Black Dog Tavern will add outdoor seating

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The Black Dog Tavern on the Vineyard Haven waterfront is adding a 27-seat covered outdoor patio. The construction is the latest addition to the well-known restaurant that Capt. Robert S. Douglas, designer, builder, and captain of the topsail schooner Shenandoah, opened in 1971 so there would be a year-round place to eat in town.

The outdoor seating will not have the water view that patrons sitting inside enjoy, but it will give summer diners an opportunity to sit outside, said Dan Pucillo, Black Dog chief operating officer. “We would love to provide a water view for the new tables, but we can’t build any closer to the water,” he said.

Mr. Pucillo said there is no air conditioning in the restaurant, so the outdoor seating will give those who might think it is too hot inside in the summer an alternative.

The covered patio will be located behind the restaurant in a garden area formerly used to grow herbs and vegetables for the kitchen. It is a post and beam design in keeping with the restaurant, created by New England Timber Works of West Dover, Vermont.

The restaurant is closed for the winter while work takes place. In addition to building the new seating area, management is using the time to re-shingle parts of main building’s roof and overhaul the kitchen. A new, larger, walk-in refrigerator needed to service the additional customers will be added, Mr. Pucillo said. “The kitchen will be reconfigured to allow us to serve the customers out back as well as inside,” he said.

On Tuesday, Feb. 5, Tisbury selectmen approved the plans.