Williamsburg Favorite the Commodore Is Opening a Manhattan Bar

The team behind the Commodore, a Williamsburg favorite, is opening a new bar in the East Village. Co-owner Taylor Dow says the team has signed 20 year-lease at 14 Avenue C, at East Second Street, and is aiming for a late fall 2023 opening. Dow declined to comment on whether the bar would be a second location of the Commodore or a separate project.

The Commodore opened in Williamsburg in 2010 by Dow and Chris Young. Over the years, in the face of so much neighborhood change, it has remained a North Brooklyn staple, known for its tropical drinks, nachos, and a fried chicken sandwich that Bon Appétit once declared was the best in “probably the world.”

The East Village project is the first expansion to Manhattan for Dow and Young, who to date, have opened bars together exclusively in Brooklyn. In 2015, the team opened a Bushwick bar and restaurant, El Cortez, before it shuttered during the pandemic. In 2017, the team expanded with a Greenpoint bar, the Drift, which has a ski lodge theme. The Drift remains open.

The Commodore team’s new Avenue C venture was previously Sanatorium, a hospital-themed bar that has since closed. According to a liquor license filing, the space can hold 40 seated customers.