A new restaurant called Malavita is opening soon in the former home of Baoburg at 614 Manhattan Avenue.
Baoburg was a Southeast Asian restaurant that closed last October after serving the neighborhood for 12 years. Baoburg’s menu featured comfort food like crispy pork belly rice and bao buns from Chef Suchanan Aksornnan, who competed on Food Network’s Chopped.
Malavita’s owner, Keith Pulitano, is a local who owns a natural wine bar in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, called El Vino Crudo, and a sandwich shop next door to it called Malavita.
Pulitano told Greenpointers that his sandwich shop in Puerto Rico and his new Brooklyn restaurant share the same name, but they are different concepts and not affiliated.
Pulitano told Greenpointers that it has been a dream “to build something closer to home.”
“Malavita is just a few blocks from my apartment and is shaped by the city I’ve lived in for nearly 15 years,” he said. “It’s a neighborhood spot, but modern, thoughtful, and rooted in good food and good energy.”
El Vino Crudo’s Chef Beto Resende traveled to Brooklyn to help Pulitano develop the dinner menu for Malavita while the Puerto Rico restaurant is closed for summer break.
Malavita’s tight dinner menu will include regional Italian pastas and proteins alongside Italian-American staples. For lunch, Malavita will offer sandwiches, salads, and other lighter bites.
“As a person deeply entrenched in the wine industry, it is imperative for me to take great care of the wine list, which is all low-intervention and high quality,” Pulitano said.
Malavita’s wine list will include classic favorites like aged Barolo or Beaujolais, as well as more offbeat varietals. “I want to have Roagna on the same list as L’Absurde Genie des Fleurs and to be priced reasonably. I’d rather have the wine be drunk and enjoyed than stay on the bottle list,” the owner said.
Pulitano explained that both the food menus and the wine list are meant to evolve over time, allowing him “to showcase what’s exciting the moment.”
Malavita’s interior will be sleek with tile, stone and stainless steel. The restaurant will also have backyard seating.
“It’s not an homage to the past, but a look into the future. Malavita is familiar in name, but built for this moment and this neighborhood,” Pulitano said. He hopes to open Malavita by early fall.