Former 360 Restaurant Finally Has Sign

Through its brief, celebrated, tortured life, the Red Hook restaurant 360 had everything—fame, a reputation, a following, kudos—everything but a sign. It was just 360, same as the address on Van Brunt Street.

Last July, a new restaurant called O Barone opened there. But still no sign. Until now. 360 Van Brunt now has an actual sign saying what it is for the first time in the building's life as a restaurant. If even says "Food and Wine," in case people get confused.

How pedestrian.

Two Storefronts on Van Brunt

This is a bit beyond this site's purview, but every now any then I just like to comment on neighborhood stuff. 360 and Pioneer Inn were two eateries on Van Brunt Street—one fancy and white collar, one down-home and blue collar, both good—that helped mark Red Hook as a dining and carousing destination. Then both suddenly shuttered last year, 360 first and then Pioneer later. Pioneer, as I understand it, closed for prosaic reasons: DOH problems. 360's closure, however, is the stuff of legend. The general idea is that celebrated chef Arnaud Erhart cracked and headed to Timbuktu or Tahiti or some such retreat and has yet to return. Nobody knows for certain. Whenever some reporter does find out the true story, it'll make a hell of a read.

Anyway, there's activity at both addresses. The Pioneer Inn, as has been reported, is under new management and will soon become the Brooklyn Ice House. The front has been painted white and the Pioneer Inn sign has finally been taken down. There's lots of liquor lined up on the bar. Can't tell if it's leftover from the Pioneer's reign, or new stuff brought in by the Ice House people.

As for 360, it's for rent. Still looks like 360 inside. But there's a new message, emblazoned on a t-shirt, hanging in the window: "Stop and Think." Stop and think about what? About renting the place? About going into the restaurant business? About renting in Red Hook? About life?

What are you trying to tell us, Arnaud?! And where are you??!!!

360 Van Brunt to Get New Tenant

Several new wrinkles in the ongoing mystery of 360, the praised restaurant of chef Arnaud Erhart that put Red Hook on the dining map until he capriciously shut the place down and disappeared last year, prompting a million conspiracy theories as to why he left and where he went.

Walking past the storefront today, I encountered a man sitting with a purposeful air in a lawn chair in front of the opened shop. I thought this might be the new tenant, but no. Even better: it was the landlord. And he had a heap of information regarding the new sign in the window that read "New Restaurant Opening Soon."

The new eatery, "another fancy sit-down place," will arrive in September. It will be Italian, and run by an Italian, whose name I didn't get, but who runs a restaurant outside Italy, and has put in time at Patois on Smith Street. (Perhaps with that information, the foodies out there may have an idea who the guy is.) The place may be a "family affair," run by the chef and his clan, and the landlord said the man was committed to the place.

That sort of explains what will become of 360. But what about what happened to it? "I think Arnaud decided he had accomplished what he set out to do," said the landlord. "One of the best ten restaurants in New York? Goodbye." Where did he go? "Madagascar to save the coral reefs," he said with a smirk. I'm pretty sure that was a joke. But what came next probably isn't. Arnaud is back in the city now, but may possibly soon leave for New Orleans, perhaps to open up a new restaurant.

Bad News in Red Hook

This item at Gowanus Lounge is very dispiriting, in that it involves some businesses I like and patronize often, as well as many of the storefronts that have made Red Hook a nice place to visit in recent years. It's sad to think of Van Brunt without destinations like the Pioneer bar, the restaurant 360 and LeNell's fine wine and liquor shop. Remove them and the strip would feel like, well, the nasty old Van Brunt of five years ago.

So, does this mean that Fairway and Ikea are not actually part of a rising tide that raising all boats? Does it mean that the Red Hook rebirth that the real estate hawks have been droning on about for a decade never actually took hold (aside from the rising rents and property prices, I mean)? Can it be that things don't happen just because you say them over and over again?

Two South Brooklyn Food Deals

This is pretty off-topic. Lost City's not really in the business of restaurant recommendations. But I do like to see local, independently owned businesses thrive.

Carroll Gardens Fish Market, which just recently installed a sushi chef, is served up some damned fine, amazingly fresh, takeaway sushi. The selection is unusually vast for takeaway (you can eat there if you wish, but there's only one stool), including side dishes like pickled yellow radish and squid salad. And prices are cheap. The place puts all other sushi options on Court Street to shame, and easily bests the abominable, stale, chewy, flavorless stuff pushed by Fairway and Trader Joe's. (The only sushi I ever spit out as being inedible came from Trader Joe's.)

Second recommendation: O'Barone, a humble, but nonetheless excellent, and largely unpatronized Italian restaurant on Van Brunt Street in Red Hook. This is the old 360 space. The new owners are Italian and very friendly. The pasta is homemade. The space is charming, the wine list good, and the prices reasonable. Plus, on Tuesday nights, all bottles are half price and kids eat free. I didn't know this when I strolled in on a Tuesday with the family in tow. Ended up paying half what I expected to. Always a good feeling.