New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Winter dining in CT gets creative
Restaurateurs bringing back igloos, greenhouses
As summer faded into fall, Millwright’s owner Tyler Anderson posed a question to his restaurant’s followers on Facebook: Should the Simsbury restaurant bring back its greenhouses for outdoor dining this winter?
The collective response was a resounding “yes.” Last winter, diners clamored for reservations in the private heated structures
overlooking a rushing waterfall outside the restaurant.
“People liked the idea of their own private little room,” Anderson said. “I think people thought they were fun, and they want to do it again.”
Last fall, COVID cases crept up again just as restaurateurs faced the loss of outdoor dining with the coming cold and snow. With restrictions on seating capacity, and reluctance from diners uncomfortable eating indoors, restaurant owners around the state moved quickly to build creative outdoor seating options: plastic igloos, greenhouses, cabanas and other heated, ventilated spaces.
A year later, restaurants are ready to break out their winter structures again, with plans for holiday decor and special menus. These started as an essential need for extra seating and customers’ comfort level, but now owners are looking to these outdoor spaces as desirable amenities, offering enjoyable cold-weather experiences.
Connecticut lawmakers also helped restaurateurs continue the practice this winter, agreeing in March to extend relaxed outdoor dining rules in cities and towns through March 2022.
Last season, Anderson also offered a series of semienclosed heated dining spaces along the bridge overlooking the waterfall, in a style he calls “train cars.” Those will also be offered for the winter, he said, and he and his team are planning “winter wonderland” decor.
Anderson said he’s aiming to put the greenhouses up by early November. As operation costs are hefty — propane to heat the structures can cost $1,000 a week, he said — he was hoping to gauge diners’ interest before committing to them again.
Restaurateurs acknowledged the pandemic isn’t over — even with high vaccination rates in Connecticut — and that some customers are still reluctant to dine indoors because of the threat of the delta variant.
At Kokomo’s Restaurant in Old Lyme, owner Brian Cleary said he’s happy to be able to offer both indoor dining and the private cabana spaces for diners’ varying comfort levels. But he’s already planning to offer winter experiences in future years.
“We were going to have to move in this direction anyway, just for our business model,” he said. “COVID pushed us to get creative, in a way...it kind of forced us to think outside the box, and it created something we can carry forward.”
Dockside Brewery’s “igloo park” in Milford became a sought-after reservation quickly last year, as guests rushed to book the brewery’s dozen igloo structures with different themes. Experiences include a “shipwrecked” pirate motif, a miniature jungle, a man cave with a leather couch, a spaceship, an enchanted forest, an ice castle and a nightclub design, with disco ball.
Last season, reservations were released seven days in advance every Friday at midnight and were typically fully-booked for the next week by 12:15 a.m., said manager Tom Hanley.
The igloos return to Dockside in mid-October, where the staff will start the season with three available structures, Hanley said. One will have a rotating theme and decor, starting in October with a fall design featuring foliage and pumpkins. More structures will be added in the coming weeks.
Igloos hold a minimum of six guests and up to 10, depending on the space. Groups must spend a minimum of $150 in food and drink purchases, and reservations are limited to a maximum of three hours.
Hanley said Dockside will also have a “very cozy” outdoor fresh air atmosphere outside of the igloos, with fire pits and open-air cabanas overlooking the water.
Cleary said 80 percent of his beachfront eatery and bar’s summer business is conducted outdoors. Since Kokomo’s is a year-round restaurant, he had already been thinking of a way to offer interesting winter offerings for visitors even before the pandemic hit, he said.
“COVID pushed us hard into making a decision, quick,” he said. As winter approached in late 2020, Cleary set up six individual plastic cabanas on the restaurant’s enclosed patio, all heated, ventilated and decorated with festive lights.
The cabana seating was an instant hit, and he’s planning a bigger slate of fall and winter specials for the upcoming season. Cabanas will be installed in the next few weeks, with a special $48 three-course menu for diners who reserve them. After Thanksgiving, Cleary’s planning to feature an “ice bar” experience, with ice sculptures, sushi, raw bar items and cocktails.
“We did what we did last year kind of out of necessity,” he said. “It went over so well, and it was so wellreceived. We just said no matter what happens, we’re going to do that again this winter.”