Popular Eatery’s Mysterious Closing

Hills & Gardens
By Trudy Whitman

Some open prematurely — without a liquor license or ability to accept credit cards or with untrained servers. Not Breuckelen. Chef/proprietor Andrew Karasz had the whole package in place when the restaurant at 268 Clinton Street opened last year after a massive renovation. The food preparation, service, and décor indicated a true labor of love, and customers came in droves. No matter what night of the week or what the weather, it was difficult to get a table at Breuckelen.

So when the restaurant shut down two weeks ago, neighbors were mystified. A sign on the window said that Breuckelen was “taking a breather.”

Tobacco Warehouse Decision Vindicates Heights Association

Judge Rules ‘De-Parking’ Improper, City Still Hopeful

By Samuel Newhouse
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS – A federal judge has come down decisively on the side of the Brooklyn Heights Association (BHA) and its allies to halt the controversial development of the Tobacco Warehouse into a theater and performance space.

U.S. District Judge Eric N. Vitaliano of Brooklyn federal court handed down a temporary injunction on Friday, declaring that the Tobacco Warehouse and Empire Stores, 19th-century structures within Brooklyn Bridge Park, could not be legally removed from public park space for the purposes of development.

Extraordinary New Restaurant

Hills & Gardens
By Trudy Whitman

Even before considering the comestibles, Atlantic Avenue’s newest eatery provides a feast — the visual kind. Colonie is deep and high-ceilinged. Cream-colored walls on one side are offset by exposed brick on the other. Unvarnished wooden banquettes frame the entrance. Next, you pass a handsome metal-topped bar illuminated by small, low-hanging nautical-looking fixtures. And then you stop dead in your tracks, because to the right is a wall covered with live greenery — 20 different species, including six herbs.

Although I had never encountered a decorative element such as the green hydroponic wall in a restaurant before, Elise Rosenberg, one of Colonie’s three young proprietors, assured me it was not unique. The herbs are purely ornamental, she informed me; they are not used for the restaurant’s dishes. (But the bartender did pinch a few stalks of mint when he ran out during a celebratory opening party, Rosenberg admitted.) As the wall of plants continues to hold your eye, you enter the primary dining area (the restaurant seats 55 guests) presided over by a gleaming open kitchen. A counter surrounding the kitchen allows patrons to watch the cooks work their magic.