After a few weeks of frozen sidewalks and those gray-brown snow piles that just won't go away, you can actually see pavement again. We're not ready yet to say spring is right around the corner, but maybe the worst is behind us.

Speaking of the worst being behind us, just when we thought the pile drivers had gone quiet along the canal, a new one has popped up across from Whole Foods on 3rd Street. The neighborhood's alarm clock resets!

This week: new spots opening from Court Street to the canal, a pizza story that's been quietly building for years, a full weekend of live shows, and why haven't you been to Staubitz Market?!

Now Open / Coming Soon — A pottery studio, Bombay street snacks, a Guatemalan café on Bond Street, and a new PT clinic

The Big Story — The Court Street pizza corridor just got a new chapter

Things to Do — Rory Scovel, Elise Trouw, Dweller, The Moth, and more

The Local — Staubitz Market: 109 years and still hand-cutting every steak

Development Watch — The Westmark, Maison Bond lottery, Nevins Landing

Quick Hits — Gowanus Green gets its first real money

Tera Mera Brings Bombay to Court Street
272 Court Street, at Warren St
Now Open
Shalini Vaswani and her sister opened Tera Mera with a simple idea: elevated Bombay street snacks made from family recipes. The Bombay toastie is the menu's star, while the vada pav is enormous and not overly fried. There's also a small retail section with Indian spices and pantry goods, and a backyard garden that's going to be a destination once the weather turns. Open Wednesday through Sunday. Word is spreading fast. Don't sleep on this one.

Hey Clay: A Pottery Studio by a Gowanus Local
430 Carroll Street, at Nevins near the canal
Now Open
Cauvery Patel spent six years living in Gowanus and couldn't find a pottery studio that wasn't expensive and booked solid. So she opened one. Hey Clay is a 1,750-square-foot community studio with classes for beginners and experienced potters, plus flexible memberships that won't break the bank. Their Foundations courses for beginners are now open for registration. Let's get to throwing that clay.

Cafecito Social Opens on Bond Street
296 Bond Street, at Sackett Street
Now Open
A Guatemalan coffee shop founded by Gaby Tejeda, who wanted to bring the flavors of home to Gowanus. Cafecito Social serves coffee, pastries, and light bites, along with coffee by the pound. This is the kind of neighborhood spot that makes you want to linger.

Spear Physical Therapy Opens at Society Brooklyn
317 Nevins Street
Now Open
Spear PT is open for business on Nevins. One more sign that the new buildings along the canal are starting to fill in their retail floors.

 Court Street, Carroll Gardens
New opening TBA
This neighborhood has been quietly earning its pizza reputation for years. Decades, really. The anchors are already here, already beloved, already worth the trip on their own.

Start with F&F Pizzeria at 459 Court Street. Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo of Frankies 457 brought in Chris Bianco, arguably the best pizza maker in America, to help develop their recipe. The clam pie alone is worth building an afternoon around. Then there's Baby Luc's farther up Court Street, where Mark Iacono, yes, that Mark Iacono, runs a Sicilian square operation that's every bit as considered as the temple he built on Henry Street. And Nate's Detroit Pizza at 451 Court Street, doing Detroit-style squares with a blistered, lacey edge and a neighborhood following so devoted they clean the place out before closing. Lucali itself is just outside our boundary, but let's be honest, it casts a long shadow over this whole stretch.

That's already a remarkable concentration of quality on a handful of blocks.

Now comes a new entrant to the arena. Paulie Gee's, the Greenpoint institution that helped put hot honey on pizza before hot honey was everywhere, has signed a 10-year lease on a 4,400-square-foot space with a terrace, and told reporters in January it's "just waiting on the gas." When it opens, it'll bring New York-style slices, Sicilian squares, vegan options, and of course, the Hellboy: their legendary pepperoni pie with a drizzle of Mike's Hot Honey that made Paulie Gee's famous in the first place.

Pizza tour, anyone?

Rory Scovel: Know Your Enemy Tour at Bell House
149 7th Street
Fri Feb 20 · 7:30 PM · Sat Feb 21 · 7:30 PM + 10:00 PM · Sun Feb 22 · 7:30 PM
Four shows over three nights from one of the best working stand-up comics. Scovel's sets are loose, unpredictable, and consistently excellent. The 7:30 Saturday show is the one to grab if you're picking.

