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Montague Street’s famed restaurant Armando’s is back in business — and so is its iconic lobster sign.
The legendary 73-year-old Brooklyn Heights eatery returned after a year-and-a-half hiatus, but even though the chefs were back in the kitchen churning out red sauce Italian on Sept. 28, the restaurant’s neon sign remained in storage.
That’s because Armando’s owner Peter Byros took down the light-up crustacean last March to make room for the short-lived Spicy Pickle sandwich joint — potentially losing his grandfathered right to display such a sign on historic Montague Street.
But in a story first broken by the lobster-loving writers at the Brooklyn Heights Blog on Wednesday, the neon-covered marquee has returned.
But it’s unclear how. Byros had told The Brooklyn Paper earlier this year that he planned to remount the neon lobster, but a spokeswoman from the Department of Buildings said the eatery has not yet filed the necessary applications to re-install the much-loved icon.
Though the sign is back, there remain differences between the old Armando’s and the new Armando’s, admitted manager Maria Byros.
“We’re the same old place,” said Byros, who helped her father come out of retirement to reopen amidst a groundswell of support from the community. “But we just updated it a bit.”
The revamped Armando’s also features a new executive chef and an updated menu that includes many of the old-time favorites as well as new dishes including risotto with duck confit and seasonal veggies ($14), roasted chicken with sweet corn, polenta and baby greens ($17), and a tagliatelle with rabbit ragu ($14).
Armando’s [143 Montague St. between Clinton and Henry streets in Brooklyn Heights, (718) 624-7167].
©2009 Community Newspaper Group
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