Mark DiBona opened Quincy's Pour Yard in 2017, a space known for its outdoor dining and entertainment.
What was once the Pour Yard's driveway where dumpsters, grease barrels and delivery trucks stood, is now a beloved space for community members to enjoy the fresh air, social distance, and indulge in good food and live entertainment.
Not only did they add another restaurant for the community, they also cleaned up an unattractive space and added 20 more jobs.
″(The) community definitely needed something like this in this area because there’s just (a lack) of...outdoor dining, originally, and there was lack of something a little newer and fresher, in other words the tapas-type menu, the craft cocktails,” DiBona said.
The patio features high-top tables with big blue umbrellas, four seating areas with gas fire-pits, and simple decor of string lights and greenery. The area is surrounded by a tall white fence with the back wall painted blue and covered in an herb garden. The herbs in their tin buckets create their own piece of rustic, functional artwork.
The Pour Yard specializes in shareable, tapas-style dishes, specialty cocktails, and locally sourced craft beer cans. DiBona likes to support local breweries such as the Widowmaker Brewery in Braintree, Mighty Squirrel Brewing Co. in Waltham, and Fiddlehead Brewing Company in Vermont.
The outdoor atmosphere is extremely relaxed. Diners and drinkers are invited to bring their dogs and stay as long as they want. They even started offering live music on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
They rotate through about 10 or 12 musicians and play everything from country to top 40 hits to sing-along classics.
“This year especially, where the world is kind of crazy, our goal this year is to try to make things as normal as possible,” DiBona said. “So we’ve added plants and heaters so that the tables don’t look sparse. We’ve added live music so that people feel like they’re out there having fun, they’re listening to music where you can’t go to a concert, you can’t go to a movie, you can’t do anything. So we’ve been doing the best we can to make people feel as normal as possible while they’re here.”
As for safety, patio tables are spaced according to social distancing guidelines and hand sanitizer is available. The menus are also accessible through QR codes so diners can simply scan the code with their phones at their table to view the menu.