Dumbo NYC

Notes from the DUMBO, Brooklyn NY neighborhood


Vinegar Hill House Opening Soon

November 17th, 2008

72 Hudson Avenue

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}

Filed in Dumbo Food, Dumbo Retail and Businesses, Hudson Avenue, Vinegar Hill at 12:33 pm
Comments
  • Brooklyn Bum
    Very cool! Never thought I'd see a restaurant opening on Hudson Ave. in Vinegar Hill.
  • wb39
    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.
  • will it ever stop?
    maybe you'd like some cheese with that whine??
  • loose stool
    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!
  • dumbostreets
    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!
  • anti-John-n-Wendy-Whiner
    wb39: If you hate Dumboians so much you wouldn't be reading this blog every 5 seconds.
  • loose stool
    anti-John-n-Wendy-Whiner. Finishing move for wb39?
    I vote Nudality!
  • 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.
  • VHer
    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!
  • aj2008
    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.
  • Jstein
    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.
  • Jstein
    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.
  • baffled
    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.
  • yah mon
    people, please, way too much analysis...just wish the new restaurant success and support them with your patronage
  • neighbor
    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.
  • Yahweh Or The Highway
    This thread needs an enema
  • loose stool
    http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/BScanJobDocum...
    Hey Jstein paste this into your browser. Landmarks signed off on a new 5" flue for said "wood stovelet". You putz you.
  • Guarantee that thugs from the projects will be preying on these customers.
  • Gold
    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!?!?
  • stop biting my handle...
    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.
  • Gold(en) Gun
    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.
  • dweedle
    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.
  • dumboguy
    **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.
  • askjeez
    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.
  • They have better crack in Florida.
  • dumboguy
    Right, not a word, don't mention her to him.... Crackey who? Who is that? Don't know who you are talking about.
  • Reality Check
    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?
  • Steve Smith
    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!
  • Dreidel Hustler
    I heard Bobcat Goldthwait was there opening night.
  • Lyle Alzado
    “If me and King Kong went into an alley, only one of us would come out. And it wouldn't be the monkey.”
  • V-hill resident
    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!
  • monster
    I tried looking up any mention of a mugging on the internets? Did you do it?
  • neighbor
    Does anyone know what time the mugging took place? And were the police called / did they respond?
  • loose stool
    He made it up because he hates the restaurant and dog feces.
  • VH
    The mugging took place at approx. 8 p.m. on 12/19 near Front & Hudson. No one was hurt.
  • Kate
    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!
  • deckster
    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.
  • VH4Ever
    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.
  • V-hill resident
    Sounds like a plan!
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