PARK SLOPE — A Seventh Avenue storefront that was once a secret artist's studio has reopened as an Italian and French restaurant.
Hugo & Sons opened this week at 367 Seventh Ave., on the corner of 11th Street, where local landlord Leo J. Bates spent years creating hundreds of abstract paintings.
Bates sold only a handful of his works, but one of them now hangs in Hugo & Sons along with a painting by local artist Mayaan Zilberman.
Manager Rebecca Tory says the restaurant was designed to honor neighborhood history. The front window displays lettering left over from when a tailor and then a butcher used the space.
“We’re all about keeping in touch with the history of where we are and not just covering things up,” Tory said.
Tory and her husband, the restaurant's chef Andrea Taormina, have lived in Park Slope for 13 years and have two children. Hugo & Sons makes an effort to be family-friendly, with a 5 p.m. opening time that attracts parents with young children in tow, Tory said. The vibe becomes more adult-oriented by 7 or 8 p.m., she said.
The menu offers updated versions of Italian and French classics. Dishes include chitarra pasta with basil pesto and green beans topped with shoestring french fries ($15), pork bracciole ($20), steak frites (price is variable) and a mussels Marseille appetizer ($14).
There's a selection of pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven, and in a few weeks Hugo & Sons will open a casual pizzeria for quick meals and takeout in a former garage right behind the restaurant on 11th Street.
Hugo & Sons is across the street from the popular Talde and down the block from Applewood. Tory said there's room for all three restaurants to thrive because they all serve different needs.
“I really do think that people are quite happy to see us,” Tory said. “It’s a place that I've always wanted to have here.”
Other comings and goings on the restaurant and retail scene include the following:
► Film Biz Recycling is closing and expects to leave its giant warehouse space at 540 President St. near Third Avenue by June 20. The organization sells film props that would have otherwise ended up in the garbage. The closure isn't related to a rent increase, but a lack of funding for the nonprofit, which founder Eva Radke called a "great idea but a bad business model," Brokelyn reported.
► After 36 years in business, Windsor Terrace's 209 Stationery at 209 Prospect Park West and 16th Street closed this week, according to a sign posted in the window. The small shop carried newspapers and candy and had a display of Matchbox cars in the front window. "We will be retiring with heavy hearts…We thank you for 36 years of good business and friendship. We look forward to seeing you around the neighborhood afterwards!” owners Jimmy and Sue wrote.
► A new bar operated by the owners of Bar 718 at 718 Fifth Ave. in the South Slope will open in the space formerly occupied by Black Sheep Pub at 428 Bergen St. and Fifth Avenue, the owners said at a recent Community Board 6 meeting.
► The children's consignment shop Lulu's Then and Now recently moved from Fifth Avenue and Prospect Place to 187 Fourth Ave. near Sackett Street, Park Slope Stoop reported.
► Aroma A Mexico opened recently at 568 Fourth Ave. and 16th Street in a space that's seen several Mexican restaurants come and go in the past two years.
► A new sex shop called Please whose mission is to help Park Slope "rediscover sensuality" opened at 557 Fifth Ave. and 15th Street.
► Givers and Takers, a bar whose financial backers include a member of the British band Mumford & Sons, opened at 286 Third Ave. and Carroll Street.
