Hi neighbors!
In this issue, the Brooklyn Museum announces renovations, a new pizza spot is set to open in Crown Heights and a truly one-of-a-kind Park Slope business closes after nearly three decades.
Dining on Vanderbilt Avenue is starting more and more at the counter.
Casual dining spots are moving in, and even established restaurants are rethinking their approach. Comfort-food favorite Dilly Dally announced this week it’s dropping dinner service and becoming an all-day café.
“The shift reflects the way the neighborhood already uses the space: as a place to gather during the day—for coffee, breakfast, lunch, or a relaxed afternoon stop,” the restaurant told the Gazette.
The restaurant renovated to accommodate counter service and will now operate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday to Sunday. Jenna Doctoroff, who co-owns Dilly Dally with her husband Dave Patry, said demand played a role. Weeknight dinners had become “inconsistent”—busy some nights, “dreadfully dead” on others—and ultimately not financially sustainable.
Still, she sees it less as a retreat than a reset. The new hours and refreshed menu, she said, were mostly about bringing Dilly Dally back to the couple's original vision as a neighborhood home base.
“Over time, Dilly Dally hopes to deepen that role by hosting small gatherings and events for locals—from new parent meetups to casual game nights—continuing to build a space that neighbors can return to again and again,” the restaurant said.
Dilly Dally now joins a changing Vanderbilt landscape. Grimm Tavern, an offshoot of Williamsburg brewery Grimm Ales, is set to take over the former Olmsted space in May. Canyon Coffee, which opened last week, is already pulling daytime crowds for toasts and sandwiches, while Gertie, which opened this winter, offers a modern take on the Jewish delicatessen.
The openings are promising—but they don’t quite put to rest the question New York Magazine raised last summer when it published the article, “Is Vanderbilt Avenue Cursed?” After Olmsted, Faun, and LaLou left, neighbors began to wonder if the strip can still support elevated dining.
LaLou co-owner Joe Campanale blamed the changing neighborhood dynamics. Parents like himself, he told the magazine, “love the idea of great restaurants, and go to them, but not with the same frequency as before, and maybe we don’t spend as much when we do go out.”
Maybe the appetite is still there on Vanderbilt. It just peaks before bath and bedtime.
Neighborhood Notes
Cherry Watch is live on the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s site.
Credit: Brooklyn Botanic Garden The controversial Mount Prospect Park skate garden cleared a major hurdle Monday when city officials voted unanimously in favor of the design. Neighbors against its creation came out in force at the mid-afternoon meeting, but ultimately the Public Design Commission sided with the skaters, calling it a “world-class design.” The commission’s approval now sends the project to a final vote scheduled for April 9.
Tom Brady was in the neighborhood last week for the opening of Card Vault by Brady, his sports card and memorabilia shop at 80 Flatbush Ave., near Barclays Center. And he’s not just the company’s official ribbon cutter—Brady owns a 50 percent stake in the business, which rebranded after he bought in last year.
Credit: Card Vault by Tom Brady Canyon Coffee’s arrival last week lit up all of the neighborhood group chats asking: Is the line worth it?!
“canyon was great. they really did an incredible job with the build out. there’s also something uncanny about seeing an LA spot in NY. you feel transported, and it obviously draws a bit more of the california inclined crowd...but it is still ny,” one Gazette reader told us.
With an LA coffee shop comes Hollywood sightings: Broad City’s Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer and National Treasure actor Justin Bartha all stopped by to welcome Canyon Coffee to Brooklyn.
Little Egg pastry chef and “Will This Make You Happy” author Tanya Bush shared her anti-viral pastry tour of Brooklyn, which included Little Miss Muffin ’N’ Her Stuffin at 768 Washington Avenue.
“This stretch of Washington Avenue sits on the northwestern edge of Brooklyn’s Caribbean neighborhoods, and the family-owned shop has the calm, no-nonsense efficiency of a neighborhood stalwart.”
Bush, who is also Cake Zine’s co-founder, recommends the spicy beef patty.
Trailer Park, the Park Slope home decor store that looks like a roadside fever dream, is closing after 27 years. The Park Slope Times first reported its closure.
The Brooklyn Museum is gearing up for a $13 million renovation to give its African art collection a new, permanent home, slated to open in fall 2027. Director Anne Pasternak said the goal is to finally present the works in a more “dignified” place, after years in “low-ceilinged” ground-floor galleries. The new installation will take over underused storage areas and physically connect the collection to the museum’s Ancient Egyptian galleries.
“It’s always bewildering to me that those collections are so separate” Pasternak told the New York Times, adding, “I think in especially in a place like Brooklyn, that framing reads as racist.”
Park Slope residents were complaining on Reddit about an unnamed business that calls out customers’ manners on Instagram—until the shop owner jumped into the comments to defend herself.
Wizard Hat Pizza—which made Infatuation’s list of best pizza during a pop-up run in Prospect Lefferts Gardens—is opening its permanent home at 259 Rogers Avenue in Crown Heights.
Real Estate
Buy a fully-renovated, three-family townhouse in Crown Heights. 294 Albany Avenue. Ask? $2.75M
Calling All Neighbors
Our weekly neighbor-powered help desk. Got a rec or a question for next week? Reach out in the comments or at grandarmygazette@gmail.com.
“i’m looking to join a run club in prospect park. are there any? recovering athlete looking to go slow and build up.”
We asked our neighbors last week: “Fave bars where I won’t get the stink eye if I bring my 4-year-old?” They said:
“Farm one!! They’ve been so nice when I’ve brought my kids!” Two other readers also recommended Farm.One.
“Alta Calidad, Entre Nous, Dear Polly, NOT Beer Street Social”
“Beer street, Covenhoven, gold star” Three other readers recommended Covenhoven.
“Franklin park! Especially the patio, saw a lot of babies last weekend”
“Franklin Park, 99 Rodgers, Whoopsie Daisy”
Classifieds
For sale from your neighbors in Prospect Heights, Crown Heights and Park Slope. The Gazette doesn’t independently verify sellers or items, so please connect directly and use your best judgment.
French oak bench imported from France. Wood and rattan oval coffee table. Set of four Calligaris acrylic blue chairs. Anthropologie waterfall inlay table. Reclaimed wood large full-length mirror. Antique French floral tapestry. Vintage pink ceramic vases. White bouclé Bellini-inspired couch. Vintage art deco brass champagne flutes.
If you’re enjoying the Grand Army Gazette, consider sharing this newsletter with your friends, neighbors and building WhatsApp groups—I’d be so grateful.
More run club options: Crown Heights Running Club: https://www.instagram.com/crownheightsrunningclub/
Mondays and Fridays at 6:45am in the park and around the neighborhood, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm in the park. Saturday long runs with paces ranging from 8mm to true BOTP. Awesome crew all around <3
Re: run clubs, BK Run Project meets at GAP Tues/Thurs at 6:30am. Really fun and pace-inclusive group https://www.bkrunproject.com/