A serious new cocktail bar for Park Slope
Lore's Jay Kumar will open Folk in the Spring
Welcome to 2025!
I’m slowly emerging from my chubby, cozy cocoon of eating and drinking — two weeks of sitting around tables across the city with dear friends wondering how I got this lucky. I had a truly magnificent meal at Crane Club (a splurge for sure, but so glossy and gorgeous and everything you want from the magic of dining out), a super fun dinner at Strange Delight (fizzy and full of that NOLA energy and the shrimp roll slays), a lovely French feast at Third Falcon (Do you need Dover Sole for two? Do you need puffy homemade brioche with butter from Brittany? Yes, you do, to all), a luxurious steak-fest at Beefbar (this is a glam gem for carnivores), and spent New Year’s Eve eating twice my bodyweight in latkes and caviar, so things were good here.
To welcome us back to The Strong Buzz, I have some exciting news from chef Jay Kumar and his wife Daria Greene, the owners of the modern American restaurant Lore in Park Slope. If you’ve never been, it’s time to change that. Lore has had quite a year; it was named the Best Restaurant in Brooklyn by the NYC Hospitality Alliance, and then awarded a Bib Gourmand from MICHELIN. Lore has been one of my favorite places in Brooklyn for some time now, so its nice to see them getting some well-earned recognition.
In the Spring, they will open Folk, a cocktail bar at 689 6th Avenue (corner of 20th Street) in the former Brooklyn Pub space in Park Slope. The space is under construction now, but it is about 1000-square feet with a big windowed bar area that gets flooded with light. As with Lore, it will be beautifully curated by Daria and designed with similarities so it reads warm and inviting, full of soft tones and rich textures. “It will make you feel at home,” said Jay.
The story of how the couple found the space reflects the deep relationships they’ve built in the community since opening in February of 2022. Here’s how it happened: A regular guest had mentioned a building for sale to Jay, a place that was undervalued because it needed a lot of structural work. Jay wasn’t interested in buying an entire building and putting it back together again, he told the friend, he just wanted the restaurant space. So the friend said, well what if I’ll buy the building and give you the commercial space. And that’s what happened.
“Jay made so many relationships in our community and we have gotten to know our guests who have become our friends,” Daria said. “We love this community so much. We felt we were ready to open something else.”
They are planning to open Folk in late March, a welcoming neighborhood cocktail-forward bar and restaurant with three sections of drinks (from $14 to $18) and an array of appealing small plates and snacks – from Indian flatbreads, to little pot pies from Jay’s time in the UK, and other modern American dishes that reflect local produce.
While the cocktails at Lore are named for legends like Frida Kahlo and Leonard Cohen, the list at Folk will be named for regular folks – guests who have become dear friends of the restaurant. “At Folk, the legendary people are the family of regulars who have made our community,” Jay said. “So you may end up seeing your name on the cocktail list.”
Folk will open in Spring 2025 at 689 6th Avenue, corner of 20th Street.
Excited for this!