A Daruma-Ya/Sushi Azabu Spinoff Is Headed to Flatbush Avenue

The owners of Tribeca Japanese favorite Daruma-Ya and its stealth underground restaurant Sushi Azabu are planning a project near the Barclays Center. The new restaurant at 166 Flatbush Ave will feature a dining room serving New American food upstairs, and a sushi counter down below — basically the same set-up as Greenwich Grill/Azabu before the owners turned the upstairs space into Daruma-Ya. The group behind the pair of Tribeca Japanese restaurants, Plan Do See, is partnering with restaurateurs Peter Levin (Professor Thom's), Jay Zimmerman (Basik), and Corby Thomas (Session 73) on this new project.

Levin tells DNAinfo: "There’s definitely a need, both from a local community standpoint and for patrons of Barclays, for somewhere to go for a really great meal and a great cocktail and an overall pleasant dining experience." In an unusual twist, the restaurateur says that the team is developing a phone app for this project, although no word yet on how that will be integrated into service. If everything goes according to plan, the new restaurant will open in April 2016.