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Closings: Patois, Bay Ridge Chip Shop, and Jill’s
“Alan Harding just called to say that Patois, the pioneer restaurant on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, that he opened in 1997 will close on Sunday. Brunch and dinner will be the last service,” reports Florence Fabricant for the New York Times. Plus, Eater reports that the Bay Ridge branch of Chip Shop was shuttered on New Year’s Eve, and Brunch Anytime says that Jill’s, the health food joint at 231 Court Street, closed on December 29.

Openings: Three New Bars
The East Village bar D.B.A. has opened a second location at 113 North 7th Street between Berry and Wythe streets, says Grub Street — and they’ve got 16 beers on tap, 3 hand-pulled real ales, and “artisanal cheeses, charcuterie, and other things that go well with beer.” Cornelius, a new cocktails-and-small-plates spot is set to open at 565 Vanderbilt Avenue at Pacific Street in Prospect Heights this Monday, January 12, Eater reports. And Brunch Anytime heard a rumor that “the owners of Bar Great Harry have put in papers to secure the spot across from the old Trout on Smith Street (which use to be an optometrist) for a new bar.”

After the jump: Roots Cafe, Five Leaves, Buttermilk Channel, Kelso of Brooklyn, and Morton’s vs. Peter Luger…

A Rave Review for Roots Cafe’s Coffee
639A Fifth Avenue, between 17th and 18th Streets
“This is hands-down, the most insanely awesome, mind-blowing coffee that has ever graced our caffeine-stained lips. We are honored and humbled by this coffee; we have found religion, and it is a roasted bean. This is coffee from another dimension, ineffable, incomprehensible. The people at Stumptown Coffee are alchemists — nay, wizards.” [Eat Me Daily]

The Times Hits Five Leaves
“It’s a restaurant that could get by on looks alone…. But despite the modest ambitions and reasonable prices… the kitchen, taken over recently by Ken Addington, turns out unexpectedly refined Australian comfort food… Juicy and crisp roast chicken ($18) appears with a stack of potato gratin and chard, but it was the flavorful hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, cooked with red wine and demi-glace and finished with port and cream, that had me swabbing the plate. ” [NY Times]

Quick Bites
A Brooklyn Life digs the new Carroll Gardens spot, Buttermilk ChannelMetromix takes a brewery tour of Kelso of Brooklyn in Greenpoint… And after visiting Morton’s, the Brooklyn Paper declares, “Peter Luger is no longer the best steakhouse in Brooklyn.”


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

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  1. Didn’t mean to annoy anyone. And no…I do not own my own business and certainly am not suggesting I am an expert on the situation.

    I really can’t imagine too many small businesses these days being able to buy their space…my question was more about those who opened up on these strips like Smith and 5th Avenue where you could have bought a building for a song 10 or 20 years ago.

    Although it might not have sounded like it, I am not begrudging anyone who isn’t able to buy their building, just know a few that did and seem to be the ones more likely to hang on for the long haul. Some people don’t want to do the long haul thing though I suppose, and with today’s prices, I can’t see many small businesses coughing up a million PLUS bucks to buy a building.

    Anyway, sorry to annoy you and good luck with your business. I certainly feel for all these places who have to deal with ever increasing rent. I wish it weren’t so.

  2. 11217-

    You’ve have said it before and, not to be rude, but it has annoyed me before. As a business owner I appreciate the sentiment that businesses should have the “foresight” to buy their buildings. But it obviously involves a lot more than foresight. It involves money which, when you own a business, is usually tied up in your, well, business. Not to mention landlord’s resistance to selling to you, not being certain your business will succeed in the location it currently resides, needing your credit cards, lines of credit, and cash flow to maintain inventory and employees and being so busy with day to day operations that weeks, months, and, yes, years can pass without allowing you the time to get involved with such an endeavor. In a perfect world, and I believe I can speak for most small business owners, we’d all LOVE to own the buildings we are in and think about it everyday. Unfortunately it’s not always possible and we live in constant fear that our leases will come up and our livelihoods will be compromised. Not to be nosey but I have to ask, 11217, have you ever owned your own business?

  3. bowl of dicks,
    just to clarify

    “where’s he moving it to? not that i care because as biff says, the place is only meh. let’s see who snaps up that space:

    trout/pacifico/GYC/bklyn social guys
    or
    S+Vine/Stinkys/J-walk guys”

    First off, Trout. Pacifico and GYC are the same ownership as Patois, the Mammary brothers. So the idea that they would “snap up the space” is um, wrong.

    Also, Brooklyn Social is its own and has no other sister locations. So don’t link them to the Trout, Pacifico, GYC guys.

    As far as S+Vine/Stinkys/J-walk guys, perhaps.

    Whats MORE likely is that Patois will reopening to the space across the street that has been in construction for over a year. Word on the street is that its Patois new location as the lease at Patois runs out.

    Anyone confirm this?

  4. i heard a rumour a cheap take out chines place is taking trouts place. Or maybe it was a dollar store… either way the end of smith street is nigh. it will be back to its dilapidated fulton mall roots soon.

  5. I think Dumont Burger is so overrated.

    And in this economy, I’m not spending 20 dollars for a burger in Williamsburg (which is what it comes to with tax, tip and cheese). You want a milkshake with your burger? That’s another $5.50.

    Almost 30 bucks for a burger and milkshake…?

    No thank you.

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