After being open for about a year, The Classon (at St. Johns and Classon) is For Sale

Greetings-

A new restraurant will soon open on the corner of St. John's and Classon Ave, and is owned by the same guy who owns Amorina on Vanderbilt.

We have been talking about it for months here, on a thread about what was formerly in the location: http://www.brooklynian.com/forums/topic/is-abigails-kaput

But now that it is getting close to opening, I have decided to give it its own thread, and summarize the old one: The Classon will feature blues music, a full Liq lic and table service level food.

The owner launched a Facebook page today:

Facebook for The Classon

Disclosure: This man has supplied Brooklynian's annual Festivus event with free pizza from Amorina for two years in a row. Such tactics are effective in creating a favorable opinion.

is Amorina a good restaurant?

looking forward to a new restaurant on the corner.

Amorina is yummy, but very family focused. Lots of kids under 10.

His old Aliseo place was fancy, and is now operated under the name La Mujer Gala. He seems to have an ownership stake in the new place, but is not actually operating it.

Based on my conversations with him, The Classon is going to be pretty upscale, perhaps even "date night" worthy.

He apparently really likes blues music.

Any idea on what type of food?

Such good news. When will they open?

Italian

Soon

The owner put out this photo on his Facebook feed. It is taken from inside the venue. The door on the left opens to St. Johns.

heard work being done inside today

When I inquired about the place I was told that they don't have a gas line. So everything was cooked with electricity. In my opinion you can't really produce good food unless you have a high BTU gas oven at your disposal. That said, its not impossible to have a gas line run into the property.

Additionally, my broker said that Abigail can never ever have a liquor license because of their proximity to a church. I was informed that they did try (hired a lawyer specializing in getting liquor licenses) but failed.

I've been told that one can get a beer/wine lic for a location that is within 200' of a church, but one can not get a hard liquor lic.

That is all Abigail could serve, and apparently the new owner of The Classon concluded that was "good enough".

Note, a beer/wine lic is presently in pending status with SLA:

http://www.trans.abc.state.ny.us/servlet/ApplicationServlet?pageName=com.ibm.nysla.data.publicquery.PublicQuerySuccessfulResultsPage&validated=true&serialNumber=1267282&licenseType=RW

BTW, readers, we are talking about 807 Classon Avenue

photo: http://sunsunconstruction.com/807-classon-ave-brooklyn-ny-2/

I enjoy that building. It is wearing a building hat.

landlord: I took the attached photo about two months ago, noticed they'd poured two new sidewalk slabs in front of the place - and one of them seems to have a GAS valve in it. So thinking the new lessor or the landlord had a gas line added...

Attached files

landlord said:

When I inquired about the place I was told that they don't have a gas line. So everything was cooked with electricity. In my opinion you can't really produce good food unless you have a high BTU gas oven at your disposal. That said, its not impossible to have a gas line run into the property.

Additionally, my broker said that Abigail can never ever have a liquor license because of their proximity to a church. I was informed that they did try (hired a lawyer specializing in getting liquor licenses) but failed.

explains why Abigails had problems

mr. met said:

explains why Abigails had problems

That doesn't even begin to explain why Abigail's had problems. Blech.

Does anyone have a status on when this new restaurant is planning to open? The paper has been on the windows for some time, and some work seems to be happening there when I occasionally walk by, but it seems to be moving slowly. Any ETA?

Liquor lic is still in pending status.

No evidence of a kitchen inspection yet by DOHMH.

....so, some things still need to happen.

July 11: The owner states he is optimistic it will open in Mid September.

The owner is now publishing interior photos on the Facebook page, and stating he is getting close:

Sept 11:

The alc lic is still in pending status, and I have heard that is the only obstacle remaining.

Open already and make it BYOB for now, I'm very excited about this! Family friendly, blues music, I'm there and often if the food is even moderate.

Without the ability to sell alcohol, he would lose money if he opened now.

He owns the building, and has other venues, so he was likley aware of how long it would take SLA to processs his application and finish construction.

How do you figure he'd lose money? I know booze yields high margins and becomes a healthy portion of a place's profit if its in the mix, but there are obviously many food establlishments that don't serve alcohol and survive.

I hit send too quick. I think maybe it makes sense to wait till you have the llcense to avoid people forming a negative first opinion ("forget them, they dont have booze") and not getting a second chance to attract them back, but i've been to many places with byob signs letting people know they'll be serving booze soon. Either way, I'm happy waiting for what sounds like a great place.

Just curious, do you know more about the food? "Italian" is vague. Italian as in pizza/pasta, or Italian as in Al di La / Corvo (hopefully the latter)

Alcohol is a central part of his $trategy, and the SLA reportedly frowns upon allowing customers to BYOB while an establishment is awaiting a lic.

This will be a live music venue. I suspect he will take in more money from cover + alcohol sales than food.

...needless to say, the restaurant and bar mix in the area is rapidly changing. I expect his menu is far from set.

Their partial menu is posted by their graphic designer:

http://www.incitementdesign.com/projects/restaurant-bar-graphic-design

Good find!

The prices and menu tell me that his initial local competition will be Bar Corvo and Mayfield. In the Spring of 2014, his competition will likely grow to include the venue to be run by 3rd Ward at 1000 Dean.

Oct 27:

As a result of the collapse of 3rd Ward, The Classon doesn't have to worry about competition from them.

When I see the owner next, I'll try to find out what the delay is. While the SLA is slow to grant lic's, I suspect that this lic continues to be in pending at the request of the owner.

whynot_31 said:

When I see the owner next, I'll try to find out what the delay is. While the SLA is slow to grant lic's, I suspect that this lic continues to be in pending at the request of the owner.

I'm inferring from this thread and the restaurant's Facebook page that The Classon is not yet open. Amirite?

Yup

Nov 25

Renovations are complete.

The venue will reportedly be doing private events throughout the holiday season, and then opening "to the public" in Mid-January.

It sure looks a lot diferent from when it was Abigail's!

Did the window paper just come down? It was up on Saturday I believe. Was really hoping they'd be open for the holiday period. Oh well, what's another month? At least we'll have G Lee's BBQ to keep us warm.