Birdee (300 Kent Ave.), a brand-new bakery and all-day café from Kent Hospitality Group, opens today, April 11, on the ground floor of the former Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg. The newcomer is open daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a menu of pastries, cookies, cakes, muffins, sandwiches, ice cream and coffee that can be enjoyed on-the-go or at Birdee.
Chef Renata Ameni, longtime Executive Pastry Chef at Kent Hospitality Group, founded Birdee as a way to showcase her popular baked goods, naming the bakery after her mother’s childhood nickname for her.
Chef Ameni’s sweet and savory baked goods, candies and cakes include unexpected flavor combinations with nods to her Brazilian upbringing and her Kent Hospitality Group tenure. Birdee will also serve takeaway versions of the chef’s ice creams.
Examples of Chef Ameni’s surprising mash-ups include a pepperoni pizza croissant, a strawberry cheesecake danish, a mushroom, egg, and taleggio danish, a lemon and lime meringue danish, and a garlic knot pretzel. The pastry menu also offers pain au chocolat, pao de queijo, alfajores, Russian honey cake, and brigadeiro, which are Brazilian truffles.
Chef Ameni’s fun ice cream flavors include strawberry pistachio kataifi and satsuma with toasted meringue and honeycomb.
In addition to Chef Ameni’s pastries and ice cream, Birdee will offer a savory menu created by Chef Justin Osorio, Culinary Director of Kent Hospitality Group, which offers breakfast and lunch sandwiches, plus salads and bowls.
Chef Osorio’s breakfast offerings, served until noon, include a bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich, a croissant breakfast sandwich with scrambled egg, ham, and aged cheddar, as well as a smoked salmon sandwich with pickles and cream cheese on an English muffin.
The lunch menu, served noon to 4 p.m., includes a tuna melt with American cheese and tomato on a croissant, a chicken Caesar sandwich on focaccia, and a USDA prime Italian dip with giardiniera, basil mayo, and provolone. There’s also a grain bowl with farro, peas, basil, and stracciatella, and a salad with avocado, cucumber, parmesan, and croutons.
Birdee was designed by Modellus Novus, an architecture and design firm that worked with Kent Hospitality Group to build their popular Manhattan restaurants. Birdee’s airy space includes brick walls that are original to the historic Domino Sugar Factory, dark walnut furniture, and earthy green floors.