Open and Shut

Crown Heights
I Love Franklin Avenue has a roundup of changes happening on always-changing Franklin Avenue. Panamanian restaurant Kelso shuttered last week. They’ve been on the avenue since 1969 and got priced out. Pulp and Bean II is working on opening on the other side of Eastern Parkway soon. And Cent’Anni, a new Italian restaurant, is now serving near Sterling Place. Photo by ILFA.

Park Slope
Habana Tapas, the Cuban restaurant on 5th Avenue, closed a few days ago. They had been in the neighborhood for two years. Construction is underway at the Brooklyn Bread spot on the corner of 5th Avenue and 6th Street, and a Southeast Asian restaurant is moving in. And the locations for both Casa Ventura and Loli’s Taqueria are up for rent.

North Brooklyn
Community Board One denied the Blind Barber, a barber shop/speakeasy currently located in the East Village, a liquor licence for a new spot on Lorimer and Ainslie Streets. Five hundred neighbors signed a petition against the business moving in. A bunch of indie rock musicians are opening a bar called Lake Street at 706 Manhattan Avenue, near Norman. You can expect Midwestern beers, hot dogs, brats and five televisions. And LES bar Welcome to the Johnsons is opening a second location in Bushwick, at 369 Troutman Street.

Elsewhere
Cobble Hill staple BookCourt will open a bar inside the store with wine, beer, juices and snacks. They are also hoping to transform their backyard space into a “reader’s garden.” The bar should be open by January and the garden will be finished next spring or summer. Ditmas Park cafe Milk and Honey is now open full time. They’re serving drinks and morning fare, but plan to add other food soon. Sociale, a Northern Italian restaurant, will open very soon at 75 Henry Street, in Brooklyn Heights.