When Ekiben co-owner Steve Chu got a call from a friend asking to donate a few of his signature steamed buns to local hospital workers in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, he was more than happy to help. 

“We can’t do anything to help them except try to keep their spirits up,” Chu says. 

At the time, hospitals were overflowing with patients and the shutdown had hit local businesses especially hard. In fact, Chu says at one point, Ekiben almost went out of business.

Then, an opportunity presented itself inspired by his friend’s request: “We wanted to do something to help us to help them,” Chu says. 

This was the inspiration behind Ekiben’s “Buy a Hero a Bun” program, in which customers can spend anywhere from $10-100 to send sandwiches to feed healthcare workers at 17 hospitals across the city.

Ekiben continued to donate sandwiches as the weeks went on, but the team wanted to do more. With assistance from The Power of 10 Initiative, a nonprofit that supports neighborhood restaurants, as well as Baltimore City Councilman Zeke Cohen, they set up shop in community centers all over the city, distributing around 2,000 steamed buns per session.

“It was great to have the means to just go outside and work again,” says Chu, whose team often worked farmers markets and community festivals pre-COVID. “Everyone really missed it.”  

When natural disasters strike, communities often turn to restaurants and local businesses for help. A pandemic, says Cohen, is no different.

“They understand their role as business owners, but also as community members,” says Cohen, who represents Baltimore City’s first district that includes Ekiben’s flagship store on Eastern Avenue in Fells Point, “and that if people are suffering, they have an obligation.” 

In March, as local restaurants were forced to grapple with the immense challenges of shuttering their dining rooms, laying off staff, and pivoting to carryout and delivery service, many managed to still find ways to give back to those in need.

Days after stay-home orders came down, dedicated workers from Mera Kitchen Collective, Alma Cocina Latina, Wilde Thyme Baltimore, True Chesapeake Oyster Co., and many others got to work preparing meals for local donation drives.

“We knew that, because of the inequities in the city, there were going to be massive gaps,” Mera Kitchen Collective co-founder Emily Lerman told us in June about her team’s ongoing efforts to distribute meals to underserved communities. “We thought, ‘If we can do this, it’s a win on every level.’”

Others, like Ekiben, Cocina Luchadoras, and Motzi Bread, implemented pay-it-forward models that allow customers to add extra items to their orders to be donated later.

Sotto Sopra, an Italian fixture in Mt. Vernon, recently introduced its own buy-one, give-one special running through the month of August. Customers can purchase a meal (everything from fettuccine bolognese to pork ossobuco) and have the same dish delivered to a friend, neighbor, frontline worker, or someone experiencing homelessness free of charge.

“I thought it was a great way to put a positive spin on this pandemic,” says owner Riccardo Bosio.  

So far, the restaurant has delivered 30 free meals as a part of the special. Bosio even recalls one woman who called from New York to purchase two meals, one of which was for her daughter.   

Many bars and restaurants have also donated food, latex gloves, and masks to hospitals, according to Darin Mislan, owner of The Admiral’s Cup Restaurant & Bar in Fells Point.

“Our industry responds well to these types of crises,” says Mislan, who is also president of Fell’s Point Main Street. “We’re always the go-to when there’s a hurricane or something. So the first week we were closed we were like ‘Okay anything that is perishable we’re going to try to donate.’”

Cohen points out that Admiral’s Cup has demonstrated leadership throughout the pandemic, often rallying for safer practices in all local restaurants. On August 7, Mayor C. Bernard “Jack” Young announced that restaurants could reopen at 25 percent capacity. But Mislan and his staff felt uneasy about operating inside with coronavirus cases still on the rise. So, he opted to continue outside-dining only until further notice and 40 other establishments in the area followed suit. Mislan says it was important to him that the decision was unanimous.  

“When I weigh those things, I don’t think the risk is worth it for any reward at this point,” he says.

As Cohen sums up, the restaurant industry continues to set an example of unity and hospitality even under the most challenging circumstances. 

