New Pizza and Wine Bar to Replace Basil in Crown Heights

By COLlive reporter

A new restaurant will be opening this summer at the same Kingston Avenue location of the famed Basil Pizza and Wine Bar in Crown Heights, COLlive has learned.

The new restaurant, named Biarritz Kosher Pizza and Wine Bar, will offer customers a similar experience to the original Basil, including a menu of a variety of pizzas, fresh fish and homemade pasta.

Biarritz will be located at the site of the former Basil NY Pizza & Wine Bar at 270 Kingston Avenue which opened in 2010 as an Italian dairy kosher restaurant by Crown Heights businessman Danny Branover.

Basil surged in popularity, and at its height was known for long lines of customers waiting to be seated. It is credited with establishing the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights as a kosher food destination and rebranding it as a multicultured community. The restaurant was closed last June.

The new restaurant is owned by a Syrian Jewish investor and will be led by Clara Perez, manager of Basil in its early days. The plan is to offer the same warm, upscale, fine dining experience and ambiance, she said.

Joining her will be Michael Arrington, a former chef at Basil who has worked at upscale Manhattan restaurants and will serve as executive chef.

The restaurant, which will be certified by the CHK (Crown Heights Kosher), is named after Biarritz, an elegant seaside town on France’s southwestern Basque coast, which has been a popular resort for European royalty since the 1800s.

Perez says the restaurant is planned to open in August. The plans are to be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, as well as to serve wine and liquor. The menu and exact opening date will be released at a later date.

“I am looking forward to greeting the community at the restaurant,” she told COLlive.com. “We want to bring warm ambiance and great food back to the neighborhood.”