Jon Brudzinski and his wife, Izabela Halat, were at their Johnsburg neighborhood bar this summer when they heard that its owners were looking to sell.

Brudzinski called their next-door neighbors, Diane Walsh and Mike Bruski, and asked if they were interested in going in on it together.

“That is how it all started. We met at their house, and here we are,” Brudzinski said.

They closed on the sale Sept. 2 and closed down the bar, Backyard Bar and Marina, that day. After a deep clean, new dart machines, a pizza oven, new bar stools and some other repairs, on Oct. 1, they reopened the bar and grill at 614 Bald Knob Road in Johnsburg as The Bru Crew Bar & Grill.

“We are the neighborhood establishment, catering to the neighbors here and open year-round,” Walsh said.

What they also promise is to be good neighbors.

For the past two years, residents on Bald Knob Road have called Johnsburg police about the loud outdoor music coming from the Backyard Bar almost every weekend evening.

Using smartphone decibel-reading apps to measure the noise levels, those neighbors said that the music was louder than the 70 decibels at 100 feet set by village code. They were told the music was within allowed limits, however.

The Backyard Bar – now Bru Crew – is one of six A-1 liquor license holders in Johnsburg. That license allows outdoor seating with liquor service, but it says nothing about outdoor amplified music.

Another portion of village code indicates that outside entertainment is not permitted except for two special events annually, not including the Saufen und Spiel festival.

That was a mistake, Village Administrator Claudett Sofiakis said. When the A-1 ordinance was created back in 1992, it allowed outdoor music too.

“Unfortunately, since 1992, revisions of the ordinance happened, and things got lost,” Sofiakis said. “The A-1 license does allow for outdoor activities.”

Johnsburg’s ordinance committee is taking a look at the current code.

“We are reviewing it, and most likely we will make some changes,” Trustee Jamie Morris said.

In the meantime, the new owners at Bru Crew said, the sound issue doesn’t really apply anymore. They do plan to have outdoor music, but not until after they construct a new stage. The music also will be a better fit for the neighborhood, starting and ending earlier and with a lower volume.

Bru Crew also will be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week throughout the year, aiming to be the place neighbors hang out, Bruski said.

He said the bar will close by midnight Friday and Saturday nights.

During the summer, they expect to continue attracting boaters on the Chain O’ Lakes, but they want to make sure their neighbors on land want to be there the rest of the year, Bruski said.

“There are four months of boating and eight months of the neighborhood,” Bruski said. “Our outdoor music is not going to be loud. It will be the classics, catering to the neighborhood people and what they want.”

He and Walsh have experience in running a restaurant, too. They’ve been the proprietors at Sammy’s Bar & Grill in Huntley for the past 11 years.

Brudzinski and Halat previously ran the liquor store on Chapel Hill Road, so they have a handle on running the brew side of the business.

The Bru Crew will offer pizza, burgers, wraps, salads, a kids menu, “fish fry on Fridays and the Bears on Sunday,” Walsh said. The new proprietors also are open to hosting fundraisers, celebrations of life and other special events for their neighbors, she said.

There is a boat launch on the property, along with 30 spots for boaters to pull up and dock while they eat. The business owners plan to keep allowing boaters to launch from their marina, with part of the $20 launch fee going to charity, Walsh said.