Put me in, coach: The Bench opens for business

When Pie in the Sky closed abruptly last spring, an empty space and a cold oven were left at 492 Mountain Road. Mark Frier and Chad Fry, co-owners of the popular Reservoir Restaurant and Tap Room on Main Street in Waterbury, are seeking to fill the void — and bring the fire back to the hearth.

If all goes well with the “soft” opening (when friends and family come in before the big debut), The Bench will open to the public tonight, Sept. 25. The restaurant will serve dinner seven days a week for the next few weeks, with an extension into lunch hours planned. Frier said he would love to do brunch someday, but that’s definitely in the future. For now, Bench will open nightly at 5, no reservations needed (or taken).

Patrons of Pie in the Sky will still recognize the space, but gone are the cloud-painted walls and cheese planets. The ceilings have been elevated, and the space is open yet cozy with liberal applications of wood, industrial-chic lighting and rustic charm. The restaurant has about 100 seats, spread throughout the main seating area (replete with large tables and, yes, benches), a front dining room, and a slightly separated bar area.

The space is purposefully designed for a family-friendly atmosphere, with the hulking wood-fired oven catching your eye as you walk in the door. There’s “bar” seating around the oven, but no taps.

A glance around the corner finds what will surely be a draw for thirsty locals and tourists alike: the Bench bar boasts 28 draft lines, with two rows of sleek black handles against a gleaming copper wall. There’s the predictably wonderful selection of primarily Vermont beers, along with two wines and a dedicated Rookie’s Root Beer line. The Bench will also offer a more comprehensive wine list than its Waterbury counterpart.

A quick tour under the bar showed a huge, custom-designed beer storage area, chilled with an air conditioning unit — a unique and cost-effective solution, originally designed to cool dairy products, Frier said. Shiny kegs line the walls, and plastic lines snake up the ceiling to connect behind the bar wall, just a few feet north of the whole operation.

The Bench will use many of the same purveyors as the Reservoir — Black River Produce, for example — but some vendors that don’t include Stowe in their delivery area will be switched out for more local options. Bread will be provided by Elmore Mountain Bread instead of Red Hen Baking of Middlesex, and fish will come from Stowe Seafood rather than Wood Mountain Fish.

The menu will feature wood-fired entrées and appetizers, as well as a selection of one-size specialty pizzas (which, unlike the Pie of the past, won’t be the restaurant’s main focus). The kitchen is also waiting on a wood/gas hybrid grill to add to its hardwood-fired lineup.

Frier and Fry are no stranger to the area — both are Waterbury residents, and have skied at Stowe for years — and understand the draw for locals and tourists alike.

“For people on vacation, they’re going to go out and eat two or three meals a day, and we want to be on that list,” Frier said.

And residents looking to add new a player to their Stowe restaurant roster will find Bench’s hearth-warmed space to be “approachable, with a little something for everyone,” said Frier.