Outdoor dining ‘crucial’
Restaurant owners relieved as Connecticut extends pandemic rule
RIDGEFIELD — Some Ridgefield restaurants are relieved at the state’s expansion of outdoor dining, seeing it as a “crucial” component to their pandemic operations.
The state Senate unanimously approved legislation last week that extends outdoor dining through March 2022 for restaurants previously given the OK under the governor’s executive order and will make the process easier for others seeking local permits.
For Ridgefield establishments, such as the Tablao Wine Bar or Barn Door Restaurant, outdoor dining has been a great help, they said. It’ll be especially good this time of year, owner Vinny Gonzalez said.
“The patio is what we were waiting for,” said Gonzalez from a table inside his empty restaurant. “We were waiting for this season to have everything outside because people are just more comfortable sitting outside.”
His restaurant was desolate early Thursday afternoon, just a room of set dishes and glasses waiting to be used. Beyond the glass window was a small stretch of patio seating, also empty, with a couple of space heaters placed between tables.
As people hesitated to dine inside during the winter months, Gonzalez said he watched as patrons willingly ate their meals on Tablao’s deck, in
stead of inside at cozy tables separated from one another by partitions. Keeping this in mind, he decided it’d be beneficial to add an outdoor dining tent at the rear of the property, which he believes will be up and running next week.
The recently extended measure created a channel for restaurants to implement outdoor dining without having to cut through as much red tape for approval. Additional paperwork calling for items, such as traffic studies and site surveys, will no longer be required.
Zoning officials will be obligated to respond to permit applications for outdoor dining within 10 days of receiving them and can expedite permanent changes to their regulations if they want to increase outdoor retail.
As Gonzalez was saying he thinks people are starting to come out again after getting their vaccines, Lorraine Charles and Robin Fillhart walked in. Gonzalez briskly moved to meet them by the door. Gesturing toward the empty dining room, he told them to take a seat wherever they liked.
Charles and Fillhart, who said they are fully vaccinated, selected a table for four sandwiched between two wide partitions and sat across from one another.
They said they were there to try out a new restaurant before heading over to the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. Fillhart, who has chosen to dine outdoors throughout the winter, said she’s finally comfortable eating indoors.
“I wouldn’t have [eaten inside] unless I was vaccinated,” Charles said. “I would check to see how crowded a place is before sitting down.”
Gonzalez said he tries to capitalize on good weather because, even as more people are coming out, they are more comfortable being seated outside.
“We have to take advantage of that,” said Gonzalez, adding that’s why he’s adding an outdoor dining tent.
Arber Muriqi, owner of the Barn Door restaurant, agreed. He said outdoor dining and its extension are “crucial” because plenty of people are still afraid to dine indoors.
Barn Door did not offer outdoor seating before the pandemic but had to improvise and integrate the option amid difficult times, he said. Muriqi took a section of the parking lot and converted it into a dining area with tables and floral decorations. He found that people “loved it,” and were able to come out feeling “safe.”
But the outdoor section did more than protect customers: it helped keep the restaurant running.
“It helped us keep our employees and we were able to pay everyone for the last year, which was huge,” he added.
State Sen. Will Haskell, D-Westport, said outdoor dining was “one of the few silver linings of this past year.”
"It helped keep businesses open and transformed neighborhoods for the better as we all did our best to stay healthy,” he said in a statement.
Gonzalez said people ask him how the business is doing, to which he replies, “thank God we survived because many places closed.”
“I think the hardest part, we already passed,” he said. “It’s not going to be quick, but little by little we’ll get back to maybe the normal.”