Atlantic Avenue's New Restaurants Were Built for Brooklyn Heights After 9 P.M.

When chefs Brendan Kelley and Daniel Grossman moved Confidant from Industry City into the old Colonie space on Atlantic Avenue, they expected a daytime neighborhood. Grub Street reported that they planned to turn the storefront next door into an all-day café because they thought they'd see more strollers and foot traffic. Then they watched a steady stream of customers fill the restaurant after 9 p.m. nearly every night of the week.

That changed what got built. This year the neighborhood's biggest new restaurants went in on a short stretch of Atlantic Avenue near Henry Street, and they're set up for the evening and the late evening. Meanwhile, two of the Heights' longest-running daytime corners on Henry Street closed. To know where to eat in Brooklyn Heights this November, start with how the map moved.

The café that turned into a wine bar

The clearest sign is the storefront that used to be Pips. In February, Brooklyn Magazine's first look at Confidant said the team planned a bakery-by-day, pizza-place-by-night spot called Lou and Bev's for the space right next door. By August, that plan had become Frenzie, a sourdough pizzeria and natural-wine bar that pours until midnight on weeknights and 2 a.m. on weekends.

Grossman explained the switch to Grub Street:

"This neighborhood has a lot of family energy, but there are also a lot of people like us, who get off work and are looking for a place to get a drink and hang out."

Brooklyn Magazine's review of Frenzie said the same thing more bluntly: at Confidant, the busiest stretch often started at 9 p.m., so the room next door leans "more rowdy wine bar than stroller central." The family-friendly café the chefs first pictured never opened. A late-night room did.

Three doors on Atlantic, three kinds of evening

The new places sit where, as Brooklyn Magazine put it, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and the Columbia Street Waterfront District all meet. Each covers a different kind of night.

• Confidant, 127 Atlantic Avenue, just east of Henry Street. This is the celebratory dinner. The signature dish is a prawn pot pie, $34 when Brooklyn Magazine reviewed it in February. It came with the team from Industry City, along with a trout mousse piped onto dark sourdough. New on Atlantic were three pastas, including spaghetti al funghi with seaweed butter, plus a $68 steak and a $51 duck breast for bigger nights. The banquette along the main wall is left over from the Colonie days.
• Frenzie, 129 Atlantic Avenue, between Henry and Clinton Streets. This is the drop-in. The 14-inch sourdough pies use a custom flour blend from Brooklyn Granary. The menu Grub Street previewed included sausage and peppers with cheddar on a sesame crust, plus spicy vodka with 'nduja. Kelley told Grub Street that Confidant reads as "a higher-end neighborhood joint," and that Frenzie is meant to be "more laid-back."
• Bebo, 145 Atlantic Avenue. This is the newest, a Georgian restaurant that opened Wednesday, September 23. The menu runs from khachapuri to khinkali dumplings and kubdari, a meat-filled bread. Owners Gio Kopaliani and Gio Lemonjava built it from their grandmothers' cookbooks. The rooms are modeled on those grandmothers' homes, down to fringed pendant lampshades over the bar.

Bebo also has a Brooklyn Heights origin story. Kopaliani told the neighborhood newsletter Pineapple Street that he and Lemonjava talked through the idea on walks along the Promenade, and that the house has one rule: "You cannot change the recipes." Chef Giorgi Tchulukhadze cooked in Georgia before moving to the U.S. When it opened, Bebo was pouring traditional Georgian wines and beers, with cocktails waiting on a liquor license.

How the two sister rooms split the week

Confidant and Frenzie share an owner and a wall, and their schedules fit together. Here are the hours as last published: Confidant's in February, Frenzie's in August.

Confidant said in February that brunch was coming soon. Check each restaurant's own page before you go.

The table shows the arrangement. Confidant's kitchen hours, as published, end at 10 p.m. Ten o'clock is also when Frenzie's late menu starts. Grub Street reported that after 10 p.m., Frenzie adds chef's-choice specials like square slices and one-off pies, first come, first served. Bar combos at opening included a martini and a slice for $20, or a Narragansett with a shot and a slice for $15. Frenzie is also the only one of the pair open Monday and Tuesday. Its wine list started small on purpose, with eight or nine wines by the glass, all $19 or less.

Frenzie has about 40 seats inside and room for 25 more outside, weather permitting. By mid-November the outdoor seats count for less, and the 40 inside count for more.

Henry Street lost its daytime corners

While Atlantic Avenue was adding evening seats, the center of the Heights was losing two daytime regulars, about a block apart.

Plymouth Cafe closed on June 15 after 42 years at the corner of Henry and Pineapple Streets. The owners closed to make way for a new food business. Nearby, All in One Deli Mart, still widely called by its original name, Peas N' Pickles, closed after more than 30 years at Henry Street and Pineapple Walk.

The two Atlantic Avenue rooms with published schedules open at 2 p.m. at the earliest.

What's lined up next, from Henry to Montague

The next round is a counter and a shop in the middle of the neighborhood.

1. Doubles at 90 Henry Street. The Brooklyn Heights Dispatch reported in September that Doubles has filed plans for the old Plymouth Cafe corner. It's a quick-service Caribbean counter from the Bennett brothers, who opened in Amagansett in 2022 and then in Sag Harbor, and it would be their first permanent location in New York City. At the existing locations, the signature doubles is curried chickpeas on two house-made fried baras with tamarind and mango chutney, priced at $15.50.
2. First Bloom on Montague Street. Permits were approved in September for work on Alison Roman's upcoming store on Montague, as Pineapple Street noted, citing Caper Media. The Dispatch has described Roman's tomato sauce as headed for its shelves.
3. More from the Confidant team, possibly. In the August review, Grossman hinted that he and Kelley might not be finished with the neighborhood. "Stay tuned," he told Brooklyn Magazine, adding that "it's the locals that are our priority."

For now, the Brooklyn Heights night out starts on Atlantic Avenue near Henry Street. Dinner is at Confidant or Bebo, and a slice and a glass of wine come after 10 at Frenzie, next door to Confidant.

If you'd like to talk about the buildings around Henry Street or the Atlantic Avenue edge, Varun Sharma and The Johnny Lal Team know them building by building. Get in Touch.