reality, and we know there are a lot of folks who want to see us open back up again soon. We do intend to do that one day, but we're just not there yet. We have heard over and over again that it is important to stay home, though the word on that is changing as some of our leaders seem to be placing more and more value on reopening the economy and less value on keeping our communities safe. We feel now that it's more important than ever for us to make this decision for ourselves to stay closed. We miss you and miss cooking for you. We miss our wonderful staff. We miss family brunch and drinking a Dragonfly after a busy shift. And we promise we will do our best to see you all and serve you all again someday. Thanks as always for your patience and support! With love and gratitude, Toby and Ryan owners, The Owlery