Fans of The Stand, take heart; it's almost time for last summer's mouthwatering meals and market fresh offerings to return to Branford's Indian Neck. But first, some significant additions are being put in place, including a year 'round indoor restaurant and bar.

By converting the property's former Indian Neck Garage building, The Stand's new restaurant will have indoor seating (table and full service bar) for 56 patrons. The menu will feature co-owner/chef Eamon Roche's mouthwatering barbecue.

In agreeing to modified plans for the business on March 3, Branford's Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) stipulated The Stand can't operate --indoors or out -- until the completed restaurant has its Certificate of Occupancy. With work underway, co-owner Greg Nobile said The Stand is targeting a June 2016 opening.

As Roche described to the PZC on March 3, when the popular outdoor market and eatery opens this summer, it will continue to create the unique, "very casual" atmosphere the property offered last season.

"We don't want it to look like any other place you're turning into," Roche told the PZC.

The PZC also gave modified approval for acoustic and moderately amplified music on the grounds (daylight only) and also approved the indoor restaurant as a venue for amplified live entertainment. Nobile described music such as Americana, Blue Grass and Jazz among offerings to be performed by professionals. The PZC stipulated the restaurant's bay doors should be shut, beginning at 5 p.m., whenever indoor amplified live music is playing.

The restaurant will be fully air-conditioned, but during the daytime in good weather, the large bay doors of the former garage will likely be open to help bring the outdoor atmosphere inside, said Roche.

Outdoor dining seating will include four to five picnic tables. When The Stand is operating at seasonal capacity, indoors and out, Roche said it would have approximately 100 people on-site, including customers and staff.

As part of the restaurant plan, an ample parking lot will be installed on the north side of the building. The PZC also approved relocating an on-site small propane filling station to that side. The station, inherited with the property, has been located on the southeast side; near what's become a garden and barbecue pit area.

Other outdoor alterations include improving traffic circulation on the market side, with one-way entry and exit asphalt aprons roadside, separated by a "soft scape" island with plantings, including barrel plantings. Beyond that, the PZC allowed one-year conditional approval to retain the outdoor market's packed gravel surface. Roche said one of the reasons the business wants to add as little asphalt as possible on that side is so the space can quickly "transition" to the "very casual" outdoor market, cultivation, and dining experience patrons enjoy.

"Where we currently have asphalt in front of the building, that's going to come out and we're going to plant there," Roche noted. "We want to have more of the cultivation from the rear gardens come forward."

The garden behind The Stand supplies a portion of the seasonal herbs, flowers and vegetables offered at the outdoor market. The market also purveys locally baked goods and locally grown foods, among other items.

Located at 196 South Montowese (across the street from Lenny's Indian Head Inn), The Stand's addition of indoor dining, bar service and live entertainment will continue strengthening Indian Neck's reputation as a summer destination for casual dining and entertainment. Other neighboring businesses include Indian Neck Pizza, Indian Neck Liquor Store and E. McHenry's Irish Pub. Another nearby restaurant with outdoor patio space, the former Ballou's Restaurant & Wine Bar (Branford location), is currently vacant. The popular Owenego Inn & Beach Club is about an eighth of a mile away.

PZC member Fred Russo is a resident of the area and said his only request was that The Stand continues to be a "good neighbor."

"I think people enjoy the fact that you can walk down to a restaurant, to a liquor store, to a pizza place – that's all good stuff," said Russo. "But there are good neighbors and bad neighbors. For example, Lenny's is a good neighbor. They have a very similar format that you have – food inside, music outside, plenty of parking; and they really watch that (and) maintain it in a good way."

Russo said a former business that preceded Ballou's occupancy, known as The Blue Cottage, drew a big crowd of summer revelers to its outdoor patio. Neighbors had concerns about parking problems, loud live music, and the general fallout from disorderly and sometimes inebriated customers.

"I don't have a problem with the business being there," Russo said about The Stand. "I think it's good for the neighborhood; people like that outdoorsy kind of atmosphere. (But) be respectful and be a good neighbor to the people that live there."

The PZC confirmed the intent of The Stand is to add entertainment to the restaurant experience; not to become an entertainment venue and bar experience. Roche agreed the new addition to the business is "a restaurant," first and foremost.

Nobile and Roche first opened The Stand for the summer season of 2015, leasing the property from Kevin O'Neill and Ted Cwiertniewicz. They credit O'Neill and Cwiertniewicz with sharing their vision for converting the building and land into an asset meant to enhance this shoreline enclave.

The Stand quickly built a reputation for its atmosphere, fresh offerings and delicious barbecue, slow-cooked for hours by Roche, a veteran restaurateur. The tantalizing smell literally pulled in passerby, who often came back for more. As Roche told The Sound at the time, "...you get really devoted followers very quickly with that food." See the full story and photo gallery from last season at http://www.zip06.com/news/20150719/destination-the-stand