Old Hands on the Restaurant Scene Face a New Brooklyn
The Times profiles Brooklyn restaurateurs Alan Harding and Jim Mamary, who are credited with trailblazing fine dining on Smith Street but are also the subject of backlash in Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill. Harding and Mamary opened Patois on Smith in 1997, back when the rent for the space was $900 and the street, according…
The Times profiles Brooklyn restaurateurs Alan Harding and Jim Mamary, who are credited with trailblazing fine dining on Smith Street but are also the subject of backlash in Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill. Harding and Mamary opened Patois on Smith in 1997, back when the rent for the space was $900 and the street, according to Mamary, was “a horror show.” After that, the pair went on to open more than a dozen restaurants and bars, many on Smith, like Gowanus Yacht Club and Trout, and some in other neighborhoods, like Williamsburg’s Sweetwater and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens’ Cafe Enduro. The duo’s creations are now scorned by “Brooklynites who’ve come to see Harding-Mamary creations as a chain, where you can get it venti in a ramekin with crème fraîche or slushed with guava and salt on the rim,” and their decision to open an oyster bar on Hoyt Street next to their restaurant Black Mountain Wine Bar stirred significant local opposition. Nowadays the two are looking for new/cheap/not-completely-gentrified neighborhoods to grow their small empire, like Ditmas Park, where they recently opened Pomme de Terre. Mamary says you need to grab every space that becomes available,” in on-the-brink areas, “or somebody else moves in. It’s like Coke and Pepsi.” The two are also eying Crown Heights and Staten Island.
Restless Pioneers, Seeding Brooklyn [NY Times]
Photo by R.S. Guskind.
Patois is over rated. Last time I ate there in the back garden, there was a swarm of ants from a nearby plant and crawling all over table. I wanted to leave but my girl friend of sick of looking for a place to eat and we “settled” on this place. The garden chairs and tables are the cheapest and most uncomfortable crap I have ever sat and eaten at. The total experience with the so-so food and bad waiter not wanting to acknowledge that there are in fact ants all over the place cost us $110. The beer helped to salvage the horrible dining experience.
You won’t see me going back there ever again & not because of the current things going on from this post but after reading so many other peoples bad experiences with this place and my own, why bother giving them my hard earned money? They should feel lucky that they already suckered us a total of about $1,300 from our total prior visits. I’ll spend elsewhere.
your fault for not appreciating rare meat…who in their right mind wants meat cooked all the way through?
“He grubbed out the fig filling with his bare hands, threw the meat back on the fire for a minute and stuffed the same mushed fig back in. And he knew we were all watching. Then they charged full price for it.”
And you PAID for that? Sucker!!
I Love BoCoCa and i love these places to eat. All of the places are very good. Sunday Brunch at Patios is incredible. for $12 you get a lot of food and drinks.
Washington Ave on the PH/CrH boarder needs these guys. You can get a hair weave on every block, but a decent meal is hard to come by…
I had the worst restaurant meal I ever ate in Patois. Truly awful, made worse by the chef’s attitude when I asked to have the nearly raw pork more fully cooked. He grubbed out the fig filling with his bare hands, threw the meat back on the fire for a minute and stuffed the same mushed fig back in. And he knew we were all watching. Then they charged full price for it. Complete with the snotty service.
Who eats there, really, and thinks it’s good?
And Trout just smells…of not-so-fresh fish, appropriately. Now that I know they are responsible, it all makes sense.
they should open a gay bar!
3:21
Won’t happen. Rent too high. Mamary and Harding are famous for only coming in if the rent is low. The Heights commercial RE failure is its inability to negotiate rents. This is why Montague is filled with either old timers or newcomers- chains, franchises, etc.
Spicy Pickle coming soon!
Please come to Brooklyn Heights…you will have zero competition