Be patient with us as we slowly recover!

For the last eight years, we here at the Steppin’ Up To The Plate main office complex and hi-rise mall have looked forward to welcoming you back to Rehoboth Beach. However, this year’s welcome is somewhat bittersweet, as our beloved restaurants have been severely restricted as to inside dining. The restaurants that are able to do it have been limited to takeout and delivery.

The silver lining around this otherwise dark cloud is that our locals have … well, stepped up the plate … to support our local eateries so most of them would be here when vacationers return. This past Monday, restaurants were finally permitted to welcome an extremely limited number of guests back into their dining rooms. So limited, in fact, that some of our local owners still won’t open for indoor dining until later in the month.

We locals are doing our part, but the restaurant owners, managers and staff are the true heroes. Eateries that never did carryout were doing it within 24 hours. Owners adjusted schedules for kitchens and dining rooms in an attempt to hold on to as many faithful employees as they could.

Behind-the-scenes activities like ordering takeout containers (almost impossible to get nowadays) and negotiating with food purveyors and landlords took center stage as hardworking entrepreneurs figured out new ways to hold on to their precious investments.

So over the next few weeks, a few lucky diners can sit in restaurants if they make reservations. Service might be off a bit at first as everyone gets used to these temporary inconveniences. But know that you are welcome back into what many restaurateurs consider their homes. Virtually all of our local eateries will continue to do some combination of carryout and delivery for the foreseeable future. Outside dining will become more ubiquitous. If the weather cooperates, that could actually be a good thing. And when you do go out to eat or to get carryout, don’t forget to tip! Many of the delivery people and those bringing food out to your car are servers, bussers and runners who survive on tips.

See the comprehensive takeout and delivery list for Sussex County - including addresses and phone numbers - at www.rehobothfoodie.com/takeout. Get out there and make the rounds so we can keep our Cape Region food industry alive!