A Stylish New Bar and All-Day Cafe Heads to Williamsburg

A stylish new bar and cafe in Williamsburg — and other openings, closings, and coming attractions

Claire Chan of West Village cafe the Elk is planning to open a cafe, bar, and restaurant called Bar Beau in Williamsburg next month. Designed by designer Isaac-Rae, it will serve cocktails and small plates packed with Japanese ingredients, like udon noodles shiso pesto, lemon, and Grana Padano. Coffee and pastry from Bien Cuit and Ovenly will be available during the day at 61 Withers St.

On UWS, Sichuan restaurant Belong Kitchen will open before the fall, and a new poke spot Hula Poke and location of bubble tea chain Gong Cha is opening soon, too. But Europan Cafe has shuttered after 15 years. And down in East Village, two-year-old Rose and Basil has closed. It served desserts and healthy dinner.

Last call for those crazy cheap Continental shots

After close to 30 years, rock venue and shots bar Continental is having its final days of business this weekend. The longtime bar has been known for hosting people like the Ramones and Iggy Pop, but as time went on, it also became known as the bar advertising wildly cheap shots, most recently charging $12 for six with a purchase of a beer. Owner Trigger Smith announced the shutter last year; a developer purchased the property for $150 million and plans to put a seven-story office building there.

Yet another food-themed Instagram museum rolls into town

Another one of those highly produced, colorful, interactive Instagram backdrops is coming to New York: Candytopia, a creation of a so-called “celebrity candy stylist” named Jackie Sorkin, is heading to Midtown this summer as a pop-up. Expect a swimming pool filled with giant marshmallows, candy recreations of the art classics, and this baffling unicorn-pig thing that appears to fart confetti into the faces of joyful influencers. No location or prices yet, but the first pop-up in Santa Monica cost $30 a pop.

Critic highlights two NOLA restaurants

In this week’s Tables for Two, New Yorker critic Hannah Goldfield dips her toes into NYC’s New Orleans-style restaurants from the city’s natives, tiny Prospect Heights bar Lowerline and Carroll Gardens cafe Cafe Booqoo. At Lowerline, a spicy muffuletta and a seafood-okra gumbo stand out, while Cafe Booqoo has “deftly balanced versions of classics like jambalaya and red beans and rice.” Inventive takes shine at Booqoo as well, she writes, such as a po’ boy with fried alligator, strawberry relish, and green tomato.

Times critic digs Ethiopian food truck

In Hungry City this week, Times critic Ligaya Mishan writes about Makina Cafe, a yellow food truck serving Ethiopian fare. She particularly likes the spongey injera, a version that’s “unapologetically sour.” Truck owner Eden Gebre Egziabher gets those delivered from a secret source, but she makes the other menu items in hopes of making “the food of her childhood into an American staple.” Mishan liked the misir, whole red lentils with cardamom and clove, as well as the tibs, were “forthright in flavor.”