This week, we explored what outdoor dining looks like in the age of COVID, especially as the temperature drops in cities across the country. Outdoor dining was recently shuttered in LA County while cities like New York City have come under fire for new outdoor dining solutions that appear to have four walls and are insulated.

So, when dining outside isn’t really outside how can you rethink the safety of outdoor dining winter solutions? Read all about it here.

The team at Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and Three Dots and a Dash in Chicago opened up a virtual bar offering to-go cocktail kits and no food. Rather than branch off of the tiki theme of Three Dots and a Dash, Gin and Juice's menu is more about classic drinks prepared with full-size bottles of liquor and few ingredients.

And, market reseaarcher Mark Kalinowski, founder of New Jersey-based Kalinowski Equity Research, spoke with Restaurant Hospitality about the future of restaurant closures. Kalinowski and other reearchers spoke with us saying that COVID-related restaurant closures are mounting, but perhaps the actual number will be "less dire" than the initial forecast at the start of the pandemic.

See what else was trending on Restaurant Hospitality this week.