Brooklyn Nibbles: Williamsburg Edition

Opening March 5 at 436 Union next to Dumont Burger. If it seems familiar or confusing, it’s because it is. The cafe closed last fall on short notice, but it’s reopening under new management, and bringing with it an outside patio that was missed by many, just in time for nice weather.

Brooklyn Nibbles: Seventh Ave. Slope Frozen Yogurt Revealed

This is the new frozen yogurt shop on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope near Union Street. It has been known in its permit paperwork as Yogo Monster, although we’ll have to wait for signs to go up to know for sure. In any case, the exterior definitely has an Oko/Pinkberryish look and here’s a peek at the interior below. Looks like we’re closing in an opening just in time for the weather to be more conducive to eating frozen yogurt type things.

Brooklyn Nibbles: Fifth Avenue Openings & Closings

There are some Park Slope things to catch up on, from the Fifth Avenue side:

1) Earth Tonez, a new veggie and vegan cafe, is open at 349 Fifth Avenue, between Fourth and Fifth Streets. The menus leans toward sandwiches and wraps, plus veggie burgers and salads. There’s also a pretty complete vegan dessert selection. With V Spot, and S’Nice opening a block away, Fifth Avenue is becoming quite the little stretch for veg-friendly restaurants.

2) Cocotte c’est muerte. The French restaurant at 337 Fifth Avenue, at Fourth Street, is sporting a sign in the window announcing its demise. The death is being blamed on rising rent and an inability to make a go of it financially.

3) Fatoosh, the Brooklyn Heights Middle Eastern, has opened a branch on Fifth Avenue near Ninth Street. Nice interior and presumably some good food too. So, does it mean a Falafel War/Hummus Fight with Pita Hut on Ninth Street?

4) This bit of info has been gathering dust for so long that it doesn’t qualify as news, but the Fifth Avenue storefront that was part of the Chip Shop for a time and then was a very short lived (and somewhat underwhelming) Middle Eastern called Alaturka has come back as Mediterra, which has a Mediterranean menu that travels to Turkey, Greece, France and Italy. Mediterra is on Fifth Ave. at the corner of Sixth Street and we hope this is not a Corner of Death type of situation that is evolving.

Brooklyn Nibbles: D’Ag Bank Work Underway, Maggie’s New Moo in the Slope

1) Park Slope: Work is very much underway on the Seventh Avenue storefronts that once housed D’Agostino’s and Gothic Cabinet Craft. The plywood is up around two-thirds of the property and permits have been issued by DOB, although they don’t make clear who the new tenants will be. When we passed by, not a single permit had been posted outside the building, however. The word we got last year was Bank of America, but there’s no firm indication of the new tenants.

2) Park Slope: Building permits have been issued for work on one of Seventh Avenue’s most cursed storefronts of death near Third Street. Building permits are not illuminating as to the identity of the new business going into the space. The most recent tenant was Maggie Moo’s, which went to the Big Dairy in the Beyond last year. So many business have occupied the space and died over the last decade that everyone has lost count. Rumors of ritual animal sacrifices and curses being placed on the property are unfounded, however. We think.

Brooklyn Nibbles: Burg Hooka Bar Going Up in Smoke?

It looks like Banbalotto, the hooka bar and Mediterranean restaurant on N. 4 Street near Bedford Avenue, may not be drawing smoke much longer. We came across a listing for a restaurant/lounge available for “amazing under market rent.” When we went to look we found it was a “a 2200 sq ft Hooka Bar on North 4th and Bedford. Full Liquor Lic, Full Kitchen w/hood, completely turn key Bar/Restaurant!” Banbalotto has been open a little more than a year. The space can be yours for $5,665 a month.
[Photo courtesy of A Test of Will]

Brooklyn Nibbles: Park Slope Seventh Ave. Update

We have a few random notes to convey about food and retail things in Park Slope:

1) The GL reader who sent the first word of the death of the 2nd Street Cafe, sends a photo of a sign noting that Grand Canyon has cut back its hours. He writes: “Grand Canyon, the diner on 7th Avenue opposite PS 321, has cut back its hours. I note it because the 2nd Street Cafe had a similar cut back notice about two weeks before it finally went belly up…I don’t know what’s happening with Grand Canyon, but in this atmosphere, I assume the cutbacks are not a good sign.”

2) We checked out the storefront next to Amin’s on Seventh Avenue (between Union and Berkeley), which rumor says will be a frozen yogurt emporium and, above the plywood in front, could see lighting and design that looks very much like it will be something along those lines. We saw something more like Fifth Avenue’s Oko than Pinkberry, but who knows.

3) Something is going on in the big space at Seventh Avenue and Sixth Street that used to the be home of D’Agostino’s until it closed last year. For rent signs are still in the window, but last week, there was work going on in the basement and a truck in front piled high with bricks that had been removed.

