Tapas, Gyoza, and More Coming to Bed Stuy, Ocean Hill With New Eateries

A wave of new restaurants is set to bring dishes from around the globe to Bed Stuy and Ocean Hill in coming months. Opening this summer and fall, the area will welcome four new spots serving Mexican tapas, Japanese dumplings, French-Belgian comfort food, and oysters with natural wine.

Olmo, a Mexican tapas bar, will open in June on Saratoga Avenue, along with Brooklyn Brasserie—a French-Belgian soccer pub—on Stuyvesant Avenue, and Selune, an oyster and wine bar, on Lewis Avenue. In the fall, Lucky Parlor will bring Japanese gyoza and cocktails to Ralph Avenue. Each one is taking over a former food space, and each has done a sleek and, in most cases, colorful redo of its building’s facade. Olmo and Lucky Parlor will expand sit-down options east of Stuyvesant Heights.

Olmo, at 103 Saratoga Avenue on the corner of Decatur Street, has recently painted a captivating earthy pastel mural that depicts a starry night with a crescent moon over fanciful trees that has already caught the eye of curious locals, a rep for the restaurant told Brownstoner.

“So without having even fully opened the doors there definitely has been some excitement, which we’re happy to hear, because obviously it’s a new venture, and that’s always a little bit scary,” she said.

Olmo, meaning elm in Spanish, will be a “cantina Neoyorquina” inspired by cantinas in Mexico City, “like a neighborhood watering hole, bar, and food spot where people in the neighborhood can hang out and get great drinks and great food,” the rep said. The team behind it, who all live in Bed Stuy, wanted to bring something to the neighborhood where locals can gather, have a good time and not feel rushed out of their seats, she added.

Some of the restaurant’s managing team hail from Mexico City and staff bring experience from heavy hitting restaurants Pujol in Mexico City and Cosme and 11 Madison Park in New York.

There will be plenty of agave-based spirit options, with drinks around the $15 mark and plates designed to be served family style in the $10 to $25 range (the menu is still being finalized.) “We definitely want to be affordable for all in the neighborhood, we wouldn’t want to be a place just for a special occasion,” she said.

The team plans to open Olmo in mid-June with hours from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays to start. As well as the Mexican flavors, diners can also expect to hear curated playlists of contemporary Mexican Bolero music.

The corner building Olmo now occupies used to house soul food take-out spot Top Tier Catering, which has moved to Lewis near Lexington Avenue. Before that, Ho May Restaurant served Chinese takeout from the storefront. (The building sold in 2024 to 103 Saratoga Ave LLC for $1.9 million with Benny Lupo as signatory.)

A few blocks away at 202 Ralph Avenue on the corner of Decatur Street, Lucky Parlor will be opening in the old Caroline’s Donuts storefront. The painted signage on the building facade looks ready to go, but owner Tatsumi Suyama, who is also behind the popular Japanese fusion restaurant Trad Room on nearby Malcolm X Boulevard, said there’s still construction work happening and a fall opening is expected.

The new restaurant will be similar to Trad Room, but with a bit more of a casual cocktail bar vibe, Suyama said, and it will focus on gyoza, Japanese pan-fried dumplings. Trad Room’s menu items range from $4 to $34 and wine is around $16 a glass.

The building Lucky Parlor is opening in was home to donut wholesaler and store Caroline’s Donuts, and before that it housed Brooklyn Burger and Brew and a bar called Uncle Fred’s.

A few blocks over at 327 Stuyvesant Avenue, on the corner of Macon Street, French and Belgian inspired Brooklyn Brasserie will be opening in the former location of restaurant Mama Fox, which closed late last year. The eatery will serve comfort food such as moules frites, steak frites, cheese croquettes, bitterballen, beef bourguignon, burgers, sandwiches, fish, and salads, partner Hugo Ramirez-Wright said. While the team is still finalizing the menu and pricing, he said the restaurant will be affordable for the neighborhood, and there is a real focus on making it a family-friendly spot.

“We’re going to have a changing table in one of the bathrooms, it’s very neighborhood oriented. I personally live in the neighborhood, and so it’s like a space where I could come watch soccer and have great beer, have a good meal with my family,” Ramirez-Wright.

As well as having 10 lines for mostly Belgian beers, French wines, and craft cocktails, Brooklyn Brasserie (or BKB for short) will also have multiple TVs screening soccer matches, and there are plans for a projector for big games. There will also be around 12 tables for outdoor dining, he said.

BKB, which plans for a June 20 debut, will be open seven days a week and will serve lunch and dinner. To start, lunch will just be Fridays through Sundays, but that could expand to every day over the summer.

Three of the team members, Ramirez-Wright, Klaas Claes, and Nicolas Thoni, hail from Paris, northern Belgium, and southern California. The full BKB team has decades of experience in New York hospitality, and backgrounds in Belgian culinary schools and Michelin-starred restaurants.

Not far away and also planning to debut in June is Selune, an oyster and natural wine bar at 478 Halsey Street, on the corner of Lewis Avenue. According to a statement emailed by a spokesperson, Selune — a mashup of the French words “sel” (salt) and “lune” (moon) — is being opened by Marc Lioussanne and his longtime partner Bilen Gaga, who is based in Bed Stuy. Lioussanne was the beverage director at Eden Rock in St. Barths and owned Bistro Général & Mabel in Paris.

Selune will serve natural wines from France, Italy, and the U.S., as well as oysters, light seafood-focused dishes, and charcuterie. The latter will be inspired by Lioussanne’s experience in Paris and Gaga’s fashion background, which was shaped by her Ethiopian roots, according to the rep.

The restaurant will be open Monday through Saturday from 5 p.m. through midnight on weekdays and will stay open until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, according to its website.

Its landmarked building was the longtime home of Oaxaca Taqueria, and Selune will also occupy the smaller garage space on Lewis Avenue that used to house record store Halsey & Lewis.

[Photos by Anna Bradley-Smith]

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