Openings

Colonie’s Brad McDonald Confirms New Restaurant in Dumbo, Reveals More Details

Big score for Dumbo's food scene.
Big score for Dumbo’s food scene. Photo: Dumbonyc

Colonie fans, relax. Brad McDonald isn’t leaving his ever-sweet and sustainable joint on Atlantic Avenue. He’s just spreading his farm-loving, Mississippi-bred wings to Dumbo, where he plans to open a small, “kitchen-focused” restaurant. It’s currently unnamed, but the place has been floating around under the alias “No Name Hunt Club” and will launch in January 2012.

“The menu at Colonie is driven by the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, whereas the menu at the new place with be driven by me,” McDonald, who’s done stints at Noma and Per Se, tells Grub Street.

“I grew up in the dirt, and sometimes I feel like my connection to farms is only through the telephone; that will change with the new place,” he says. “I know where to go for ramps, huckleberries, goose foot, all sorts of neat things. We’re already foraging the most beautiful wild watercress upstate.”

As for the space itself, McDonald says the new dining room, in the old Bosch showroom at 1 Main Street, will have “less reclaimed wood and be a lot more modern, with a daily chalkboard consisting of twelve or so daily menu items.” It’s set to have 30 seats, a small private area, a seven-seater bar.

McDonald adds, “I’m ready for New York to accept what its true local food is. Blue Hill understands this, but I’m not sure who else does yet.”

Colonie’s Brad McDonald Confirms New Restaurant in Dumbo, Reveals More