It’s a month past Valentine’s Day, but love is still in the air in Greenpoint. Lovebirds (211 Nassau Ave.), a wine bar and cafe combo, opened at the end of last year and just soft-launched a brunch program at the beginning of this month.
Lovebirds started as a bottle shop in Bushwick and then opened a location in Greenpoint that is a combination of a sustainable wine bar with small plates and a daytime bistro with coffee, tea, and matcha, plus lunch.
“Our original concept was to have a bottle shop and speakeasy cafe/wine bar in the back, but we couldn’t find the right space,” the co-owners of Lovebirds told Greenpointers. “We fell in love with the current bar space in Greenpoint because of its natural light, park views, and community oriented area.”
The Lovebirds team designed the Greenpoint space “to feel like an off-shoot ‘secret garden-esque’ place off the park.” They built it with sustainability in mind, resulting in the fact that a whooping 90% of the space is from reclaimed materials. Lovebirds features pendants from an upstate school house, a crystal chandelier from Remix Market’s Industry City location and a door is from the old drama club owner who found it in a New Jersey nunnery.
Lunch is served every weekday at Lovebirds with a menu of sandwiches, soups, and salads. Starting this month, Lovebirds is serving weekend brunch with a tight menu of both sweet and savory options.
After closing for two hours in the afternoon, Lovebirds reopens as an intimate wine bar with dinner service, which is a rotating menu of small or shareable plates that use seasonal ingredients from quality, sustainable sources.
“We would describe ourselves as farm to table New American,” the co-owners told Greenpointers.
Two of Lovebirds’ most popular dishes include the kohlrabi Caesar salad with breadcrumbs and bottarga, which is on both the lunch and dinner menus, and the scallop crudo with fingerling potatoes and sauerkraut, featured on the dinner menu.
Some highlights on Lovebirds’ new brunch menu include overnight slow-cooked brisket, a breakfast salad bowl, vanilla bean and blood orange crepes, and goat cheese French toast brûlée.
“Our bottle shop is a great feeder program for the wine curation at the bar,” Lovebirds said. “We see and taste hundreds of natural wines every month, and we try to select the best of the best that use sustainable practices.”
Every Tuesday Lovebirds offers a program called “Wine Tasting Tuesdays.” For $45, guests can enjoy unlimited three-ounce pours of wines by the glass. There are often special surprise bottles off-menu, too.
Lovebirds wine bar and bistro is open Monday 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday 8:30 a.m. – 11 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. – 11 p.m.
My wife and I went there today for lunch. Recommend highly . Zoey was really nice host and lu ch was excellent.