[Mamacita]

(Photo: Carina Salvi)


My co-worker, and devoted fan of Sorrel and it's chef Alexandre Tchistov, told me today that the Tchistov will be closing the restaurant by the end of the month.
360 is shuttered and now Sorrel. The owner will be opening a new restaurant in Manhattan.

Does anyone know anything more? I guess it's about time I schlep myself over there and try them.

[Carnivore]

That's a shame.

[jeffrey]

Perhaps it was just too mush room.

(buh-dum bum...)

[DrabRabbit]

I heard business was slow but they just couldn't turnup the root of the problem. (someone stop us)

[alafairnadia]

I definitely would have visited this spot more often had it accepted credit cards.
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like a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote

[LeeHo]

Oh, cmon! Credit cards?

That's the excuse?

WE were bad neighbors. That is a place that we all wish we had and we had it.

A gazillion restaurnts in the city are cash only and do fine.


So sad. We suck as a neighborhoood, and people with money to let that place go.
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The best of men aren't at their "best" at all times.

[sweet tea]

NO!!!!


i really DID go there, as often as i could possibly afford.

DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!!!

there's no WAY i'll be able to afford that place at manhattan prices, not to mention i won't have the satisfying walk home afterwards.

alex was always threatening to close; i'd gotten accustomed to thinking of it as just an expression of soviet angst.



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[Restless Native]

Ok, experiment failed, now bring back the bodega that was there before.

[Mamacita]

[sweet tea]

i'm planning to go tomorrow (my birthday).


dammit! i've tried garden cafe, and it's just not as good. and don't get me started on the muddy flavors and breath-less wine glasses of flatbush farm....

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[Carnivore]

[sweet tea]

to be fair, i've only been to g.c. once and to sorrel many times, but i'll respectfully disagree. or at least i'll say that to my tastes g.c. was not as good an experience.

don't get me wrong; it was a wonderful meal. but afterwards i felt heavy and tired, and the atmosphere -- while very nice -- is just less my style. i felt like i was either about to do something wrong or already had done so, like eating at someone else's house when you're a kid. (i've eaten at plenty of nice joints, and i know my forks apart -- i am an episcopalian, after all )

the food was technically faultless, but less exciting to me. maybe in part because the french/new american idea is just less new to me than the french/russian/new american.

i don't have anything bad to say about g.c., but it was more money (only slightly, granted, but for 2 courses instead of 3) for a dinner i enjoyed less.
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[Emily]

This really is too bad--we went there just last week with my mother--but I agree with alafairnadia that the no credit-cards thing was a big part of it. I was constantly proposing that we go there, and my husband would always neg the idea because it was just a little bit more cash (if you order wine) than we typically carry around. So we'd end up at ToD or Beast or whatever. Honestly, if they'd accepted credit cards, we'd have gone 2-3x more often, easily.

I love the Garden Cafe in terms of food and service but I do wish they'd redecorate. It's got a bit of a faded '80s Victorian kitsch vibe that I don't really like.
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[alafairnadia]

I have a lot of yupster (since RN has already chimed in on this thread) friends who visit the nabe regularly to eat at GC or Franny's and would have gone to Sorrel more often, often with me in tow, had there been a CC machine in the joint. Why? We're serious drinkers - one bottle of wine is not going to cut it, especially if we're gonna sit around and chat over dessert. The last time I was there with a large group of hardcore drinkers (a whopping 4 people - Carnivore, that's the group you ran into that time), we all had to dump in around $100 a person - that's more cash than I really feel like traipsing around with. and that's the demographic that's discouraged when you don't take CCs. obviously they had trouble drumming up enough business that was willing to walk in with $35-55 in cash per person.

I will miss the place - I love the portion sizes and the wine list. I like the market menu.

but I also have to agree with Carnivore, GC's quality of food and cooking is so much more amazing and quirky than Sorrel's. there's a reason that place has had such constant acclaim over the, what, 15 years it's been there?
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like a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote

[sweet tea]

HOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!


okay, just in the door from birthday dinner, and alex assured me they are not closing. he says they are opening a wine bar in chelsea, but not closing sorrel.

i asked him twice, because it worried me a bit that this was the only time that he hadn't said that they were closing, and that i was therefore being told "pravda" rather than truth, but the second time, i believed him.

all you people regretting not going more, here is your chance to redeem yourself.




incidentally, dinner was divine.
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[Mamacita]

Yay! Please do tell what you had for dinner? I'll need some pointers for when I go!

