McCarren Park Is Getting a Restaurant With Outdoor Seating

Brooklyn’s McCarren Park could be getting a new restaurant from the team behind Greenpoint’s popular weekend food hall and event space Brooklyn Bazaar, the Brooklyn Paper reports. The restaurant will be located within the rear portion of a building at the park called the McCarren Park House, which is close to the park entrance along Lorimer Street, between Bedford and Driggs Avenues.

Brooklyn Bazaar’s Aaron Brudo and Belvy Klein are working with the city’s Parks Department to restore and revamp the building that will eventually be home to the restaurant, which is set to open sometime in the spring of 2021. The restaurant will have seating both inside and on two patios overlooking the park, and the owners are hoping to serve alcohol, but will need to seek approval from the State Liquor Authority.

Little else is known about the restaurant right now, and Brudo declined to provide more details. Plans for the restaurant came to light at community board meeting held earlier this month, and some residents expressed concerns about restaurant patrons walking into the park with their booze. A representative for the architecture firm designing the restaurant assured board members that the restaurant planned to hire security guards to keep people in check and that the bushes around the existing structure acted as a natural barrier.

The restaurant marks the latest venture for Brudo and Klein, who despite the success of Brooklyn Bazaar, have had to shutter the market twice at two different locations. The bazaar’s original venue at 165 Banker Street, near Wythe Avenue, was taken over by a BMW showroom in 2015, and their most recent location closed last November when rent negotiations fell through.

Restaurants nestled within parks aren’t an uncommon feature in NYC. The Loeb Boathouse at Central Park, the Bryant Park Grill at the eponymous park, and the Pier A Harbor House at Battery Park are just some of the restaurants located within parks in the city. The unnamed McCarren Park restaurant now joins that list.

• Brooklyn Night Bazaar to open restaurant concession in McCarren Park House [BP]