Prospect Lefferts Gets New Seafood Spot From Neighborhood Restaurateur

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS, BROOKLYN — Prospect-Lefferts Gardens's acclaimed sommelier and restaurateur braced himself for a potential reprimand when faced with a direct question from an elderly neighbor.

“You’re André Mack, right?”

Mack told her yes, he was André. Had he done something wrong? It was hard to tell.

"You could’ve opened your place any place in the world," she said. "But because you decided to do it here, I just wanted to say thank you.”

Mack — whose resume includes stints as sommelier at the French Laundry and head of beverages at Per Se — and his wife, the author Phoebe Damrosh, are indeed about to open a new wine bar and seafood restaurant, Kingfisher at 505 Rogers Ave., the sommelier confirmed.

Damrosh and Mack plans to open their doors on October 5 for indoor service, with a backyard to open in the spring.

Mack said he treasured his neighbor's comment, but it's important to note it comes about five Rodgers Avenues openings late.

With the many eateries Mack has brought to his neighborhood of the past 12 years, you could call him Brooklyn's culinary Mr. Rodgers.

“People are always telling me that they believed in Rodgers,” Mack said. “They always felt like it could be special and different from Flatbush or Nostrand.”

Mack appears to have accepted that as a challenge.

Kingfisher will open just down the street from the wine shop Mack and his wife took over in 2017, Vineyard, the bar they opened in January 2020, &Sons Ham Bar, the provisions shop opened next door in May 2020, &Sons Buttery, the bakery they opened that July, Chickadee Bread and finally the taco spot in 2021, Mockingbird Taco.

With Kingfisher, Mack is trying to remind the neighborhood of something specifically special, but sometimes forgotten in New York City — its coastal bounty.

When Mack moved to New York in 2004, he was shocked to find a lack of restaurants reflecting the fact that the city is mostly made up of seaside islands.

Mack has gone head first into the deep end, giving the Kingfisher a very seafood-forward focus with an emphasis on locally caught sustainable fish, with much of it coming from Greenpoint Fish & Lobster.

The menu features crudo, kohlrabi salad, monkfish (a “hit” in early tastings, Mack said) and a cod dish with napa cabbage, hazelnuts and tonka beans.

“I was just surprised that when you think of New York, you don't really think about seafood,” Mack said, “I mean, we’re surrounded by water.”