After writing about Barbes, we realized it had been a long time since we'd been, so we fixed that one night last week. Happy to be back! This weekend we're looking forward to The Nursery at Public Records on Sunday afternoon. Come say hi if you're there.

Now Open / Coming Soon — A hot yoga studio, a coffee shop, and a sourdough baker who delivers.

The Big Story — Gowanus Open Studios returns next weekend, with some new stops.

Things to Do — Comedy, music and a virtual reality trip to the Prado.

The Local — A Smith Street restaurant that has been around for well over a decade-for good reason.

Development Watch — Two projects, one breaking ground and one taking applications.

Quick Hits — A very long book, read aloud.

Court Street Gets Its Hot Yoga Studio
Heatwise
317 Court Street
Heatwise opened its Carroll Gardens studio this past Wednesday. The brand heats its rooms to about 98 degrees with infrared, a notch gentler than traditional Bikram. It's the third Heatwise in Brooklyn, joining Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope.

A New Coffee Shop Settles Into 3rd Avenue
The Block
257A 3rd Avenue
The Block is open on 3rd Avenue. Stop by for a latte and pastry on your morning commute.

Perfect Sourdough Delivered by E-Bike to Gowanus Every Friday
Lucky Bird Bakehouse
Delivery within two miles of Boerum Hill, including Gowanus and Carroll Gardens
We recently received a loaf of the OG Sourdough as a gift, and it did not disappoint, with a beautiful crust, deep sourdough flavor, and packaging so nice that we almost felt bad tearing into it. Lucky Bird is a one-woman bakery in Gowanus. The Danish baker ferments the dough for days, bakes it in cast iron, and delivers it by e-bike every Friday afternoon, along with brioche and a rotating cookie.

We were so impressed that we reached out to the owner to see if she'd offer our readers a special deal. Act now! Gowanaut readers get 20% off a first order with code GOWANABITE.
Pre-order by Wednesday at 6pm, or until this week's bakes are spoken for, because there's only so much bread one dough-wrangling Dane can bake in a day.

Arts Gowanus: Open Studios | October 17-18, 2026

Gowanus Open Studios turns 30 next weekend, and as always there's plenty that's new to see.

This year includes the first artist studios created through the neighborhood's rezoning, opening to the public for the first time. They're at The Shop BK and Society Brooklyn, and the artists have already moved in.

Arts Gowanus is the nonprofit behind both the studios and the weekend. It has run the neighborhood's studio tour since 1996, and it also puts on exhibitions, public art, and workshops for artists. When Gowanus was rezoned, it negotiated about 30,000 square feet of subsidized, long-term studio space across 11 new developments, according to executive director Johnny Thornton.

The rest is the Open Studios you know. More than 400 artists, businesses and venues open their doors on Saturday, October 17 and Sunday, October 18, from noon to 6pm both days. It's free, and it includes the old factories, warehouses, and studio buildings that make Gowanus feel like Gowanus. Artists are on hand to talk through their work and sell it to you directly. A digital map and artist directory are at artsgowanus.org.

Mohanad Elshieky: Green Books at Union Hall
702 Union Street
Sat Oct 10 · 5pm
Mohanad Elshieky is testing Green Books on a Union Hall crowd, which is the brave way to write a first draft. It's billed as a work in progress, so you'll hear jokes before they've finished becoming jokes. It starts at 5, so you still get your Saturday night.

Maria Bamford at The Bell House
149 7th Street
Sat Oct 10 · 6pm and 8:30pm, Sun Oct 11 · 5pm and 7:30pm
Maria Bamford, who starred in Lady Dynamite, is at The Bell House for four shows over the weekend. Two on Saturday, two on Sunday, so pick the time that fits your dinner.

EXOPOCALYPSE Tour at Littlefield
635 Sackett Street
Sat Oct 10 · 7pm · 21+
Rav, a Soviet-born rapper and the founder of the EXOCIETY collective, is touring his album Emergence Delirium. Fatboi Sharif and Teller Bank$, who is billed as a magician, are on the bill. 21+. Sounds like a wild one.

The Nursery at Public Records
233 Butler Street
Sun Oct 11 · 4pm
The Nursery is the Sunday afternoon music series at Public Records, and this week's bill is Frank & Tony and Roman Flügel. Getting close to the end of the season so if you haven’t been yet, now’s your time.

Aparna Nancherla Is Trying (Again)! at Union Hall
702 Union Street
Sun Oct 11 · 5pm
Aparna Nancherla's show is called Aparna Nancherla Is Trying (Again)!, which is a fair expectation to set. It's the same room as Mohanad's Saturday show, if you want a Union Hall weekend.

