Vinegar Hill House Opening Soon
November 17th, 2008
According to a restaurant openings article in NY Magazine, Vinegar Hill House restaurant opens on the week of November 24, 2008.
Culinary frontierspeople Sam Buffa and Jean Adamson bring a seasonal menu and affordable wines to Vinegar Hill, the historic micro-neighborhood wedged between Dumbo and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The pair met at Freemans, where Adamson was the chef and Buffa owns the affiliated barbershops—and discovered they both were drawn to the waterfront location across the river. The couple first took up residence in the nineteenth-century carriage house out back, and then built the 40-seat dining room using mostly scavenged and repurposed materials. Adamson describes her menu as Moosewood Cookbook–ish in its focus on grains, legumes, and vegetables, which are intended to supplement smaller portions of protein. Her fish will be sustainable and her meats broken down from whole animals procured from Fleisher’s, the upstate cult butcher, all cooked in the wood-burning oven. Also on offer: a raw bar, an American-cheese-and-homemade-cracker board, and $9 classic cocktails—liquor license pending.
We called to make reservations, and sounds like they’re working around the clock to open this week (as a ’soft opening’, as early as this Thursday). The photo above was taken late last week. The photo taken indoors by NY Mag looks quaint and rustic, ready for customers:
(Photo: Noah Sheldon for New York Magazine)
Vinegar Hill House (vinegarhillhouse.com)
72 Hudson Ave., (nr. Water St.)
Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn
Phone: 718-522-1018
{Freemans Chef to Open Restaurant in Vinegar Hill, 03Sept2008}
40 Responses to “Vinegar Hill House Opening Soon”
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November 17th, 2008 at 2:46 pm Rate:
Very cool! Never thought I’d see a restaurant opening on Hudson Ave. in Vinegar Hill.
November 17th, 2008 at 9:04 pm Rate:
Ugh, just when you thought it was safe. Its nice to know that were now going to have extra garbage, odors, rats, more traffic, no place to park and lots of annoying “Dumboians” invading the neighborhood with all their fake wealth pretentiousness. Vinegar Hill is such a gem, I dont know why some people are hell bent on destroying it with trendiness and gentrification.
They turned Dumbo into an “oh its so trendy” neighborhood and now they are going after VH. Check out that photographers website. It shows pre-gentrification DUMBO. We had a great neighborhood before the West Elm crowd came in. Gag.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:19 am Rate:
maybe you’d like some cheese with that whine??
November 18th, 2008 at 1:28 am Rate:
Ha Ha you VH vermin. You are paying the price for getting your cheeze doodles at Peas and Piclkes and your Depends at Bridge apothacary. I know you peoople are so self loathing you’d sooner have rampaging gangs of Farrugetites running through your streets than butt plugged J Condoes sniffing around your filthy little warrens. Wait till you get a green bike lane painted up your ass!
November 19th, 2008 at 4:27 am Rate:
I am old enough to remember the complaints about people moving out of Brooklyn! I hope, despite the economic hard times, Brooklyn keeps on growing and we get more small businesses like this in the area. I, for one, am looking forward to supporting them. It is a tough time to open a business!
November 19th, 2008 at 7:19 am Rate:
wb39: If you hate Dumboians so much you wouldn’t be reading this blog every 5 seconds.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:07 am Rate:
anti-John-n-Wendy-Whiner. Finishing move for wb39?
I vote Nudality!
November 19th, 2008 at 12:27 pm Rate:
as a neighbor who lives maybe 20 steps from V.H.H. I was curious about the opening.. Ate there last night with fiv eother long time neighbors. We all enjoyed it thoroughly. Very nice staff and owners were very thoughtful about our concerns as neighbors. The space is so small that I doubt overcrowding the streets will be a big deal.. and do the alarmists on here really think they live in the country at this point anyhow… good luck and welcome to the hood.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:53 pm Rate:
Well said goose. Let’s welcome this new restaurant into our neighborhood rather than assuming that this will destroy our neighborhood. people, wb39’s comments are not indicative of all Vinegar Hill residents. We’re more positive than that. Best of luck to Sam and Jean!
