A Belgian-inspired restaurant replaces Casellula on North Side
The owners of Point Brugge Cafe and Park Bruges are teaming up with co-founder and CEO R. Henry Reese of City of Asylum to open a new restaurant, Brugge on North @ Alphabet City, on the North Side.
It’s on track to open in about two months, taking over the footprint of Casellula, the New York import specializing in cheeses and wine from Brian Keyser that opened in the former Masonic Hall about a year ago, in conjunction with the new location for City of Asylum.
Jesse Seager, who owns Point Brugge Cafe in Point Breeze and Park Bruges in Highland Park with his wife, Amy, says they weren’t necessarily looking to open a new spot. But once they were approached by Mr. Reese, they found appeal in serving a new neighborhood in partnership with the City of Asylum nonprofit.
“This is bigger than us,” he says. “It’s going to be a community hub.” He cites readings, jazz performances and other cultural events that define the programming at the space at 40 W. North Ave., which
also includes the City of Asylum bookstore.
He anticipates loyalists of Point Brugge and Park Bruges will visit the restaurant, along with a neighborhood crowd and those who attend events.
Another appeal of the location is the downstairs grotto for events — “a beautiful space,” he says. The Seagers don’t have an event space in the East End locations.
Mr. Seager is in the process of hiring a new manager and staff; the contract for the location has been signed, and the liquor li-cense is being transferred. Expect a similar menu to the Se agers’ other loca-tions, with a few signature items available at this lo-cation only. Executive chef of the Point Brugge lo-cation, Susan Conroy, will bump over to the North Side location, Kevin Hun-n in en will run the kitchen at the Point Breeze loca-tion, and Shane Lie bro will continue to run the kitchen at Park Bruges.
Point Brugge opened at the corner of Reynolds and Hastings streets in Point Breeze in 2005, in conjunction with owners Elaine Wolfe, Ms. Seager’s mother, and Barry Silverman.
Park Bruges opened on Bryant Street in Highland Park in 2011. The Belgian-inspired restaurants are open for lunch, dinner and brunch, packing the house for dinner in particular, with a menu of mussels as well as steak frites, Cornish hen, pasta sand dishes such as cassoulet and Waterzooi, a Belgian fish stew.
Casellula, which closed on the North Side in late December, was one of the first businesses to mark progress in the development of the West North Avenue stretch, next door to the long-delayed Garden Theater project.