SOLD OUT
IN-PERSON EVENT
What can we learn from a restaurant that has existed for more than a century?
First opened in 1879, Gage & Tollner was considered the most famous restaurant in Brooklyn for 125 years, serving seafood, chops, and post-prohibition cocktails to a well-heeled crowd until its doors were shuttered in 2004.
That is until 2020 when three Brooklyn restaurateurs successfully completed a capital campaign to restore Gage & Tollner to its former glory. While plans were temporarily derailed by the pandemic, the restaurant is now open and once again diners are clamoring for fine seafood, chops, cocktails, and decadent desserts on Fulton Street.
In a conversation led by Center for Brooklyn History librarian Michelle Montalbano, we’ll learn about Gage & Tollner’s storied history (including the time period when Edna Lewis led the kitchen) and discuss what ephemera such as old menus can tell us about the changing foodways of a location, and how the agriculture and technological innovations over time factor into what and how people eat. Most intriguingly, we will interrogate what has stood the test of time and what has stayed the same.
Your ticket includes one classic cocktail crafted by St. John Frizell and a tasting of Blue Cheese and Olive Gougeres created by pastry chef Caroline Schiff. Dietary restrictions and substitutions cannot be accommodated.
This is an in-person event. Tickets must be purchased online in advance. Tickets will not be available for purchase at the door.
You must show photo ID and proof of COVID vaccine to attend this event.
Doors open at 6:30pm ET. Program begins promptly at 7:00pm ET. 21+.
Ticket includes one taste and one complementary drink. Cash bar also available. We are unable to accommodate dietary restrictions at this time.
The Sweet Side of Sourdough: 50 Irresistible Recipes for Pastries, Buns, Cakes, Cookies and More by Caroline Schiff will be available for purchase at the program from our partners, Kitchen Arts & Letters.
ST. JOHN FRIZELL
St. John Frizell is an award-winning writer, bartender, co-founder of Gage & Tollner, the landmark chop house in Downtown Brooklyn, and the owner of Fort Defiance, the critically-acclaimed cafe-bar in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Frizell's writing on food, travel, and cocktails has appeared in many publications, including Bon Appétit, Saveur, Imbibe, PUNCH, Gourmet.com, Fine Cooking, and Oxford American, and his work has been collected in the Best Food Writing series.
Photo by Kelly Marshall
KLANCY MILLER
Klancy Miller is the author of Cooking Solo: The Fun of Cooking For Yourself and founder of For the Culture: A Magazine Celebrating Black Women and Femmes in Food and Wine. After graduating from Columbia University, and working in international development in French Polynesia, she earned a diplôme de pâtisserie from Le Cordon Bleu Paris and apprenticed in the pastry kitchen at the Michelin-starred restaurant Taillevent. She later joined Le Cordon Bleu’s recipe development team, during which time she was featured on the Food Network. Now based in New York, she continues to write about food and has contributed to The New York Times, Vogue, The Washington Post, Food and Wine, Bon Appétit, and Food 52. She has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Cut, The New York Times Food section, as well as on Food Network’s Recipe for Success and the Cooking Channel’s Unique Sweets. She is an advisory board member for Equity at The Table (EATT) Klancy lives in Brooklyn.
MICHELLE MONTALBANO
Michelle Montalbano is a librarian at the Center for Brooklyn History, where she works on reference services, programming, and exhibitions, but would spend all her time researching food history if she could. She has also worked in publishing, digital archives, studios, classrooms, bars, and restaurants, and she was the curator of the Food Fit for Kings County exhibition (2019). She loves showing her senses a good time.
CAROLINE SCHIFF
Caroline Schiff is the Pastry Chef at Gage & Tollner, Executive Chef at Slow Up, author of The Sweet Side of Sourdough. Widely known under the Instagram moniker @pastryschiff, she is a celebrated pastry chef, culinary consultant, and recipe writer and developer based in Brooklyn. She got her start in the restaurant industry over a decade ago and worked her way up through a number of acclaimed restaurants and bakeries before taking her current position at Gage & Tollner, in Downtown Brooklyn. Her signature gravity-defying hairdo is outsized only by her enormous heart; in her spare time you can find her either supporting charitable causes or running a marathon.
DEMO KITCHEN BY ACE HOTEL BROOKLYN
A well-appointed canvas for culinary and community engagement, Demo Kitchen by Ace Hotel is a locus of epicurean culture — dedicated to cooking, connection and above all, community. A light-filled space with floor to ceiling windows, Demo Kitchen features an induction cooking station from Kaliber Innovations, an array of state-of-the-art audiovisual production equipment, and is furnished with custom oak classroom and dining tables crafted by Finnish furniture design collective Made By Choice. Demo Kitchen has capacity for 96 people and is also available for private rental.
WANT TO STAY AT THE ACE HOTEL BROOKLYN?
Use the code "MOFAD" to receive approximately 10% off the Hotel’s best available rate, only at the Ace Hotel Brooklyn. Book here.
