Those of you whose mouths still water at the memory — now two years old — of eggs Benedict at Liquors are going to have to face up to the fact that the French-African–inspired eatery is closed for good.
The DeKalb Avenue boite had been promising for most of those two years to reopen, but que sera, apparently, sera.
“Liquors is not re-opening,” the property manager for the site told The Stoop (forgive us for not being surprised — the place has been closed for two years!).
The manager declined to give his name, but his cell number is posted on the defunct restaurant’s front door — for would-be renters. And the iconic “Liquor Store” sign has been taken down.
“The market will dictate what will eventually go there,” he added, even hinting that the avenue’s chow choices might expand beyond the Francophone regions of the world.
“If you live in the neighborhood, how many times do you want to go to a French-inspired restaurant?” he asked. “It could be a coffee shop, it could be anything.”
It could be anything that can pull in enough dough to afford the $4,000- to $6,000-a-month rent, that is.
The news, while long expected by anyone with a taste bud, still collapsed the collective souffle of Fort Greene foodies.
“It was my favorite restaurant here,” said Peter Labruciano, who was pushing a stroller down DeKalb Avenue. “I’m a little bummed that it closed down.”
Another fan, Rebecca Holding, added that the official closure was “a shame.”
“It had a great atmosphere,” she said. “I know a lot of people will be sad.”
Meanwhile, the fate of owner Christian Dennery — who has closed his other two eateries, Bodegas on Fulton Street, and Lewis and Ruby’s in Bedford-Stuyvesant — remains a mystery.
The circumstances are certainly bizarre: Liquors had an “under renovation” sign posted for months, and Bodegas still has all of its furniture inside.
The rumors range from normal landlord-tenant disputes to darker troubles.
Dennery’s listed number and the three numbers of his former restaurants have all been disconnected.
But rest assured, neighborhood noshers, the banquet will go on.
The spot that once housed Lewis and Ruby’s already has a new tenant — Petit Bassam — and rumor has it that the lentil shepherd’s pie is to die for.
— with Michael Giardina