[eterpay]

while we're on the subject, does anyone know what's going on with 360? I was there a couple times and it was truly excellent.

[cwh812]

[lnclnplcgentrifier]

seems like same time last year they also let it slip that they would close because of slow business, and whaddya know, people went in and they stayed open. perhaps a marketing tactic?

[Finn]

I just wanted to chime in for Sorrell over GC, though I guess that's sort of gratuitous. I've been to GC twice and on both occasions found the performance to be sort of undifferentiated, especially at that price point. (Though GC is certainly better, I had a very similar experience the two times I found myself at Tempo.)

Sorrell on the other hand has always been very sharp and precise cooking when I've been there, and the consistency of exceeding expectations makes it my favorite fine-dining location in S Brooklyn apart from Al Di La.

So I too am very happy to hear it's not going.

[Carnivore]

[ProspectPlaceGirl]

shit. im totally guilty of not going... but i totally admit to stopping to look at the menu and doing the whole "mmmm this place looks good, lets go back" and of course i never did.

i never walk that way really!

meh. not a valid reason i know. but shit, i do wish i'd gone... i feel very guilty now.

i DID try amorina for the first time last week after having lived here and passing by the place for over a year now and that place is damn good. i even waited in line in the cold last saturday. and i will be back. mmmmmm.

and to think i've passed that place to go to franny's.....pssssssssssh---never again!
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my beat is correct.

[SevenOneEighty]

[sweet tea]

just to be clear, as far as i know it is NOT closing. alex claimed things were going really well -- which i've never heard him say before. so repent and dine in heaven.

i don't think this place would survive on washington (at least not today's washington), but i agree about the "i never walk that way" problem, as that's why we didn't go there for the first year or so. if they do need more business, short of relocating, they might consider getting a sign....
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[spiredem]

Lovely menu but could never drag my boyfriend there because they never had enough vegetarian options. Also the space feels very cold - like a storefront with no theme, no drapes, no comfort...As long as Applewood doesn't go anywhere I'll survive!

[annarebeck]

360's website says they're closed for renovations. I hope that's all it is--I've been meaning to go their for years and haven't made it yet.

I'll definitely give Sorrel a chance now. I went in there with my boyfriend once and sat down, but there were so few vegetarian options and we foundt he atmosphere so off-putting that we apologized and left. Probably went to Beast or FF.

[sweet tea]

yeah, it's not a veggie-friendly menu, that's for sure. i wonder if you called ahead if alex could work something out for you. has anyone ever tried that?

i don't know if he would, but he was very accommodating with my mom, who can't eat wheat.
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[Old Time Brooklyn]

Are these guys closed for good?

[bkhoosierfan]

i dont see what the fuss is about

their menu looks rather boring and their beer selection sucks

what we really need is a good restaurant that offers 50/50
veggie and meat eater options

[Mamacita]

Yup, it's closed.
He plans on opening a place in Manhattan. We'll see.
Many a friend I know was bummed, it was a unique place.

[C Balla]

After Weather Up opens I doubt it'll be long until another place along these lines pops up.

I never tried Sorrel before they closed though, sucks.

[TheBurgerking]

Here here. This place is very cold and uninviting. Also bad art and cheap light fixtures. No thanks. 360 was intimate and rustic. Classy. the best food in Prospect Heights are still the patties at Christys.

[sweet tea]

i don't wanna talk bout it. but the h8rs are wrong. sorrel was the best.


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[C Balla]

I also do not understand people who put Christie's above Little Miss Muffin.

[Carnivore]

I agree with both of the last 2 posters.

[liftandcut]

Doesn't anybody cook at home anymore?

[neene]

yup
i do
and i want to support local businesses
but i cook
and that's actually a conflict
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the further you go out on a limb, the harder it is to keep your balance
balance is overrated

[C Balla]

I cook a lot; I'm really good at it too

[sweet tea]

yes to cooking. lots and well. that's why i so appreciate the rare restaurant where the food is better than what i can make myself.
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[Old Time Brooklyn]

Is something new going in here?

[sweet tea]

does anybody know where alex is cooking now (assuming he is)?

i have guests coming in from out of town who specifically wanted to go back to sorrel (me too!)
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