DineOUT NYC

David Rockwell and long-time friend Melba Wilson, Owner of Melba’s Restaurant in Harlem and
President of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, are together expanding DineOut NYC to benefit
community dining options in neighborhoods around the five boroughs in need. DineOUT NYC offers
an innovative and modular outdoor dining kit-of-parts that helps jump-start the restaurant
industry after debilitating closures due to COVID-19. Our goal is to restore vital jobs and the
ritual of dining out, while ensuring that restaurant operators and staff are safe and comfortable.

Leveraging New York City’s Open Streets initiative, we are identifying communities severely
impacted by COVID-19, where there is the greatest need for restaurants to reopen safely, to
provide dining opportunities that accommodate multiple restaurants. Working with New York
City’s Department of Transportation and the Chinatown BID/Partnership, DineOut NYC is installing
the first communal dining space in lower Manhattan’s Chinatown. Expanding the sidewalk, our
installation on Mott Street utilizes parking spaces and an “Open Street” between Moscow and
Worth streets.

Our outdoor dining areas provide new public space and accommodate multiple restaurants in one
neighborhood, creating a safe, communal experience. Seating over 100 guests simultaneously,
DineOut NYC on Mott Street includes outdoor furniture and our kit-of-parts to help maintain social
distancing. 12 colorful, covered dining pavilions, featuring banquettes for groups of five, line the
street, and tall planters filled with lush greenery separate guests from passersby and traffic.
Custom-designed, curved plexiglass partitions help further divide freestanding tables and chairs
between the pavilions. Recreating the communal nature of a restaurant in a safe setting, the
dining partitions allow couples and small groups to sit closer together without the risk of
exposure to one another.

Festive pennant banners float above the street and string lights create a warm glow at night,
adding to the convivial atmosphere.

Outdoor dining tables and furniture are provided by Room & Board. Greenery is from Sweetbrook
Nursery & Garden Center and flowers are from Chelsea Garden Center.

DineOut NYC on Mott Street will feature murals created by students from the Transfiguration
School, working with Sammi Qu-Kowk—a New York City-based animator, illustrator, artist and
Transfiguration School and Pratt graduate. Qu-Kwok celebrates dim sum and draws upon the rich
culinary heritage and culture that is so deeply ingrained in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood.
The murals feature varying staples of dim sum cuisine, grouped depending on color, for a total of
six separate designs that are painted on each planter facing the street. The background design is
heavily influenced by ancient Chinese cloisonné art. Approximately 20 students from
Transfiguration School—a Pre-K – 8th grade Blue Ribbon school founded 188 years ago to serve
the children of immigrants and their families—will be hand-painting the murals with Qu-Kwok.

The dining pavilions will also showcase tabletops with Sammi Qu-Kwok’s illustrations of Chinese
zodiac signs, along with vignettes inspired by Chinatown scenes and people by New York-based
visual artist James Chan. Chan’s illustrations were originally commissioned by Think!Chinatown for
its HowtoChinatown.NYC project.

Founder and President: David Rockwell, FAIA
Leadership: Joan MacKeith and Matthew Winter, RA, LEED AP
Project Manager: Diane Hang Nguyen
Interior Designer: Katie Gillespie
Team: Beth Bowles, Stephen Croke, Michael Dereskewicz, Logan Dumont, Liam Innes, Marvin Pelayo Lopez, Michael McCarty, Morgan Moore, Francisco Rocha and James Waterhouse
Field Team Volunteers: Rockwell Group Staff