The Bowery recently gained a new bar that will also host rotating pop-up restaurants — starting with an ongoing brunch stint from fashion week-favorite Paris cafe Season.
Short Stories swung open at 355 Bowery, between East Third and Fourth streets, with just drinks, dinner, and brunch for now, although the plan is to eventually be open all day. Available now at night, cocktails like a grapefruit spritz made with Aperol and Prosecco are paired with snacks like blistered corn with Cotija cheese or a poblano cheese-covered Impossible burger. The dinner menu was created by co-owner Pir Granoff and chef Daniel Bagnall, who spent some time at the Smile, Eleven Madison Park, and fine-dining San Francisco restaurant Atelier Crenn.
Then on the weekends, Short Stories hosts Season owner Cathy Closier’s renowned brunch. Known for healthier, non-croissant offerings in Paris, the cafe here serves acai bowls, brioche French toast with tahini and nutella, and an egg avocado sandwich topped with red chili jam. See the menus in full below.
Short Stories is set on eventually becoming a California-inspired all-day cafe, which will double as a space for pop-ups that brings NYC’s Chefs Club to mind. The plan is to bring in chefs from “unexpected places,” co-owner Ashwin Deshmukh says, teasing some ideas like a Tokyo-based curry house, a German tapas restaurant, and food from a fledgling hot sauce company.
“The idea is to give people we respect and like a platform to reach a new audience,” he says. He’s marketing each pop-up as a “short story,” hence the name of the place. The next one is scheduled for May, and the idea is to host a different one each month, he says.
But currently, Short Stories — surrounded by other notorious Bowery bars like Phebe’s, the Wren, and B Bar — is a fairly rowdy bar with weekend brunch. Late weekend nights bring a line of revelers vying to get in for dancing and bottle service. The space is covered in millennial pink and green accents, and pink velvet stools line a white bar top. Lunch is planned to arrive in April, and later in the fall, breakfast will be added, too.
Deshmukh, of Williamsburg Pizza, partnered with Granoff, Danny Teran, and Matt Arnold from the Wheelhouse and Millie’s Cuban Cafe in Bushwick for the project. Kumasi Sadiki of Lower East Side streetwear store the Good Company is also on board.
Short Stories is currently open every day except Monday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., though it stays open later Thursday through Saturday. Brunch runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. See the bar and brunch menus below.