4) Goldy + Mac, a Fifth Avenue Park Slope shop, is now open at 396A Seventh Avenue in the South Slope in a space that had housed Nest. More fashion comes to the South Slope.

Brooklyn Nibbles: 2nd St. Cafe Sadness, Laila Closed Too, Frozen Yogurt on Seventh Ave.?

A followup and a more tidbits from that wild frontier of retail and dining excitement, Park Slope:

1) Reaction to the closing of 2nd Street Cafe in Park Slope has been mostly one of dismay, if not anger. One reader writes, “This was my one of my favorite reasons to go to my girlfriend’s neighborhood…Hopefully they’ll put in a Ruby Tuesdays so Park Slope will have a ‘New,’ ‘Edgy’ vibe or at least somewhere that will be over $30 a plate so i’ll know i’m earning my well spent money in style.” But not everyone is shedding tears, one of our readers writes: “This was one of the worst restaurants I’ve ever been in – period. The place was more like a bad day care center. My only concern is that the parents and the screaming kids will now be invading more civilized dining spots. At least with 2nd St Cafe, they were quarantined.” There are many comments over at Brooklynian.

2) The South Slope’s Laila, from which we once got an order of hummus with a staple (small, and already stapled closed) inside, is closed. The Middle Eastern restaurant was on Seventh Avenue at Fifteenth Street, which unlike the northern stretch of the avenue around Third Street, has seen a lot of openings the last few months. No word on a replacement for Laila, which had both fans and detractors. Us, we sort of soured on it after our staple experience.

3) The empty storefront on Seventh Avenue north of Union Street and south of Berkeley that is between the mediocre Indian restaurant Amin’s and a liquor store is said to be heading toward opening some sort of food etablishment. One rumor on Brooklynian.com says it will be a frozen yogurt establishment. Given that Tasty Delight is down the block on Union Street and Oko is on Fifth Avenue that would leave a retailer whose name begins with Pink as a possibility if it is, in fact, a frozen yogurt emporium.

Brooklyn Nibbles: Park Slope/Gowanus Openings

1) We assume the new cafe at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Carroll Street on the Gowanus side of the tracks is still going to be called Brooklyn Bean, although the mural on the plywood has come down revealing the storefront. It’s of interest because the Fourth Avenue Brooklyn Bean is not related to the Atlantic Avenue and we’ve been wondering if there was a legal War of the Beans, uh, brewing in the background.

2) A reader writes that a new barbecue spot is going to be opening on Third Avenue and Sixth Street in Gowanus. We don’t know if this is a new location for a South Slope/Greenwood Heights restaurant that is said to be closing. In any case, our tipster writes: “We were walking our son to daycare this morning and noticed that on 3rd and 6th (I think)–across from the big commercial project with the blue plywood fence–the brick building on the corner with the corrugated metal doors had ‘Brick Oven Barbe-QUE Coming Soon‘ written on them. It wasn’t there yesterday. We’re psyched.”

3) Work is progressing on Bar Toto’s sister establishment, which will be opening at Third Avenue and Ninth Street in a space that looks like it’s going to be quite nice. It’s named Bar Tano and will feature a long zinc bar, pressed tin wall and grilled pizzas. The same reader who informs about the barbecue spot says that the new restaurant “is set to open in the next few weeks apparently.” If a couple of more eateries open, does it mean that Third Avenue is the new Fourth Avenue?

Brooklyn Nibbles: Laundry or Deli on Smith Street?

The traditional dry cleaners and laundries of Smith Street and Court Street may be dropping like flies, but there’s now a “Laundry at the Deli.” The L at the D is at 183 Smith and is still a work in progress. In addition to washers and dryers, there is a food case being installed in front and old counter-style stools. Now all they need is a liquor license so they can be a Bar Wash.

Brooklyn Nibbles: Williamsburg Roundup

There’s one brand new restaurant opening in the Burg we want to note and a couple of things to get caught up on:

1) Fiore is supposed to be opening today at 284 Grand Street (above). It’s an Italian restaurant that traces it lineage to Baci & Abracci up the block. We haven’t seen the menu but items that have been noted run heavily toward seafood. Some entrees include orata with veggies in shellfish lime broth, salmon with artichokes prosciutto and olives, monkfish with roasted garlic in a lemon preserve caper sauce and salmon Steak with olive pesto. There’s also a very nice sounding spinach ravioli in brown butter sage sauce. We caught a glimpse inside yesterday and it looked very, very nice.

2) Miranda, another restaurant leaning heavily on an Italian menu is now open on Berry Street at N. 9, across the street from Silent H. Photo below.

3) Another Bedford Avenue bodega/corner store has undergone a morph into an upscale deli/food store, the second in recent months to go upscale. The results of the change at Bedford Fruits & Vegetables are in the bottom photo.

4) The Endless Summer Taco Truck is said to have set up shop at Bedford Ave. and N. 7 Street. We didn’t see it yesterday, but word of its existence has been widely emailed around.