INDY EASTSIDE: It doesn’t take much looking to find the dramatic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and scrambling business interests.

Little ice cream at Kroger

A quick trip to a nearby Kroger store shows they’r’e struggling to keep up. I visited the Kroger at 10th and Shadeland which was busy but not jammed. There was plenty of empty shelves. Meat supplies seemed decent but ice cream was cleared out. Fruits and veggies seemed plentiful but don’t go looking for a biscuit. Lots of other examples but that’s a good clue.

I noted here last week that I wanted to visit locally-owned restaurants for carry-out over the next few weeks. Those small places work on very small margins. I hit the legendary Steer Inn on 10th near Emerson. You may remember that Guy Fieri of Food Network‘s Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives paid the Inn a visit a few years back.

It’s a great breakfast spot and has a darn good hamburger. They’re also known for their homemade pie but I’ve never tried that temptation.

Support these small food outlets now and especially when they reopen.

A lot of people are still trying to figure out what will and will not be open starting tomorrow. I’ll make note here of the interesting ones.

A final coronavirus note: I had heard household thermometers were scare. So between the Kroger and the Steer Inn I stopped at two national-chain drugstores and neither had a thermometer. I’ll have  to keep looking.

Thanks for reading – now, go wash your hands!