ICYMI: Gramercy Tavern Alum To Open Mediterranean Restaurant On Dekalb Avenue

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN — The mysterious Mediterranean restaurant about to open on Dekalb Avenue is the brainchild of a chef with experience in two critically-acclaimed Danny Meyer restaurants, Patch has learned.

First word of a new restaurant appeared on Craigslist Monday, when an unidentified source posted two wanted ads for bartenders and cooks in a new Fort Greene restaurant at 184 Dekalb Ave., the location of the now-closed restaurant Martha.

We reached out to the anonymous Craigslist poster and on Tuesday heard back from the restaurant’s chef and owner, Tomer Blechman, an alumnus of Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group who includes stints at Gramercy Tavern and Maiolino on his résumé.

The Israeli-born chef told Patch that the restaurant will be called Miss Ada — it’s a play on the Hebrew word for restaurant, “Misada,” he said in statement.

Miss Ada will offer a menu of modern Mediterranean fare with local ingredients — including some herbs and vegetables grown in the restaurant’s backyard, according to the chef.

The menu has yet to be released, but Chef Blechman teased a few items. He plans to serve a dry-aged beef Kebaburger with bone marrow and caramelized onions as well as warm chickpea hummus with charred spring garlic and pickled cauliflower.

Blechman, of Tel Aviv, is one of many chefs who first learned to cook in his grandmother’s kitchen, he said. His culinary education continued in New York. Blechman studied at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park then graduated to work in the kitchens of Gramercy Tavern, Maialino and Mario Batali’s Lupa.

Miss Ada — expected to open in mid-April — will hold 42 seats in the dining room and 30 seats in the backyard, when weather permits.