Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Outdoor dining is set to arrive in the North End this weekend.
The North End starts outdoor dining a month later than the rest of the city and will kick off its outdoor dining season starting this Sunday, May 1. Crews are hard at work across the neighborhood's packed streets working to set up the outdoor seating areas.
Frank Pellino, the owner of Casarecce in the North End, told WBZ's James Rojas there are a lot of new safety requirements for outdoor dining this year, including new types of barriers and seating arrangements.
"It's a safety issue so we have to follow the rules pretty strictly," Pellino said. "A lot of us had to reinvest money because what we had last year is not acceptable."
Frank DePasquale owns seven different restaurants in the North End and he said meeting the new requirements costs a good amount of money.
"It was a little expensive," he said. "But we ordered all-white ones so it all matches all of our restaurants."
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The road to bringing back outdoor dining in the North End was tumultuous for both the restaurant owners and the City after the pair argued over a $7,500 fee for outdoor dining in the neighborhood that only applied there. After all the debate and drama, DePasquale said he's just excited to host outdoor dining again.
"Hopefully we'll make it another great year," he said.
WBZ's James Rojas (@JamesRojasNews) reports.
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