“For me, the pandemic has heightened the profound disparities within our city and our community,” he says, “but it has also demonstrated a level of leadership and compassion among our small businesses and community restaurants.” 

Typically, the annual Baltimore Cocktail Week kicks off with a cocktail competition. But rather than pitting local bartenders against one another, organizer Ginny Lawhorn is taking a more collaborative approach this time around.

“In the face of the heartbreaking number of restaurant closures in the last year and a half, I didn’t feel like we needed another competition,” says Lawhorn, the co-owner of Sticky Rice, who started the event in 2015. “There’s more of a desire to create a community conversation and focus on cultivating small businesses, whether it’s engaging in them as consumers or supporting the jobs that they create.”

This year, the weeklong initiative happening July 30-August 4 will launch with an across-town happy hour at five bars scattered from Hampden to Canton, including Holy Frijoles, The Red Star in Charles Village, Sticky Rice, Bartenders Pub, and The Regal Beagle. On Monday, July 30 from 4-10 p.m., each spot will create a specialty drink using a certain spirit, and a portion of the final sales will be donated to local nonprofits.

“Baltimore has so many unique communities,” Lawhorn says. “People become so comfortable exploring their own, but sometimes it’s nice to engage customers and try to get them just a neighborhood away.”

The inclusive feel of the kick-off happy hour is fitting for this year’s theme, “Better Together”—which Lawhorn says will be an undertone in all of the Baltimore Cocktail Week meetups. From a special brunch to a conversation about collective bargaining, the daily events (many of which are open to the public) will address subjects like sustainability, innovation, and wellness in the hospitality industry.

Feminism will also be a topic of discussion, as five female industry leaders gather for a “Badass Business Babes” panel at Waverly Brewing on July 31 at 7 p.m. Admission to the talk is $25 with all proceeds being donated to House of Ruth. Panelists will include Lane Harlan of Clavel and W.C. Harlan, Judy Neff of Checkerspot Brewing, Carrie Podles of Alexander’s Tavern and Papi’s Tacos, Emily Lerman of Mera Kitchen Collective, and Paige Baskauskas of Opici Wines.

“It’s going to be great to hear everyone else’s opinions about working in the hospitality industry from all sides,” says Baskauskas, a wine sales representative for Opici. “This is a great event to show everyone that we’re educated when it comes to our craft. We know what we’re doing and we want to expand on that even more.”

The week continues with a free, all-day series of wellness workshops at R. House in Remington on August 1. Led by our own local “healthtender” Amie Ward, the gathering will begin with yoga followed by a series of conversations about nutrition, sobriety, and sexual assault prevention.

Another industry trend being represented is sustainability, which will be addressed at a get-together at Foraged in Hampden on August 2. Six national brands, including Bombay Sapphire and Sierra Nevada, will present local bartenders with information about how to minimize their ecological footprints.

“It’s not a secret that we’re a wasteful industry,” Lawhorn says. “It’s a lot of packaging and food waste. But where do you start? Paper straws and compostable to-go containers are amazing. It’s all about focusing on that next step to lower your environmental impact.”

Later that day, Ceremony Coffee in Mt. Vernon will host “Punch with a Purpose,” a collaborative cocktail class that will teach consumers about the versatility of different spirits by creating a seasonal punch. “It’s super fun to dump bottles in things,” quips Lawhorn. “It’s also exciting to be able to engage a beautiful space like Ceremony in a different way for an evening conversation.”

Closing out the week will be a Baltimore Cocktail Week collaboration with the Fells Point Farmers’ Market on August 4. Attendees will be able to sample sips from eight neighborhood bartenders and vote for their favorites. The winner will be the signature cocktail at the End of Summer Soiree at the Sagamore Pendry on August 23.

In keeping with the “Better Together” theme, Lawhorn says she hopes that the weeklong initiative sparks a sense of community engagement in patrons and bartenders alike.

“There’s something so important about conversations next to your friends at a bar stool, or across the bar with a bartender,” she says, “and what that can mean to cultivation of ideas and a sense of community in a city.”