Teddy’s Bar and Grill, the oldest continually operating bar in Williamsburg, has recently come under new ownership. The bar, which has been a neighborhood fixture since 1887, had been owned by Felice and Glen Kirby along with their business partner Lee Ornati for the last 28 years. When they first bought the bar they revitalized it by uncovering the original fixtures and woodwork, selling local beer (they were actually the first bar to stock the now widely sold Brooklyn Brewery beer), and turned it into a haven for local artists, booking live jazz bands. Now, almost three decades later, they made sure to find a buyer who would carry on the bar’s legacy.
Teddy’s new owners, Richard DeVore, Scott Davis, and Kate Buenaflor, are keen to keep everything as it was, as it is one of the only Victorian-era bars left in the entire city. As far as the restaurant itself, they did nothing but ad a few touches here and there as well as spruce the place up, bringing it back to it’s original glory. However the menu, while still remaining true to Teddy’s previous era, has changed a bit –notably adding a signature burger, the 1887 Burger (that being the year Teddy’s originally opened), that consists of two patties stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon. That my friends, is a burger. They have also expanded the craft beer selection and added a number of specialty cocktails to the menu.
With it’s unique blend of old and new, Teddy’s Bar&Grill certainly sounds like a place worth checking out –or if you’ve been before, revisiting once again.
96 Berry Street, Brooklyn
Lauren is a New York based actor/singer/writer. She is a graduate of the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater School Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University as well as the College of the Holy Cross. She’s a fan of beer, pasta, and academic establishments with unnecessarily long titles. Find her on stage, or online– she’s there often.
