Park Slope will soon get some “suggestion box”-inspired grub.
SweetWolf’s — a classic American, brick-oven eatery on Sixth Avenue — wants its future customers to dream up its entire menu, urging neighbors to enter a dish-suggestion contest on its Facebook page.
Owners will include the best ideas on their menu — then present “winners” with a free meal when it opens in August.
Owner Tim Judge said the goal is to create a sense of community — albeit a virtual one — before the place even opens.
“Everybody was telling us, ‘Nobody does it quite right,” said Judge, who managed Toby’s Public House for several years. “We wanted input — and we figured, why not?”
It’s working. In one month, about 50 people have posted menu suggestions, ranging from creative (“Vegan soul food!”) to critical (“Duck confit is everywhere — but magret…”) and even kosher (How about Matzo ball soup?).
The marketing gimmick comes three years after a slew of buzz-depraved restaurants closed a block away — on Seventh Avenue, between First and 15th streets — and at the height of a viral and guerilla marketing boom.
The restaurant will feature “a nice, small menu,” half of which will be vegetarian, along with a few Italian dishes and rotating “chalkboard specials.”
In the mornings, the 12th Street venue — which boasts an outdoor patio and offers communal seating — will double as a coffee shop, partnering with the “environmentally responsible” Forty Weight Coffee Café.
To decide on menu winners, Judge and partner Eric Wolf will pick the best Facebook posts, then conduct “taste tests” by adding spices and tweaking details. Winners will be invited to the restaurant’s “soft opening,” where the owners will seek constructive criticism from their army of collaborators.
“People here are all about their neighborhood and all about their food,” Judge said. “So it’s working out well.”
SweetWolf’s (492 Sixth Ave. at 12th Street in Park Slope, no phone yet). For info, visit www.sweetwolfs.com.
