Gage & Tollner (Closed)

[Jason Perlow]

Lets not forget that Gage and Tollner is/was the only restaurant in New York with functional gas lamps, too. I hope someone buys up the space and re-uses it for a nice restaurant and doesnt destroy the decor. The woodwork and ornamentation in that restaurant is beautiful. Their bar is one of the nicest in the city.

[Suzanne F]

Actually, the title of this thread is a bit misleading: there was a period in the mid-1900s ('60s? '70s?) when Gage and Tollner was closed. Then Peter Askenazy (someone please correct the spelling, but I'm pretty sure that's who it was) bought and reopened it. I know I ate there in the very early 1970s and then again in the late 1980s? (when Township Fever was playing at BAM at the Majestic) and not again until just last year. Somewhere in there, though, it was closed.

I wholeheartedly agree with Jason, that it should be preserved. I'm not sure (and the Landmarks Preservation Commission website is way out of date) but maybe the interior has been designated? It should be.

[rozrapp]

Lets not forget that Gage and Tollner is/was the only restaurant in New York with functional gas lamps, too. I hope someone buys up the space and re-uses it for a nice restaurant and doesnt destroy the decor. The woodwork and ornamentation in that restaurant is beautiful. Their bar is one of the nicest in the city.

According to the NY Times article:

The four-story brownstone is to be sold to a group of investors who will put another restaurant there, according to Ezra Saff, president of Retail Zone, a Brooklyn real estate broker who handled the transaction.

"There will be a new restaurant that the community will really like,'' said Mr. Saff. There are rumors of a chain restaurant, but Mr. Saff would not identify the new occupant.

Actually, the title of this thread is a bit misleading: there was a period in the mid-1900s ('60s? '70s?) when Gage and Tollner was closed. Then Peter Askenazy (someone please correct the spelling, but I'm pretty sure that's who it was) bought and reopened it.

Again, from the article:

In the 1980's it was bought by Peter Aschkenasy, a restaurateur, and subsequently underwent something of a revival when Edna Lewis, a Southern-cuisine purist, issued cornbread, catfish and a legendary she-crab soup from the kitchen until she retired at the age of 75.

But the restaurant's customer base had been eroded by the corporate and retail exodus from downtown Brooklyn, and it was isolated by its envelopment by low-end retail stores in the Fulton Mall. The restaurant was foreclosed by its bank in 1995, and closed for a time.

[snausages2000]

Lets not forget that Gage and Tollner is/was the only restaurant in New York with functional gas lamps, too. I hope someone buys up the space and re-uses it for a nice restaurant and doesnt destroy the decor. The woodwork and ornamentation in that restaurant is beautiful. Their bar is one of the nicest in the city.

I don't know how well substantiated this rumor is, but supposedly G&T will be replaced by a TGIFridays.

No worries...Whatever we lose in gas lamps and borough history will surely be off-set by gains in Jack Daniels Chicken Finger Appe-Teaserz™.

[Jason Perlow]

Lets not forget that Gage and Tollner is/was the only restaurant in New York with functional gas lamps, too. I hope someone buys up the space and re-uses it for a nice restaurant and doesnt destroy the decor. The woodwork and ornamentation in that restaurant is beautiful. Their bar is one of the nicest in the city.

I don't know how well substantiated this rumor is, but supposedly G&T will be replaced by a TGIFridays.

No worries...Whatever we lose in gas lamps and borough history will surely be off-set by gains in Jack Daniels Chicken Finger Appe-Teaserz™.

I think I'm going to cry.

They're going to go from classic 19th century gaslight steakhouse ambiance to faux shit on the walls kitsch?

I think this calls for a petition, folks.

[SobaAddict70]

New Yorkers greeted the first wave of news with a healthy stoicism: the landmark Brooklyn restaurant Gage & Tollner had closed, its allure predictably lost on the younger generations of Fulton Street.

But to replace it with a T.G.I. Friday's?

Out With The Old And In With A Chain (Andrea Elliott) (from this weekend's NYTimes DIGEST. You may have to scroll down for the appropriate link.)

This is a travesty of the highest order. For shame!

Soba

[greenfield]

They're going to go from classic 19th century gaslight steakhouse ambiance to faux shit on the walls kitsch?

The NY Times did report, "Gage & Tollner's interior has been granted landmark status by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission and is listed on the commission's Web site". It is listed at the Landmarks Commission "about" page as an example of an "interior landmark," but I couldn't find the decision at all. Presumably, this would limit TGIF from using their typical stock decor.

[mkultra]

There was a story in my neighborhood (Bklyn Heights) paper about G&T becoming TGI Friday's this week, and it had an excellent quote from Marty Markowitz (Brooklyn Borough President, and generally awesome guy), who said "It wasn't so beloved. If it was beloved, it would still be in business." Actual wording may be off, but it pretty much sums up my feelings about it.

I ate there a few years ago, it was good, but really dated, for lack of a better word. It's the culinary equivalent of watching Gone With The Wind.