Restaurants blog for patrons
Gas interruption prompts postings
Downtown restaurants are turning to the Internet in their attempt to recover from the financial strain of having to serve only cold food or to shut down altogether after gas service to the area was interrupted for several days.
A public relations firm started a website called "Financial District Open for Business" to allow area restaurants to update customers on their status. It is available at fidoboston.blogspot.com.
"We are based in the Financial District and noticed there was a lot of confusion about who was open and who was closed because of the repair work," said Dianne Falaguerra of the firm Solomon McCown & Co. She also said that some of the newly opened restaurants were seeing slower-than-usual business. She said the firm was not charging restaurants for the blog postings.
The notification website was launched on day six of efforts by National Grid to restore service cut off after a high-pressure water main broke in the Financial District Saturday morning, rupturing a gas line and flooding the gas distribution network with tens of thousands of gallons of water.
The utility said yesterday that service had been restored to 90 percent of 410 customers whose gas service was shut off while crews flushed out water and repaired damaged meters.
Paul Guzzi, president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, said he had heard from several restaurants complaining about the extreme financial strain of the incident.
"I don't know what the financial losses are or might be, but the constant theme is, 'I want to be open for business for our customers,' " he said.
National Grid, which expects to spend up to $5 million responding to the rupture, acknowledges customers' frustration with the lengthy process. In a statement, William Akley, National Grid senior vice president of gas distribution, thanked customers for "their patience and confidence in us during this trying incident."
The blog included entries for 20 restaurants yesterday afternoon. Postings showed that many restaurants still could serve cold items only.
No pizza was being served at Nunzio's Pizzeria on State Street yesterday morning, but a blog post indicated that cold salads and subs were available. McFadden's Restaurant and Saloon was offering cold wraps and cheese-and-cracker plates. Bakey's on Broad Street was offering everything on its menu except chili.
Rock Sugar Thai Cafe, whose owner told the Globe Monday that the restaurant had lost $10,000 in three days, declared that the restaurant was back in business and "hoping to fill up" during lunch.
John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com. 