November 19th, 2008 at 6:53 pm Rate:
WB makes some excellent points. Our biggest fear as Hill residents is that VH will start looking like DUMBO. We dont want what happened to DUMBO to happen to Vinegar Hill. DUMBO was once one of the hottest nabes in Brooklyn. Its now, well we are all aware of what its become. We wish the restaurant well, but just prey to god there wont be a domino effect with the other storefronts on Hudson.
November 19th, 2008 at 10:13 pm Rate:
What you will no doubt see is more thugish types in the normally empty crevices between dark lots, waiting to jump tipsy hipsters trying to look like j petermanites on their way down a “quaint” cobblestone street in search of a non-existent cab. This will in turn put everyone who normally has no problem on these streets in danger on cold dark nights when you get off work late and think you’re still OK because VH has been empty and safe til now.
November 19th, 2008 at 10:18 pm Rate:
by the way, how likely is it that that wood stovelet is even legally installed in that landmarked building? ANY flue would HAVE to extend a minimum of 8 feet higher than any adjacent surface or building. such an alteration would automatically trigger a landmarks application process. good luck to the old wood frame neighbors.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:48 am Rate:
Do those of you who live in Vinegar Hill seriously believe that one small, quaint restaurant is going to be the ruin of your little self enclosed civilization?
I live in DUMBO and am willing to bet I’m every bit as “real” as WB or anybody else in VH. I’ve walked VH hundreds of times and am baffled at the ghost town atmosphere. Do you realize that in its original form Hudson Street was a rolicking and festive place, full of boozing Navy Yard employees? If you’re such purists then I suspect you’d want to bring it back to its ORIGINAL purpose.
It’s so trite and precious to complain about the invading hordes. And most people grow out of the classifications and judgments once they get out of high school. WB’s attitude is like that of some guy on the cool hallway who’s worried because some jock wandered over. It’s shallow, silly, small minded and evidence of terrible insecurities.
I hope Vinegar Hill grows into a nice little burgeoning area, with great little bars and restaurants.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:50 am Rate:
people, please, way too much analysis…just wish the new restaurant success and support them with your patronage
November 20th, 2008 at 2:31 pm Rate:
We’re looking forward to trying Vinegar Hill House and have been eagerly anticipating their opening. We’re so glad to have them in the neighborhood and wish them much success.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:40 pm Rate:
This thread needs an enema
November 20th, 2008 at 9:03 pm Rate:
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/BScanJobDocumentServlet?requestid=4&passjobnumber=310083067&passdocnumber=01&allbin=3325899&scancode=SC071218007
Hey Jstein paste this into your browser. Landmarks signed off on a new 5″ flue for said “wood stovelet”. You putz you.
November 20th, 2008 at 9:34 pm Rate:
Guarantee that thugs from the projects will be preying on these customers.
November 21st, 2008 at 10:27 am Rate:
I can’t believe what I reading??? The Boheims are complaining that the “store fronts” on Hudson might actually reopen as… wait for it… STORES! Crazy huh!?!?
November 21st, 2008 at 2:23 pm Rate:
it actually was pretty magical without any of those storefronts open, before they re-did the bullseye building and put in that those ugly apt building.
It was like an area lost in time. And yes, it was pretty nice.
Foot traffic, cafes, etc… are nice too, but we already have alot of that. The magic of VH is a dying commodity in NYC.
It wasn’t blight. It was quiet.
November 21st, 2008 at 4:10 pm Rate:
Magic??? Move to Orlando! As a homeowner can you honestly say you want the area to remain desolate? You live in NYC. If you want to get away from people, move to the “sticks”. You’ll have plenty of space to make you own granola.
November 21st, 2008 at 8:42 pm Rate:
all you whiny little morons complaining about how the neighborhood will be “ruined” by being cleaned up and made into somewhere people actually want to go again: You’ll find plenty of derielict neighborhoods if you move out to NJ, Michigan or Conneticut. You can sit there safe in the knowledge that no mean, nasty yuppies will be around in the forseeable future to disturb you.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:12 pm Rate:
**NEWSFLASH***
Dumbo, NY (AP) CRACKY MOVES TO FLORIDA
Smokey, the (non)resident entreprenural finance minister of P&P announced today that his business partner of many years has relocated to Florida. Smokey related that Crackey “was just tired of the area”. “I talk to her every day though” he added. This reporter can only assume that communications are via cell phone from the back seat of the car service vehicle Smokey uses to return home each night.
