Months ago, a reader tipped us off to construction going on at 150 Green Street. When we realized that it was part of Faurschou Gallery, we didn’t investigate it further.
Now, thanks to another tip from a curious reader, we’ve put two and two together. The space will house a new seasonally focused restaurant called Ilis, from chef and Noma alum Mads Refslund and business partner Will Douillet.
“A dining experience built in and around a central working kitchen, eliminating the barriers between guests and chefs, front of house and back of house,” reads the restaurant’s website. “Ilis will showcase a culinary approach spanning cultures and cooking styles to highlight both land and sea, with an emphasis on the bounty of the northeast and the earth’s natural cycles.”
The team is currently hosting private events in the adjacent Faurschou Gallery.
A restaurant in North Brooklyn has been a long-time coming for Chef Refslund. In 2017, New York Post reported on his plans to open an experimental space in Williamsburg, at 93-99 N. Tenth Street, which spent a few years in the works, though they ultimately fell through.
We have reached out to the Ilis team and will update the story when we learn more.
I hope these guys don’t bring the Noma prices with them. On another note somebody just told me that Bread Brothers, the coffee shop next to Starbucks has closed.
Mads Refslund is not a Noma Alum. He was one of Noma’s founders FYI.
To follow up on the opening of Ilis, their fine dining results in problems for their Greenpoint neighbors, in the form of woodfire smoke and 24/7 industrial-strength HVAC noise far in excess of NYC codes. (Community board and DEP on notice.) At least the recent hi-rises bring waterfront access. This restaurant brings nothing of value to the neighborhood and endangers residents.
So the founder of Faurschou Gallery belatedly realized that recent Greenpoint emigres have no interest in art, merely in stuffing their faces with ever more exotic, expensive fare. I never saw a soul in the gallery, and I live across the street.