Restaurant patios coax diners back outside

Our long, winter nightmare is over. Lets eat.

Restaurants around Boston are hauling patio furniture out of storage, mixing up pitchers of sangria and putting oysters on ice. As temperatures creep from the 50s into the 70s (yes!), nobody wants to eat inside anymore.

We keep our patio open year-round, and a few die-hards use it, but its really the Sox opening day that kicks off our season, Eastern Standard general manager Andrew Holden said. All of a sudden were pouring tall drinks on ice and glasses of rose; oyster and shrimp cocktail sales are way up.

From Back Bay to South Boston, through Cambridge and Somerville, more and more patios, porches and decks are seating diners. At Forum, next to one of the marathon bombing locations, general manager Chris Loper is excited to begin a new season on a new patio.

I dont think theres much emotional baggage here, were mostly excited to be out of a deep freeze, Loper said. Were ready for bowls of mussels to share, drinks and people-watching in one of Bostons best spots. Were ready for a good time.

It wasnt long ago that spring celebrations were trapped behind glass, out of the April breezes. But things have slowly changed over a decade.

Neighbors were worried about whooping and hollering, people jumping into the harbor, Salty Pig co-owner Mike Moxley said. But good owners and operators have proved to the city that this works. Its good for the city and transforms neighborhoods, giving them a European feel.

The biggest transformation in the past decade has been in the Seaport District. Once a patchwork of modest seafood joints and industrial piers, the neighborhood has become a dining hot spot full of hip bars, steakhouses and two Legal Sea Foods restaurants Legal Test Kitchen and Legal Harborside. Legal president and CEO Roger Berkowitz has had a hand in the makeover.

We saw with our patio at the Charles that outdoor dining is a magnet, he said. The sights and smells and activity brings people in. The trick was not getting into the neighborhood too early or too late, but I think we came at the right time. Now alfresco dining on the waterfront is jump-starting the whole area.

Hopefully, more neighborhoods will see the economic impact and buzz outdoor dining brings. After all, we have only six months before groan were stuffing that patio furniture back into storage.

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Restaurant patios coax diners back outside