New York City will begin opening up again in the next week, and the reopening of the city will take place in phases. People who work in white-collar professions such as myself are likely part of the very last phases to return to work, so I may not be “allowed” to go back to the office until the end of this month. But this reopening also means that restaurants who felt unsafe to open for delivery/takeout during this pandemic finally feel like they can open now, even if it’s just delivery/takeout. One of these restaurants was Ba Xuyen, who reopened for takeout earlier this week. They are a cash-only, independently owned establishment with owners who speak little to no English. It’s one of my most favorite spots in New York given that it has the most authentic banh mi in New York City when compared to the ones all over Vietnam. One of the fears we had at the beginning of the pandemic was: what restaurants are still going to be financially sound enough to reopen at the time of re-opening, or will many of them just close forever? The more of these businesses that close, the more New York will not retain what makes it such a great place to live and eat. I hope Ba Xuyen will be okay.