[title]
A new local business on Atlantic Avenue is a great spot to find a meaty novel. Not to mention, a plate of actual meat.
A Novel Kitchen—as the name implies—is a rather rare combination of a restaurant and a bookstore (they also sell records!) Coincidentally, the story behind the new Brooklyn Heights eatery is like something straight out of a book.
Ali Ahmed, Ana Cabrera and Akram Nassir were owners of the nearby restaurants Brain Food BK and Yemen Café. They were looking to go into business together, and, after the former Beast and Bottles shuttered at 151 Atlantic Ave, they saw their chance. Around that same time, Ahmed’s parked car was dented and someone left a note. The note-leaver was none other than Dave Morse, owner of the Bushwick used bookstore Better Read Than Dead. After hitting it off, the chance encounter led to their new business venture. (Dave also brought in his friend Cory Feierman who owns Academy Records, hence the music portion of the three-in-one business.)
“We want to revive books by giving them a second home and revive this restaurant,” the Novel Kitchen team tells Time Out New York. “I think we are all ready for revival after surviving this pandemic. And there's so much more in store. We have such a great relationship with the community being born and raised in this very neighborhood. We want to incorporate poetry slams and pop-up shops for our neighboring artists, and provide great comfort food to bring it all together.”
The restaurant’s menu boasts plenty of fun literary twists on comfort food classics like the “Goldie Lox SANDWHICH” with Nova Lox, cream cheese, eggs and hollandaise sauce and the “Novel Chicken Club” on ciabatta with parmesan truffle fries. Also on the menu? A fun storybook version of how the team met:
“Once upon a time, two noblemen crossed the Atlantic to find a vanquished but glorious Beast. As they sat imagining ways to breathe life back into its majestic form, their chariot was hit by a runaway steed. By way of apology, the horseman showed them to his castle filled with books, where, from the many stories found within, they created this one…”
You can find A Novel Kitchen’s full menu here. They’re currently open daily from 8am to 7:30pm.
Most popular on Time Out
- This new start-up delivers experiential meal kits from awesome NYC restaurants
- The best things to do in NYC
- The most famous paintings of all time
- Over 20 artists will display their work for free in Riverside Park this summer
- The best things to do this week
Want to know what’s cool in the city? Sign up to our newsletter for the latest and greatest from NYC and beyond.