Brooklyn Heights native Nat Rubin is opening the long-awaited Moxie Spot at 81 Atlantic Ave. at Hicks Street in the next two weeks. Inspired by his own need to find a local, kid-friendly restaurant, Rubin has created a space for both adults and children that will offer activities and a smorgasbord of healthy, family friendly food by Chef Chris McGee (formerly of VYNL in Manhattan). From starters like Peking duck rolls, quesadillas and sesame noodles to sandwiches, daily dinner specials, pizzas and breakfast all day, the restaurant will cater to the pickiest of palates, regardless of age.
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Brooklyn’s favorite separated-at-birth twins, Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein — authors of “Identical Strangers” — will be feted at the second annual Women Against MS Lunch at Cipriani 23 in Manhattan on Thursday, March 13. Gala lunches and long-lost twins? This could be a soap opera! For more information or to make a donation, call (212) 453-3208 or e-mail jpowers@msnyc.org.
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Congratulations to our pals at Park Slope’s Red, White & Bubbly. The labels for their Brooklyn Wine Company brand — which feature artist Ryan Seslow’s rendering of the Brooklyn Bridge — just took home a 2008 International Design Award from “How” magazine.
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Park Slopers are in a tizzy over the rumored closing of Red Hot Szechuan — what one local told us was “the best Chinese food in the neighborhood.” Although nothing official has been announced, the grate in front of the restaurant has been drawn for a week, and numerous phone calls to the restaurant have gone unanswered.
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Not that it’s warm enough yet to consider exposing your tongue to the elements, but a new frozen yogurt store — Yogo Monster — is coming to Seventh Avenue in the next few weeks.
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Utz is out! That’s right, Brooklyn Label founder and head chef Cody Utzman has left the perpetually packed Greenpoint cafe due to irreconcilable differences with his business partners. In an exclusive announcement made on The Brooklyn Paper’s Web site, Utzman said, “I fully intend to complete my mission statement of bringing the most excellent products, services, coffee and neighborhood business improvements to Greenpoint.” He also said he’s working on a new restaurant project set to open this summer, so keep reading Breaking Chews for the latest developments.
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Over in Carroll Gardens, Patrick Watson and Michele Pravda, owners of Stinky Bklyn and Smith & Vine, opened The Jakewalk, a bar in the former Quench space, at 282 Smith St., on Friday. Making the best of its owners’ expertise, the bar will serve wine and cheese as well as cured meats, cocktails and a fondue of the day.
“It’s a project we were working on before Smith & Vine,” Watson told GO Brooklyn three days prior to the opening. “The two partners who are going to be operating it — Matt Devriendt and Ari Form — have been managing Smith & Vine for the last two years and were in restaurants and bartending for many years. So, when the time came, we were able to put it together.
“It’s going to be the top 100 ingredients from Stinky and Smith & Vine,” he raved. “We have over 100 whiskeys and 40 wines by the glass — we’ll have $5 glasses of wine! We just had a feeling somebody would do a wine bar on Smith Street, and we wanted to make sure it was us.”
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GO Brooklyn was sad to hear that the Brick Oven Gallery in Williamsburg, a great pizza shop with a stellar backyard and an eggplant dish called “Brooklyn Caviar,” has packed it in.
Amy Ruth’s, which was slated to open and start serving its legendary soul food on Valentine’s Day, has now delayed its opening until May.
Schnack, the Columbia Street Waterfront District favorite, will be closing in the coming weeks.
“We expect to close soon…probably in the next few weeks, but I don’t know exactly,” owner Harry Hawk told GO Brooklyn.
Buck’s Lodge, the four-year-old Brooklyn Heights honky-tonk bar, also decided to ride off into the sunset. With Magnetic Field closing up shop at the end of March, will there be any place left to have fun on Atlantic Avenue?
