Drink Up, Brooklyn: New Cafe To Serve Booze In Prospect Park

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN — Brooklynites will soon be able to end walks through Prospect Park's north side with a cold beer without venturing out of the greenery, Patch has learned.

Beloved Seventh Avenue bakery Winner's upcoming outpost at the Picnic House in Brooklyn's backyard will include wine, beer and cocktails on its menu, bringing booze to the northern half of Prospect Park for the first time, the Prospect Park Alliance confirmed this week.

Park-goers can currently only order a cocktail at the LeFrak Center at Lakeside's restaurant, Bluestone Cafe, or on summer weekends at Smorgasburg's offerings in Breeze Hill, both at the southern end of the park.

Winner — set to open its "Winner in the Park" cafe in early May — will offer local beers, draft cocktails and wine on tap in addition to its previously-announced selection of pastries, sandwiches and picnic meals, according to the Alliance. A full menu will be shared closer to its opening, officials said.

Unlike the food, though, park-goers likely won't be able to bring the drinks along on picnics, despite the return of to-go cocktails in New York. Alcohol is prohibited in all New York City parks.

Any booze offerings at Winner will depend on the approval of a liquor license application that the business filed for the 40 West Dr. cafe on April 7, which is pending review with the State Liquor Authority, records show.

The Prospect Park outpost, which will be open through December, is Winner's third location in Brooklyn: its flagship opened in Park Slope a week before the onset of the pandemic (but still managed to win a Michelin Bib Gourmand awardwithin a year), followed by a recently-opened outpost in Crown Heights.

Daniel Eddy, the chef behind Winner, also opened Runner Up, a restaurant-slash-wine-bar, next to the popular Park Slope bakery in October, featuring some of the bakery's pastries and bites plus an expanded main menu.

Winner at Prospect Park will start with breakfast service, and expand to more hours leading up to Memorial Day, at which point the cafe will start operating from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, the Prospect Park Alliance said.