StreetLevel: Retro Reno for New Boerum Hill Restaurant
A guy who lives around the corner from the space that’s being renovated on Pacific and Bond wrote to us with some details he gleaned from the people working on the forthcoming eatery. Here’s the dirt: The restaurant’s name is “Building on Bond.” They’re gonna restore it according to this picture from 1940 [above left]….
A guy who lives around the corner from the space that’s being renovated on Pacific and Bond wrote to us with some details he gleaned from the people working on the forthcoming eatery. Here’s the dirt:
The restaurant’s name is “Building on Bond.” They’re gonna restore it according to this picture from 1940 [above left]. I walked inside. Looks good. The guys doing it are restaurant builders and designers (Hecho Inc.) and have done places in Manhattan like Suba and Stanton Social among others. Anyway, they were nice enough to show me an old picture. Menu still being worked out. Unclear when restaurant opening. But they said there will be a cafe that will open next month. Still waiting for the liquor license.
Seems promising.
StreetLevel: New Bistro Opening in Boerum Hill [Brownstoner] GMAP
Plywood Report Gallery: Building on Bond [Eater]
“…there is plenty of room for expansion. Right now the plan is to use half of the space for a Hecho showroom, but if the bar takes off, I assume they can quickly expand into the showroom. Also, the little clothing store connected to the space doesn’t appear to be doing well. So, that nice, small bar could get pretty big pretty quickly.”
Actually, when you apply to the State Liquor Authority, you apply for a specific number of seats located in specified spaces. If a bar wants to expand, it needs to apply to alter its license, not unlike the original filling.
“The current plans are for a very small space with an extremely limited menu of bar food.” That’s what I heard too, in which case comparisons to the other restaurants by the same team (see 5:43 and 5:46) are irrelevant.
There has not been “a lot” of griping on the Boerum Hill listserv. There were two comments protesting the negative impacts of a bar and multiple comments extolling the virtues of a (nice, small) bar.
The bodega that previously occupied that space was disgusting — I don’t think its primary business was selling food, since what was there was dusty and/or out of date. That has nothing to do with the success of a bar or whether it will be annoying to neighbors.
As a neighbor to the space, I feel the jury is out. The current plans are for a very small space with an extremely limited menu of bar food. The owners seem nice and ready to be good neighbors.
That being said, there is plenty of room for expansion. Right now the plan is to use half of the space for a Hecho showroom, but if the bar takes off, I assume they can quickly expand into the showroom. Also, the little clothing store connected to the space doesn’t appear to be doing well. So, that nice, small bar could get pretty big pretty quickly.
here’s a blurb about their other venture, Stanton Social…
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Chef/owner Chris Santos has teamed up with Tao owner Richard Wolf, Peter Kane originally of Double Happiness and Happy Ending, and the James Beard ‘Best New Restaurant Design’ award winning firm AvroKo, to create the newest ‘jewel’ of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The design of this three level hot spot tips it’s hat to the neighborhood’s garment history and offers diners a culinary odyssey. All menu items are designed for sharing, offering guests a chance to experience multiple dishes and flavors throughout their meal. In addition to its 120 seats, The Stanton Social offers a raw bar, two lounges and the hippest new bar in New York City. Dishes range from $7 – $18 each.
This is going to be a destination restaurant.
It sounds like the posters are not familiar with the cache that Hecho brings.
Stanton Social is super hip. It’s a major destination as I imagine this place will be also.
This is not just any old restaurant.
re 5:20 – Are the restaurants on Atlantic having a hard time? I’m not being critical, just curious. Bedouin Tent, Stan’s, Downtown all seem to do pretty well, no? Also – the old bodega that was in that space was terrible, and there are two much nicer stores right up the block at Bond/Atlantic, so there was no need to ever go to the Pacific/Bond bodega anyway. I don’t think the failure of the bodega at Pacific/Bond can be used as a case-study when pondering the possible future of a new restaurant in that space.
I live a block away and I’m looking forward to it. But I’m interested to see if that space can get patrons in when the old bodega couldn’t and restaurants around the corner on Atlantic seem to be having a hard time as well…
There has been a lot of griping about this place getting a liquor license on the boerum hill listserv recently.
I believe most of the ground-level on that stretch is retail space. Many are out of business, but I’m sure at one time it was a thriving – and loud – commercial strip.