Welcome to the latest installment of Quick Bites, our (roughly) monthly roundup of restaurant news you can use. Read on for openings, pop-ups, coming soons and other food intel from around the better borough.
Fort Greene’s beloved Bittersweet Coffee opens a full breakfast cafe
The spot across from Pratt has been a breakfast go-to for decades, from back when it was Pratt Coffee Shop, then Clinton Hill Diner, and through the Rosalu/Lulu and Po era, which ended in December of 2023. Last month though, one of the partners in that last venture, Gemma Redwood, expanded her Bittersweet Coffee footprint in the area by turning the place into Bittersweet Breakfast, much to the delight of the locals who turned out in droves on opening weekend.
The basic-but-baller Bittersweet breakfast (Photo by Scott Lynch)
“We’ve been around here for 18 years, and this new place is just like Bittersweet, but with seating,” Lucien Redwood, Gemma’s partner in business and life, tells Brooklyn Magazine. “This neighborhood has really supported us through the years, throughout Covid, throughout the thick and the thin, and we’re very thankful for that.”
The menu at Bittersweet Breakfast is simple and perfect. The popular, plate-sized Lulu and Po pancakes are still available, there’s a BEC of course, and a reasonably-priced bagel and lox situation, as well as oatmeal, a fruit and yogurt bowl and some veggie hash. All of Bittersweet’s homemade pastries are here too.
But to my way of thinking, the pro move is to get the Bittersweet breakfast platter, which comes with two eggs, lots of fatty bacon, some toast that could have used more butter, and a pile of what turned out to be the best hash browns in the area. This is a diner breakfast dream come true.
Bittersweet Breakfast is located at 274 Hall Street, just north of Dekalb Avenue, and is currently open Wednesday through Monday from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Happy Bull Pizza launches residency on an East Williamsburg rooftop
Rooftop bars are fun as hell, especially when they’re located in industrial areas, and thus tend to attract more locals than destination party-goers. And pizza? Also awesome. So when you combine the two, as is now the case at LoHi bar in East Williamsburg, which recently partnered with the excellent Happy Bull Pizza for a year-long residency, you get a true Brooklyn bonanza: great food, drinks, views, and vibes.
Happy Bull is run by Felix Toro, a Queens lifer who quit his job as an audio engineer in the summer of 2019 to pursue his passion for pizza making. After a busy few years of brewery popups, the occasional festival, and learning the ropes from the likes of pizza guru Anthony Falco and the crew at Paulie Gee’s, Toro is now slinging his stuff five nights a week on Scholes Street.
The lineage of these Happy Bull pies reads like a greatest hits list. “One of my primary pizza influences is King Umberto in Long Island,” Toro tells Brooklyn Magazine. “And I also love New Haven pizza. Happy Bull is a blend of those two without a doubt. And I really love the old school New York slice shops, so I’m keeping it simple with toppings and firing a crispy, well-done crust.”
The Margherita, $15, and the Buffalo chicken, $22 (Photo by Scott Lynch)
Both pies I tried were excellent, a straight-up Margherita covered in a bright, not-too-sweet tomato sauce and enough mozzarella to make it gooey, and a buffalo chicken stunner, which did not skimp on the hot sauce, nor the blue cheese dressing. Other varieties include a sautéed spinach pie, a pepperoni with hot honey, and a sausage and mushroom pie. These all clock in at twelve inches around, and can easily feed two (or one).
For the LoHi residency Toro has expanded his repertoire, offering burgers (his vodka sauce one got some social media attention), salads, and, for dessert, a crazy-ass oblea pizza topped with mozzarella, whipped cream, strawberries, and crushed up brigadeiros. “It’s a homage to my Colombian heritage and the oblea lady on 82nd and Roosevelt Avenue,” Toro said.
Happy Bull Pizza will be at LoHi Bar on Wednesday through Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m., and on Sunday from 3 to 11. LoHi is located at 314 Scholes Street, near Bogart Street.
Those lovely Luckybird cakes are now available by the slice (just once a month though)
Luckybird Cakes on Montrose Avenue isn’t new; Amy Berger Roy first opened the place some eight years ago as a full-on bakery, with first-rate pastries, good coffee, and a few coveted window seats on which to lounge away the morning. But in addition to her exceptional cookies and scones, Berger Roy also made some of the prettiest, fanciest, most delicious cakes in Brooklyn, and, as it turns out, that’s where her true creative passion lay.
When Covid hit, Berger Roy decided to shut down the everyday bakery part of her operations for good and devote herself fully to creating custom-made cakes. “It’s what I love doing,” she tells Brooklyn Magazine. “Baking something special for someone’s beautiful day.” Business was great, especially once weddings came back in force in 2022, but after a while she started to miss the community aspect of the old Luckybird.
Pies on the fly at Luckybird (Photo by Scott Lynch)
And so on the first Sunday of every month, Berger Roy is flinging open her doors again (or, actually, her big front window) with a menu that includes those awesome scones and cookies and, incredibly, slices of some of her bestselling cakes, including vanilla rose, dark chocolate chip, carrot, and Meyer lemon berry. Totally on brand: she puts a fresh flower on each slice, so even if you’re just wolfing it down, hungover on Montrose, it still feels like a special day.
“It’s been really nice,” she says. “It’s fun to see all the faces, and just to be part of everything again. I feel like I was hiding away in here a little bit so I was like, OK, I’ve got to connect to the community again.”
Luckybird Cakes is located at 163 Montrose Avenue, between Graham Avenue and Humboldt Street, and is open for cake slices on the first Sunday of every month, starting at 10:00 a.m. until Berger Roy sells out.
The post Quick Bites: Amazing cakes, killer pizza and your new favorite breakfast appeared first on Brooklyn Magazine.
