Brothers in alms
Caterers were among the civilians who gave help selflessly during New York's darkest hours, and many will continue to play a large part in the city's recovery. Gillian Drummond hears their stories.
On the day of the attacks on the World Trade Center, Don Pintabona had two things on his mind. One was to offer his help, the other to clear out his restaurant's fridge.
Pintabona is executive chef at the Tribeca Grill, just a few streets away from the scene of the attack. Although still standing, the restaurant was virtually cut off from the public by the devastation. So the day after the Twin Towers collapsed, Pintabona made his way to the restaurant, emptied the fridge of its contents, and helped in the only way he knew how. He began to cook.
That night, he and his staff prepared their food in makeshift kitchens at a high school set up to deal with the injured and the rescue workers. "It was pretty nasty," he says. "It was dim lighting, and there was a triage room next door. There were hospital beds next to where people were eating." Nevertheless, that night they fed 1,500 people.
But Pintabona knew they could do better. "I remembered England during the Falklands when they commandeered the cruise ships," he says. He called the owners of the cruise ship Spirit of New York. The vessel had abandoned its lunch and dinner cruises on 11 September and, along with two sister ships, ferried the stranded and injured from Manhattan to New Jersey. Pintabona suggested it dock at Manhattan and become a dining room for relief workers.
He called several fellow restaurateurs, strings were pulled to obtain the necessary permits, and Pintabona's plan went into action. Just two days after the attacks, chefs from 12 of Manhattan's finest restaurants - including Aureole, Daniel, Bowley Bakery and the Gotham Bar and Grill - cooked gourmet dishes which were transported by speedboat and another ship to the Spirit of New York, docked at Battery Park near Ground Zero. The food was reheated on board and served buffet-style in the ship's dining areas - three decks with a total capacity of 550, complete with tablecloths and donated flowers.
Many restaurants had had to close because of the devastation, and those that were open were doing just half of their business, says Pintabona, so there were plenty of donations and volunteers. And, like all New Yorkers, the caterers just wanted to help.
Meanwhile, Samantha Unger, an air pollution broker from Miami Beach now living in New York, was having a crash course in catering management. She and her brother had headed towards Ground Zero on the day of the attacks. They wanted to feed people, but weren't sure how. Soon they'd taken over a local church and Unger worked through a list of restaurants, requesting donations. It wasn't difficult. Many restaurants had stock in but nobody to come in and eat it. Unger helped to feed 3,000 people on the first day and 10,000 over the next two days. But the Spirit of New York was emerging as the prime eating place, and Unger - who is still volunteering with chefs at Ground Zero - gave up her efforts and joined the cruise ship.
Until 12 September, Jim Stewart was sales and marketing manager for Charlie Palmer, chef and owner of New York's Aureole restaurant and private catering venture Astra. "I was back at work with my suit on and I turned to Charlie and said, ‘I shouldn't be here'," says Stewart. He, too, headed for the cruise ship. Rescue workers, emergency management workers and the FBI were flocking there, and with 600 people an hour to feed - 25,000 a day at its peak - Pintabona had to rethink his strategy. His restaurateur friends simply couldn't keep up with the demand.
In addition, New York's health department inspectors were "very nervous" about food coming from so many different restaurants, says Pintabona. "After the Oklahoma City bombing a lot of relief workers were getting sick, and the inspectors were concerned."
So ready-meal suppliers, dairies and airline caterers were called on to help. Their donations made up 75-80% of the food served, and restaurants made up the rest.
As the operation grew, the American Red Cross came in to help, while Unger oversaw the chefs. They and other volunteers - including experienced restaurant staff, many now jobless - were organised into groups of 30 to work three eight-hour shifts: 8am to 4pm, 4pm to midnight, and midnight to 8am. Those with no catering experience were steered away from prep and kitchen work and instead cleared tables or served coffee.
But the aptly named Spirit of New York was more than just a feeding place. Massage tables were laid out, chiropractors were on hand, rest areas set aside, and 20 telephone lines were made available for rescue workers to call home. Celebrities such as John Travolta, Susan Sarandon and the cast of TV drama The Sopranos visited to serve food but, more importantly, boost morale.
"They needed hot food but they needed a lot more than that," says Pintabona. "They were seeing some unbelievably horrendous things and they were just happy to be alive."
The ship has now resumed its cruises, and on 6 October the operation moved to the still empty Financial Center Marriott hotel, which suffered flood damage and broken windows during the attack. Marriott has donated its kitchen, health club, and its ballroom, which serves as a dining room. The Red Cross has set up beds for the rescue workers in one of the meeting spaces.
Restaurateur David Bowley, now under contract with the Red Cross, has turned his Bowley Bakery on Duane Street in Tribeca into a prep kitchen, where 150 volunteers a day work round the clock to supply the Marriott and a second respite centre at St John's University's Manhattan campus.
Up to 75,000 meals a day are being served across the two respite centres. Menus are rotated daily, and frozen food is now kept to a minimum. One day last week, the menu included seared salmon with horseradish sauce, turkey chilli, yellow and green squash and fresh mashed potatoes. Stewart, who is working closely with Bowley, puts the budget at about $5 (£3.50) a head.
Bowley is working tirelessly, and refuses even to talk to reporters. The Red Cross had to bend his arm to accept money for his efforts.
Stewart is working for free and doesn't even know if he'll get his old job back. "But this is much more important," he says. "I knew a lot of people from Windows on the World, and Cantor Fitzgerald was one of my good customers. They're all gone. This is a small tribute to these people."
The Red Cross has also contracted New York-based event caterer Great Performances at three more locations along the river front near Ground Zero. One centre feeds families of the victims, another emergency management workers, and a third police, marines and health workers. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served at each, with 3,000 to 4,000 people per sitting. Dishes include chicken stew, beef bourguignon, fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
Food has been not only fuel for the rescue workers, but succour for the families, who have been turning up to fill out death certificates and talk with medical examiners.
The clean-up operation is expected to take another six months to a year, and the Red Cross is still determining how long it will have to keep offering counselling and food.
Pintabona, back at the reopened Tribeca Grill and trading 30-40% down on normal, says: "I really didn't have time to think about it. I'm just now starting to process it all."
Those who helped the food relief effort
"They say in Los Angeles it's how much money you have, and in New York it's who you know," jokes Jim Stewart, a colleague of New York restaurateur Charlie Palmer and one of the chef volunteers in New York.
Stewart, formerly with Aramark, the 21 Club and Tavern on the Green, settled into a makeshift office on the Spirit of New York, pulled out his old contacts book and got on the phone.
Together with the Tribeca Grill's Don Pintabona and others, they secured food donations from the likes of frozen ready-meal supplier Stouffer's; Cuisine Solutions, a supplier to chefs and airlines; Starbucks; and Dunkin' Donuts.
Restaurants donated "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in food and labour, he says. Chinatown restaurants alone sent 500 meals a day to the ship.
And then there were the donations from companies, individuals and other states. Suppliers in Oregon sent bags of potatoes. Gifts of bottled water filled half an airline terminal at John F Kennedy airport.
Donations still come in, but Stewart admits they're drying up, and he is now having to go further afield for help.
