Defying Dining Room Shutdown Order Gets Houston Restaurant National Attention, Causes Reservations Frenzy — Inside Federal American Grill’s Controversial Return
Owner Matt Brice to Appear on CNN and Hedwig Village Mayor is Onboard With Controversial Plan
BY Shelby Hodge // 04.26.20
Annie Amante and Bennett Blocker in their 'banana' face masks, a riff on the county typo, at the reopening of the Federal American Grill. (Instagram photo)
“Such fun, at last, to be in such a groovy new hotspot!” emails Annie Amante, who was among the first to visit Matt Brice’s Federal American Grill, which reopened for business Friday night in spite of a county-wide mandate for restaurant dining room closures.
“Great music, great vibe,” she continues, discounting any COVID-19 worries. “Everyone there, including staff, was thrilled and happy to be out, together and celebrating Matt.”
Brice, who had originally opened the restaurant at 8731 on the Katy Freeway only three weeks before all Houston restaurant dining rooms were shuttered, agrees. “It was just fantastic. Fun is the word. It wasn’t weird at all,” he tells PaperCity.
It certainly was not the pre-coronavirus norm.
The dining room was kept at a 30 percent capacity. Waiters and all staff had their temperatures taken before work and wore masks and gloves that were changed regularly. All tables, covered in either black or white cloths, were kept in place though customers were allowed only at the white-clothed tables, thereby maintaining social distancing. Restrooms were supervised, limited to one person at a time, and cleaned after each use. Paper menus were one-time use as were the salt and pepper.
Federal American Grill served just over 100 meals Friday night to a reservations-only group with a two-hour time limit on the tables.
Outdoor Dining with Bering's
Could this be the new norm when restaurants are allowed to reopen?
Despite Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s order, Hedwig Village Mayor Brian Muecke issued a proclamation on April 23 allowing restaurants and other businesses in his community (which officially has Houston addresses) to reopen “while operating within the governor’s executive order.”
Reception of Brice’s move has been negative among stay-at-home proponents and health care stalwarts. But there has been positive response as well. Within the first two days of his opening, Brice had 3,000 requests for reservations. His phone lines and computer system crashed.
“The most important thing,” Brice says, “is taking reservations, reservations with time limits. It’s the key to the safety of these programs to get us open.”
With 90 percent of his former staff once again employed, Brice says the restaurant will be open from 5 to 10 pm daily going forward, reservations only. The dining room in his other Federal American Grill restaurant on Shepherd will not open.
To his critics, Brice responds: “I’m not trying to defy anything. What about due process? Why are we forced to close and big corporate stores like Home Depot are able to stay open? We are up there if not better (in mitigation) than those guys.”
His move has brought national attention with Brice scheduled to appear on CNN at 6:45 am on Monday. The same day that Governor Greg Abbott is announcing new regulations regarding getting Texas back to business.
Fans turning out in support of Brice and his effort on Friday night included Dr. Steven Hotze, who has filed suit against the county over the mandatory mask order; Taste of Texas owners Nina and Ed Hendee; Jim Pappas; Mayor Muecke; and a host of area village mayors.