Elise Trouw: The Diary of Elon Lust Tour at Littlefield
635 Sackett Street
Saturday, Feb 21 · 8:00 PM · 18+
Multi-instrumentalist and producer Elise Trouw brings her satirical concept album tour, performed through the persona of her alter ego, Elon Lust, to Littlefield. If you've seen her viral one-woman band videos, this is the full live experience.

Dweller Festival — Closing Weekend at Public Records and more
233 Butler Street
Through Sunday, Feb 22
The multi-day Black electronic music festival wraps up its closing weekend across multiple venues. If you haven't made it yet, this is your last chance. Dweller has been one of the most talked-about music events in the neighborhood all month.

The Moth StorySLAM at Bell House
149 7th Street
Wednesday, Feb 25 · 8:00 PM
Live storytelling competition where audience members put their names in a hat and take the stage. It's one of those events that sounds intimidating until you go, and then you realize everyone's rooting for everyone. A Bell House staple.

Ed Gamble at Bell House
149 7th Street
Thu–Sat, Feb 26–28 · 7:30 PM
Known from Taskmaster and his food podcast Off Menu, British comedian Ed Gamble does three nights at Bell House. Thursday and Friday are your best bets before the weekend crowds.

KAMAUU at Public Records
233 Butler Street
Fri Feb 27 · 7:00 PM + Sat Feb 28 · 7:00 PM
R&B/soul artist KAMAUU plays two nights at Public Records, including a pre-show sound bath on Saturday for early-access ticket holders. Bring a yoga mat.

222 Court Street, at Warren St
Mon–Fri 9–7 · Sat 9–6:30 · Sun 9–5:30
There's a neon sign at 222 Court Street that's been glowing since at least the 1950s. Below it, the same sawdust-covered floors. The same porcelain cooler. The same hand tools, some dating back to the shop's earliest years. And behind the counter, a family that's been cutting meat here for over half a century.

Staubitz Market is New York City's oldest operating butcher shop. German immigrant John Staubitz opened a meat market on Baltic Street around 1902 and moved it to this Court Street location in 1917. In 1955, after being laid off from a butcher shop in Far Rockaway, a young Brooklynite named John McFadden wandered into the store looking for directions to a nearby unemployment office. He was hired on the spot.

McFadden never left. He bought the business in 1967, raised his son John Jr. in it, and ran the shop for 67 years until his passing in 2022. John Jr., who started working alongside his father as a kid, now runs the operation. He doesn't plan to change much.

And for good reason. Staubitz has survived this long for one reason above all else: the meat is exceptional. Every cut is selected at 6 AM and trimmed by hand using the same tools the shop has always used. They specialize in USDA Prime beef, all-natural pork and poultry, and harder-to-find game — venison, wild boar, ostrich, and buffalo. The staff isn't just friendly, they're lifers. Some butchers have been here 30 years or more.

If you've walked past the vintage neon and never stepped inside, this is your nudge.

The Westmark Is Now Leasing
395 Carroll Street / 325 Bond Street, at the canal
Leasing Now
Rabsky Group's 603-unit twin-tower project on the canal is officially leasing. The complex spans two buildings — 424 units at 395 Carroll and 179 at 325 Bond — with 51,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a public walkway connecting them to the canal. This is one of the biggest residential deliveries in Gowanus this year.

Maison Bond Affordable Housing Lottery Now Open
335 Bond Street, between Carroll and President
Applications due March 9, 2026, via NYC Housing Connect
A 73-unit building with an affordable housing lottery is now accepting applications. Units range from one- to two-bedrooms at below-market rents. If you know anyone looking, this is worth flagging — Gowanus affordable lotteries don't come around often.

Nevins Landing Pushing Toward Spring 2026
310–340 Nevins Street, at Degraw St
Spring 2026 target
The 654-unit mixed-use development on Nevins Street — part of the first wave of Gowanus rezoning projects — continues to rise. Completion is targeted for spring 2026, making it one of the largest new buildings to be delivered in the neighborhood this year. Ground-floor retail plans are still TBD.

The long-planned 950-unit, 100% affordable housing project at Smith Street and 5th Street just received $3 million in federal funding-the first dollars to flow toward a project that's been in planning since 2008. The site includes plans for a 1.5-acre park, an 80,000-square-foot school, and 36,500 square feet of retail. The money is encouraging, but this project has a long history of delays. We'll believe it when the shovels hit the ground.

That's Issue #3.
If something on your block is opening, closing, or making a suspicious amount of noise, we want to know about it. Drop us a line at [email protected].

And go ahead and forward this to a neighbor-the best tips come from the people who walk these streets every day.

See you out there.
The Gowanaut