Wednesday Food & Drink Round-Up

Photo by Bushwick Culture

Brooklyn’s Finest Backyard Bar
“Bushwick residents Jan VanDamme and Paul Nicholson painstakingly built [the private bar pictured above] in their backyard. The Bushwick Beer Garden… only seats about 37 people, but it boasts an ‘International Room,’ a wooden bar called ‘the Giraffe’s Knuckle,’ hops growing in latticework, lounge chairs, a hammock alcove, a stage, and a grilling area. No mention of what sorts of beers are on tap, but that’s sort of irrelevant since, as an official Website states, ‘you have to go through four locked doors to get to this bar.’ Either that, or get yourself invited to a party there.” [Grub Street]

New Restaurant Report
The Times has the skinny on a bunch of new bars and restaurants set to open in Brooklyn this fall. Highlights include Char No. 4, the barbecue and whiskey joint set to open September 15 at 196 Smith Street (near Baltic Street); No. 7, a seasonal American restaurant with “touches of Eastern Europe and Korea,” set to open mid-September at 7 Greene Avenue (near Cumberland Street) in Fort Greene; and Buttermilk Channel, an “American bistro” opening in October at 524 Court Street (near Huntington Street) in Carroll Gardens.

After the jump: Brooklyn Based speculates that Thomas Keller may open a restaurant in Brooklyn and Time Out New York predicts a(nother) “Red Hook Renaissance”…

Foodie Rumors
Table Scraps, the Brooklyn Based food-gossip column, says, “When Per Se Chef Thomas Keller dined at Marlow and Sons a couple weeks ago, it wasn’t just for the housemade pork rillons. Keller may be checking out the Williamsburg food scene as a potential site for the next Bouchon Bakery.” If you’ve visited the branch of this sandwich-and-sweets shop in the Time Warner Center (or better yet, the original location in Yountville, CA), you know this is good news for macaron fans. Table Scraps also says that Pies n Thighs is set to re-open in January (at 166 South 4th St.) and “Balthazar alum Danny Minch is opening a Blue Ribbon-style, casual fine dining restaurant in the space across from Clem’s.”

Another Red Hook Renaissance?
“Thanks to the June opening of Ikea, the postindustrial Brooklyn ‘hood is teeming with new bars, restaurants and soon, a winery,” says Time Out New York. They list a bunch of recent openings (Brooklyn Ice House, Annabelle’s, Botanica, and La Bouillabaisse), along with a few spots that are still in the works — the imported-from-Manhattan Cheyenne Diner, a coal-oven pizzeria called Anselmo’s, a yet-to-be-named winery (wine will be made with grapes sourced from Long Island and the Hudson Valley), a beer-and-sausage joint called Grindhaus, and a Stumptown Coffee Roasters shop and cafe.