Prospect Heights Restaurateur Trades 'Yaki' For Bistro: Report

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A Vanderbilt Avenue restaurant isn't changing hands, but is changing its name.

Neighborhood restaurateur Greg Baxtrom, who also runs Olmsted and Patti Ann's (and his latest, Five Acres, on Manhattan island), is transforming his French-Japanese skewer restaurant into a more traditional French bistro, reports EaterNY.

Maison Yaki, at 626 Vanderbilt Ave., will become Petite Patate at the end of the week, shedding its Japanese influence for a more straightforward bistro-styled spot. According to EaterNY, the name comes from Baxtrom's dog, Spud.

Baxtrom hinted at the change in an interview with Brooklyn Magazine last December.

While he said Maison Yaki was bumping on the weekends, the inventive skewer spot was a tricky sell as a regular, neighborhood spot, he told BK Mag.

"Sometimes I think maybe I should move that concept maybe into the city or somewhere and go a little bit more French bistro," he told BK Mag. "It doesn’t need to be dumbed down, but just a little safer."