--- title: Mayor Bill de Blasio Eats at Restaurant Ebola Patient Visited description: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, his wife Chirlane McCray, and New York City Health Commissioner Mary Bassett on Saturday afternoon dined at a West Village restaurant that briefly closed after it was revealed the city's first Ebola patient. canonical: https://time.com/3539054/ebola-nyc-de-blasio-meatballs/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-25T20:30:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:00:54.946Z article:section: Health og:title: Mayor Bill de Blasio Eats at Restaurant Ebola Patient Visited og:description: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, his wife Chirlane McCray, and New York City Health Commissioner Mary Bassett on Saturday afternoon dined at a West Village restaurant that briefly closed after it was revealed the city's first Ebola patient. og:url: https://time.com/3539054/ebola-nyc-de-blasio-meatballs/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ab83388f1575fbc/698762cd55a859f813a8370e/457791320.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Doctor Quarantined At NYC's Bellevue Hospital After Testing Positive For Ebola og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mayor Bill de Blasio Eats at Restaurant Ebola Patient Visited twitter:description: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, his wife Chirlane McCray, and New York City Health Commissioner Mary Bassett on Saturday afternoon dined at a West Village restaurant that briefly closed after it was revealed the city's first Ebola patient. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ab83388f1575fbc/698762cd55a859f813a8370e/457791320.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NYC Mayor Noshes on Meatballs to Calm Ebola Fears by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 25, 2014 8:30 PM UTC  Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City speaks at a press conference October 24, 2014 in New York City. In New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City speaks at a press conference October 24, 2014 in New York City. In New York City.Kena Betancur—Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 25, 2014 8:30 PM UTC New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, his wife Chirlane McCray, and New York City Health Commissioner Mary Bassett on Saturday afternoon dined at a West Village restaurant that briefly closed after it was revealed the city’s first Ebola patient, Dr. Craig Spencer, had himself enjoyed a meal there not long before being diagnosed with the disease. “We are not only resilient, we are not only tough, we stand by each other,” said de Blasio in a press conference after his meal at The Meatball Shop, a well-known city eatery specializing in its eponymous dish. In a notable revelation, when asked by reporters about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s Friday decision to enforce a mandatory 21-day quarantine for all health workers returning from the three West African countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak, de Blasio confirmed that neither governor told him about the plan beforehand. On Saturday, Illinois announced it will [put similar measures into place](http://time.com/3537755/ebola-new-york-new-jersey/). “In an atmosphere of crisis, we respect the chain of command,” de Blasio said. The mayor would not directly answer whether he supports the mandatory quarantine plan, nor would City Health Commissioner Bassett. The mayor did, however, say the quarantine directive was made with “inherent flexibility.” Bassett will be overseeing quarantines in New York City, though she told TIME she hasn’t seen anything in writing yet. Both de Blasio and Bassett tried several items on The Meatball Shop’s menu, seeking to emphasize it was safe to eat there. The restaurant, however, didn’t need the mayoral stamp of approval. It was packed with the usual weekend brunch crowd, while owner Daniel Holzman told reporters that when he reopened the restaurant at 6 p.m. local time Friday there was a line down the block filled with restaurant supporters. “It’s an example of how New Yorkers deal with a challenge,” said de Blasio of the packed house. Dr. Spencer, the city’s sole Ebola patient, is currently being treated at Bellevue Hospital, while his fiancée and two of friends are still under quarantine. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3539054/ebola-nyc-de-blasio-meatballs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3539054/ebola-nyc-de-blasio-meatballs/"},"headline":"NYC Mayor Noshes on Meatballs to Calm Ebola Fears","datePublished":"2014-10-25T20:30:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:00:54.946Z","description":"Mayor says he was not informed of new quarantine plans","url":"https://time.com/3539054/ebola-nyc-de-blasio-meatballs/","keywords":["ebola","Ebola outbreak"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ab83388f1575fbc/698762cd55a859f813a8370e/457791320.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ab83388f1575fbc/698762cd55a859f813a8370e/457791320.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Doctor Quarantined At NYC's Bellevue Hospital After Testing Positive For Ebola","caption":"Doctor Quarantined At NYC's Bellevue Hospital After Testing Positive For Ebola","creditText":"Kena Betancur—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3539054/ebola-nyc-de-blasio-meatballs/","name":"NYC Mayor Noshes on Meatballs to Calm Ebola Fears"}}]}] ```