On a related matter, “Smokey, Home Alone” will begin filming next Monday. Please don’t park your car on Front Street or it will be towed.
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:42 am Rate:
Its true that Crackey moved to FLA. I hadn’t seen her in a few weeks so I asked Smokey about it about a month ago and he also told me that she moved to florida, had family or friends there or something, liked it there better, etc. I asked him when he too was going to move there but he said that he was born and raised in new york and is not leaving ever.
Remember, tho, if too many people start asking him about her, he may communicate to her that she is missed in the neighborhood and perhaps may consider returning. So don’t.
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:10 pm Rate:
They have better crack in Florida.
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:51 pm Rate:
Right, not a word, don’t mention her to him…. Crackey who? Who is that? Don’t know who you are talking about.
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:25 pm Rate:
I thought the food was OK, and for all the whining on this blog, you all have quite large delusions of grandeur about that little “hood” sandwiched between some huge smoke stacks and blocks of electrical power stations, what an amazing neighborhood, as long as your alive. Can anyone spell cancer cluster?
November 23rd, 2008 at 4:57 pm Rate:
Crackey on vacation! I heard she was headed down to vacation for the winter…it’s too cold up here, so she’ll hang in an investment property down on South Beach until the spring. those coins add up!
November 25th, 2008 at 3:43 pm Rate:
I heard Bobcat Goldthwait was there opening night.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:33 pm Rate:
“If me and King Kong went into an alley, only one of us would come out. And it wouldn’t be the monkey.”
December 4th, 2008 at 10:48 pm Rate:
[...] For more information, pics and reviews, read nymag.com and dumbonyc.com [...]
December 20th, 2008 at 9:47 pm Rate:
It’s a cute place, BUT between midnight and 1am it turns into Vinegar HELL House with the caravans of honking cabs and slamming doors which are tough to sleep through. Also, there is usually a pack of shouting people outside the place. Are they waiting for a table? Are they smoking? Whatever their purpose, they are LOUD.
PS-there was a knifepoint mugging last night on our street (Hudson Ave). The person that predicted VHH restaurant patrons as new crime targets were SPOT ON!
December 26th, 2008 at 11:14 am Rate:
I tried looking up any mention of a mugging on the internets? Did you do it?
December 26th, 2008 at 12:18 pm Rate:
Does anyone know what time the mugging took place? And were the police called / did they respond?
December 27th, 2008 at 10:29 am Rate:
He made it up because he hates the restaurant and dog feces.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:29 pm Rate:
The mugging took place at approx. 8 p.m. on 12/19 near Front & Hudson. No one was hurt.
January 1st, 2009 at 2:14 pm Rate:
Whether the mugging was fictitious or not is not the issue. Muggings occur all the time in this area because of the proximity of the projects. It is definitely no mans land (which is why I love it) between the subway station and the restaurant. I’ve lived in Dumbo for longer than most and less than many and anyone knows you need to keep your wits about you- even on Washington Street. When I left a party next to VH restaurant recently very late night- I ran down the middle of the street til I got to Front. One might say paranoia- but from someone who lived in DC through the late 80’s and 90’s (D.C. had the most gunshot deaths in the late 80’s per capita beating out Michigan)- it’s reality. On the bright side, I welcome this little gem of a restaurant and as long as Walentis stays out of the mix, it might avoid the pitfall of Dumbo a little while longer…enjoy and Happy New Year!
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:31 pm Rate:
The mugging was real. There were two back to back attempts, my friend escaped the first because he ’screamed like a girl, “help, help! somebody help me!”‘ and startled his attacker. The second passerby was not so lucky, and lost watch and wallet. Luckily, no one was physically hurt.
January 4th, 2009 at 12:38 pm Rate:
And when the muggings and the honking horns begin to increase, we residents can file a petition with the city clerk to have the liquor license revoked for being a public nuisance.
January 4th, 2009 at 2:07 pm Rate:
Sounds like a plan!