Gaffney’s redesigns their outdoor patio as glass-enclosed dining area perfect for live music and people watching.
The window-laden space above the corner of Caroline and Putnam Streets is decorated for the holidays, with Fraiser fir branches, hanging Christmas-style globes and the cozy glow of a corner Christmas tree. Warming seasonal decor softens the industrial look of the platformed patio, whose painted expose brick wall with flat screens, industrial lighting reminiscent of NYC’s meatpacking distric bistros and black-framed wall-to-ceiling sliding-glass doors on three sides makes you feel as if you are at a trendy new, no pun intended, see-and-be-seen bar in Brooklyn.
It’s those gorgeously massive sliding doors that make the room, with all of them sliding to the right to open 90% of the space come warmer months (don’t worry high-maintenance ladies, it’s still air conditioned).
“We began the process of building our new room about a year ago,” says owner John Baker. “We decided it was space that was being underutilized and we needed more space for parties and meetings and this space gives us the jolt we needed.”
What was once a parking lot back in the early 90s has grown into adulthood after a brief teenage stint as the open-air brick patio most of us have known. The new room (and consequent new larger bathrooms in Gaffney’s Starting Gate bar area) is thanks to work by Baker, architect Tom Frost and builder Sonny Bonacio.
“People want to be where the action is, and this is the perfect spot to sit and watch the world go by,” says Baker of the space Frost designed. A steel-framed massive door opens the deck to the Starting Gate, as well as a take-out style window in the bar. Frost continued railings outside in the modern look with steel ables and black rails to match the black metal exposed ceiling of the deck.
The massive windows that make the deck feel like an elevated tank above the center of Saratoga’s nightlife have been a blessing in disguise.
“In the evenings, Gaffney’s live music is performing in the new room and the musicians tell us that the acoustics are wonderful,” exclaims Baker.
The patio screams “private party,” but we’re not the only ones to think so; Baker is happy to say the deck is booked almost all through the holidays for special events. Custom rustic wood tables and chairs have yet to arrive, but that hasn’t stopped the deck from being open for brunch, lunch and dinner. As Baker said, people want to be in the heart of it, and this deck is exactly the bump Gaffney’s needed for winter months when the Winner’s Circle outdoor bar is closed.
“We have made it a year-round space, which will open up nicely in the summer too to give it the open air feeling [our patrons] have all come to know and love,” says Baker.