All About Café Brume, a New Alpine-Inspired Bistro in Brooklyn Heights

1. The neighborhood feels like (and is) home.

Spiro and his wife, Jennifer Spiro, who will be working in the front of the house as maitre’d, have lived in Brooklyn Heights for 27 years. They’ve raised two children here and have a clear vision for how they see Café Brume serving the neighborhood.

“We want this to be as playful as possible for the neighborhood residents,” says Spiro. “We have a good idea of what’s lacking in the market out here, and this is supposed to fill that hole. It’s also an opportunity for people to come out in the evening and stretch Montague Street a little later than it normally does.”

2. Spiro brought on a chef with the perfect experience.

Chef Ian Anderson has a long pedigree of working in some of the city’s premier fine dining restaurants, including Le Coucou, LaLou, Otway, and Betony.

“I’m a big fan. I knew that this place would obviously need a chef that was steeped in European cookery, especially French,” says Anderson.

“I think with Ian’s energy and where he’s at in his career, he can combine all of his experience and his focus and explore a little more,” adds Spiro.

The two were introduced by a mutual friend who had “nothing but good things” to say about Anderson, Spiro says, and the rest is history.

“The biggest appeal for me was that you [could] tell this was such a passion project for Brendan,” Anderson says. “Of course, you want to be a part of it.”

3. The menu will be elevated (literally) but still approachable.

For the menu at Café Brume, Anderson was excited to work with the concept of Alpine food.

“The main thing about [this cuisine] is that it’s high elevation. That constrains some of the products that you can use, but I think that breeds more creativity. They’ve created so many great dishes and techniques out of necessity, and it’s been really fun to work with that,” Anderson says.

The scope extends beyond what one may initially assume, incorporating the Piedmont region of Italy and France, as well as Swiss-style food.

In practice, this translates to boudin blanc with celery root remoulade, spaghetti alla chitarra with crispy duck liver, and wienerschnitzel with lingonberry, anchovy, lemon, and potatoes.

“We’re going to have the best schnitzel in New York City,” Anderson laughs. “We’re calling it now.”

In addition, the menu will feature warm olives, braised endive with bagna cauda, crayfish tarts, and a roasted chicken with bay leaf spaetzle.

Eventually, Anderson will also head up an in-house charcuterie program, but for now, the restaurant will launch with picks sourced from local butchers and both domestic and international cheeses.

The menu is composed of a particularly large amount of appetizers and hors d’oeuvres, but it’s not a “shared plates” restaurant, Spiro emphasizes.

“We really want to dig into what it means to go out to dinner with your family or loved ones or by yourself and sit at the bar and have all of these opportunities,” Spiro says. “We’re doing a neighborhood restaurant with food and cuisine that we find allows us to be expressive with what we like most.”

4. Half pours, anyone?

To start, Café Brume will focus only on wine and beer, offering a long list of options in both half and full pours curated by Spiro himself.

There are eight beers on draft, with a mix of local and imported options. They’re partnering with Transmitter Beer, in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, on ciders and Euro-centric brews.

“We’ll have high-elevation wines, mountain wines, things that have a lighter quality to them,” Spiro says. “[It will be] more crisp minerality and [with] excellent acidity. They’re easier drinking but highly pairable, and also cut some of the fattier dishes.”

Café Brume’s landlord also happens to own the building next door — Montague Wines. Guests of the restaurant, Spiro says, are encouraged to stop by after their meal to grab a bottle of anything they particularly enjoyed at dinner.

“I feel like I’m one of the few chefs that likes to cook food that pairs well with wine,” Anderson laughs. “I think that there is a great opportunity with wines like this for a heavier, heartier style of food. We’re going to lighten it up a little bit, but I think it really will create a culture here of getting to try things, especially since we’re doing half pours.”

5. Inside, it’s like an alpine cabin.

The space is split into two distinct areas — in the front, a spot for people to sit at the bar and at tables for a full dinner, and in the back, a few large communal tables for chatting with a pour of wine and a snack. When the weather allows, there will be a large section outside the restaurant as well, with room for 35 people.

Inside, Café Brume has a high ceiling lined with exposed dark wooden beams, lending a feeling that you’ve stumbled not into a Brooklyn Heights restaurant but perhaps someone’s cabin in Switzerland.

Wood accents abound throughout the space, whether it’s between the front restaurant and the back wine and snacks area, or on the ceiling in long beams. In the front section, there’s a long wooden green banquette lined with cushions, and a bar that spans the length of the restaurant — it should seat 14 people, Spiro says. They’ll also slice some of the meats and cheeses right there on the bar, with a “giant” hand-cranked slicer.

Café Brume is open for dinner service seven days a week beginning April 24.

Ellie Plass is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn. Follow her on Instagram and X. Follow Resy, too.