Gabriel Vicéns Sextet at iBeam
168 7th Street
Mon Oct 12 · 8pm
Gabriel Vicéns leads a sextet at iBeam, the music room on 7th Street. Monday nights are for people who are ready to just sit and listen.

Mike Rice: Cruel Little Man at Union Hall
702 Union Street
Thu Oct 15 · 7:30pm
Mike Rice is an Irish farmer's son turned comedian, and this hour covers psychedelics with his brother and an entanglement with a Spanish sausage dog named Nino. There are a few more misadventures, too.

A Joyful Noise Album Release at Public Records
233 Butler Street
Thu Oct 15 · 8pm
A Joyful Noise and special guests return to The Sound Room to celebrate the release of their LP, A Joyful Noise Live at Public Records. It was recorded in the room where you'll be standing.

It Entirely From Memory at Littlefield
635 Sackett Street
Thu Oct 15 · 8pm
Ten Bones Theatre Company's performers try to recreate the film It with no scripts, no rehearsal, and no sobriety. All they get is a recent viewing and a lot of wigs.

Blank Check Live at The Bell House
149 7th Street
Fri Oct 16 · 7:30pm
Blank Check Live is the stage version of the film podcast Blank Check, hosted by Griffin Newman and David Sims. Bring strong opinions about movies.

Masterpieces: A Virtual Experience of the Museo del Prado at Powerhouse Arts
322 3rd Avenue
Oct 1 to Dec 20 · 11am to 6:30pm
Visit the Prado without the flight. This virtual reality exhibition steps inside five of the museum's paintings, including Las Meninas and The Garden of Earthly Delights, some of which rarely travel and some of which never leave Madrid. It runs through December 20, which is plenty of time to stop telling yourself you'll go.

Café Luluc
214 Smith Street

Plenty of restaurants have come and gone on Smith Street in the last decade, and Café Luluc is still here because the food is consistently good. The menu works at 9 in the morning and at 9 at night. Order the Eggs Benedict at one and the duck at the other, and nobody will question either choice.

Most people know it for the pancakes. They come as a classic stack with mixed fruit and real maple syrup, crisp at the edges and soft through the middle, and plenty of people who've worked at the city's better-known pancake spots keep coming back here. Add chocolate chips, a side of Nutella, or two sunny-side-up eggs and sausages if you're a salty-sweet person.

Brunch gets the attention, but the menu is bigger than most people expect. Breakfast runs all day, so pancakes at 9pm is a legitimate plan. They offer brioche French toast with apple compote and berries, plus a Nutella-stuffed version, and eggs Royale with house-cured gravlax. Every main egg plate comes with fries and field greens.

Lunch goes full bistro. Think croque madame, a pressed turkey and brie, a grilled merguez sandwich stuffed with fries, and a cheesesteak made with grass-fed Black Angus. Burgers range from a crab burger to a taco burger marinated in chipotle. There are soft tacos and a pasta list that runs from gnocchi niçoise to spaghetti Bolognese.

From 4:30, a separate dinner menu kicks in, and it's a real one. Escargots in the shell, mussels marinière with garlic toast and fries, seared duck breast with a port-and-fig reduction, braised lamb shank, grass-fed beef meatloaf, and a grilled pork chop with caramelized apples.

The food has been great for a long time. Luluc has never needed a rewrite.

Earthwork Is Underway at 175 Third Street
Charney Companies and Tavros held a groundbreaking at 175 Third Street on September 29, and earthwork has started. The 27-story tower, designed by BIG with dencityworks, will hold more than 1,000 apartments, about 250 of them affordable, plus a 28,000-square-foot esplanade and an 85,000-square-foot Life Time fitness area.

Affordable Lottery Opens at The Cornice
The Cornice at 224 3rd Avenue has opened a housing lottery for 20 apartments set aside for households earning 40 to 120 percent of area median income. Qualifying incomes range from $39,018 to $219,840, and applications are due October 26. The 11-story building has 63 residences in total.

Judgy Baby (what a name!), the new venue at 170 2nd Avenue, is staging a marathon reading of Robert Caro's The Power Broker from November 12 to 15, with volunteers reading aloud in 10-minute turns. Yes, the whole book.

Go find something new before we get a chance to write about it.

If something's happening out there, we want to know about it. Email, photo, neighborhood gossip — we'll take it.
[email protected].

Exploring Gowanus · Every Saturday