New York restaurants may be facing the inability to host sit-down diners and in-house events, but Fresco’s Cantina in Queens is hoping to change that. Although you can’t enjoy food in their dining room, they’ve decided to add a dose of drag to their delivery orders.
The Mexican fusion restaurant, based in Astoria, has added the option for drag queens to deliver your food along with a song and a dance. The service was announced last weekend and is available to the surrounding neighborhood as well as Long Island City. Drag queens are not unfamiliar faces around Fresco’s Cantina, which often used to hold drag brunches, drag bingos, and viewings of RuPaul’s Drag Race helmed by glammed-up queens.
“I was honestly so nervous,” Audrey Phoenix, one of the drag performers, told Time Out New York. “Most drag queens have been doing digital shows. The concept for curbside pickup and a number made me think, ‘Is this going to work?’”
The drag deliveries are only available on weekends, with the next outing set for Sunday, May 31st. For customers who order at least $50 worth of food, the drag queen will get glitzed up to deliver and perform — in entire ensembles including masks and gloves — for only an additional $15.
“We wanted to remain relevant and bring happiness to people,” Brian Martinez, who owns Fresco’s Cantina with husband Adrian Suero told Time Out New York.
Four drag queens are set to deliver food and performances, and last weekend’s launch saw them strutting to songs by Rihanna, Donna Summer, and Dua Lipa. According to Time Out New York, it wasn’t just the drag queens performing — customers and their neighbors would often come out to the sidewalk or peek out their windows to watch the show. Some even joined in the dancing.
“These queens make everyone feel better,” Martinez told Time Out New York. “You can’t help but smile.”
Due to the currently unknown future for New York restaurants and the cancellation of Pride festivities, the drag queen delivery service is set to happen every weekend for the month of June.
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