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When Cafe Spaghetti opened in the Spring of 2022, the quaint Italian restaurant was all but impossible to get into, virtually overnight. Why, not since über-popular Pok Pok, which, at its popularity-peak, implemented walkie-talkies and velvet ropes before closing in 2016, had this part of Brooklyn, just west of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, see so many taxi (or, I guess in the more recent case, rideshare) arrivals. Only now, more than a year later, are primetime dinner reservations easier to come by, and only if you book a couple of weeks in advance.
Though walk-ins aren’t unheard of, Cafe Spaghetti’s enviable success precludes it from status as an easy, anytime, neighborhood restaurant. Its follow-up, Swoony’s, scheduled to open quite nearby on Wednesday, November 1, aims to land a little bit closer to that niche. But, spoiler alert, even a few days in advance, its own online reservations are already in the notification zone.
The American bistro occupies an address where Swoony’s chef/owner chef Sal Lamboglia worked in the early aughts; a restaurant that was then called 215 Cucina Napoletana. It housed a few other spots in the intervening years, but sat empty for the last few. Lamboglia intends to populate the place once more with folks filing in for “Sunday supper,” or weeknight burgers, per press materials. Spaghetti is unlikely to appear.
Swoony’s opening menu lists starters like clams casino and crab Louie, wedge salads, that promised burger, a double, among the mains, plus a few fish, a steak, and mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and French fries on the side. Cocktails include a titular spritz, with olive, thyme and cava and a Casablanca, with gin, sherry, vermouth with saffron.
Unlike the Cafe around the corner, Swoony’s has more seats inside than out, with room for 12 at the distinguished mahogany bar, and 50 more at handmade, wooden tables throughout the antique-accented dining room. Original design elements like the tin ceiling remain intact.
Swoony’s is located at 215 Columbia Street in Brooklyn. It is scheduled to open on Wednesday, November 1.