Quick Bites: Socceria — from the Taqueria Ramirez team — just opened in Greenpoint and is already the best sports bar in Brooklyn. Grimm Tavern is coming to the former Olmsted space in Prospect Heights this month. Café Bar J.F. transformed the old Llama Inn into a South American tavern in Williamsburg. And a few notable closures remind us nothing lasts forever in this city.
Summer is officially here, and the NYC dining scene is moving fast. Here’s the roundup of what opened, what’s coming, and what closed in the last 48 hours.
New Openings
Socceria — Greenpoint, Brooklyn (Now Open)
46 Norman Avenue, Brooklyn
The team behind the beloved Taqueria Ramirez and Carnitas Ramirez — chef Gio Cervantes and Tania Apolinar — soft-opened their soccer-focused cantina on May 30 for the UEFA Champions League final, and it was booked solid three minutes after the announcement hit Instagram. The former Nura space on Norman Avenue is now a beautiful, airy room with a massive screen for watching the game, table service (no mob-scene bar crush), and an elevated cantina menu that works just as well when there is no match on.
The brunch-leaning menu runs until 4 PM and features chilaquiles rojas ($20), a campechano sope with carne asada and chorizo verde ($12), quesadilla de queso with epazote, and pozole rojo. After 4 PM, the kitchen pivots to the Ramirez burger — a beef and longaniza patty with sharp cheddar and habanero aioli — plus chicken wings al pastor. Cocktails run $16, draft beers from eight countries go for $8, wine is $12. With the World Cup kicking off June 11 and Mexico playing in the tournament’s opening match, expect Socceria to be the hardest reservation in Brooklyn this summer.
Grimm Tavern — Prospect Heights, Brooklyn (Opening June 2026)
659 Vanderbilt Avenue, Brooklyn
The team behind Grimm Artisanal Ales is taking over the former Olmsted space at 659 Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights this month. The concept: a full-service, all-day tavern with Grimm beers on tap, refined comfort food (dry-aged steaks, burgers, tallow fries, roast chicken, pan-fried trout), and a small cafe next door offering breakfast sandwiches, biscuits, muffalettas, and canned beer to go. For a neighborhood that lost Olmsted — one of Brooklyn’s most celebrated farm-to-table spots — Grimm Tavern feels like the right kind of successor: unpretentious but doing things properly.
Cafe Bar J.F. — Williamsburg, Brooklyn (Open Since May 13)
50 Withers Street, Brooklyn
If you have not been yet, now is the time. Managing partner Juan Correa and chef Francisco Castillo transformed the old Llama Inn space into Cafe Bar J.F., a celebration of South American tavern culture with Italian and Spanish influences baked in. The menu hits all the right notes: grilled potato bread (a Chilean milcao), tuna belly ceviche with preserved tomatoes, bone-in short ribs, and grilled swordfish with yellow-eyed beans. Drinks lean into how South Americans actually drink — pisco sours, combinados (Fernet and coke, rum and coke), and a smart wine list heavy on Argentina, Chile, and low-intervention French producers. Open Wednesday through Thursday 5:30 to 9:30 PM, Friday through Sunday 5 to 10 PM.
Closings
Cozy Soup and Burger — June 21 Is the Last Day
If you have not gone already, put it on the calendar: the 54-year-old Greenwich Village institution at 739 Broadway closes for good on June 21. A neighborhood anchor since 1972, Cozy Soup and Burger has been the spot for no-frills burgers and bottomless soup at prices that felt like a time warp. Get there before the end of the month.
Also on the Radar
Dishoom, the beloved London Indian import, is confirmed for a NYC opening this June — the first US location. And Baby, a new late-night bar promising 4 AM last calls, recently opened on the Lower East Side. More details on both as they develop.
For more NYC food coverage, check out our guide to cheap eats in Sunset Park and our rundown on where to eat after midnight across the boroughs.
