Fly Fish Finished

Fly Fish, the seafood restaurant that began life as BBQ joint Whiskey Sunday, has itself closed. As reported by The Real Deal, the closing of Fly Fish was part of a Mamary-restaurant massacre. Also closing at or around the same time, were Bueno (European bistro) and Trout (seafood), a pair of restaurants at Smith and Pacific.

Richard Krause, the ponytailed co-owner didn't comment for the story, but Jim Mamary did - and he placed the blame on his partner:

Mamary ascribed [Fly Fish's] failure to the absence of Krause, who did not return phone calls. "When you're an owner and you're not on the premises all the time, that's what happens," Mamary said. He added that the Fly Fish space, which is connected to Enduro through the kitchen and a swinging dining room door, could see yet another reincarnation "with less of a food venue."

Reincarnating Fly Fish as a bar-only space isn't a bad idea. It appears to have morphed into a bar anyway, in part because of the poor quality of the food and in part because the neighborhood could really use a bar.

More interesting for watchers of the Brooklyn restaurant scene is that Mamary himself is leaving Brooklyn, pulling up stakes in Ditmas Park and moving to New Jersey. Also interesting (troubling?) is that Mamary plans to "tweak the concept" of Newkirk Avenue bistro Pomme de Terre, arguably one of his best restaurants, to be "more sensitive to the economic times right now." If that only meant dropping prices it would be great news but I'm loath to see the quality go down and it is hard to make a place more affordable without making sacrifices somewhere.

Comments

[carrie]

So Mamary is blaming Krause for not being in the restaurant, yet he's moving out of town, making it unlikely that he'll be in any of the restaurants he owns all the time (if at all). Urgh. That doesn't bode well for Enduro...

[dt]

Fly Fish failed because the food was terrible.

[brn442]

Not surprising, the place and its predecessor Whiskey Sunday were both disasters. It's failure had more to do with a lack of focus. The owners thought they could just open a sit down restaurant in a so-called "up & coming area" and the locals would keep coming regardless of the quality. Before the recession maybe - not now.

It should have been turned into a bar - god knows the nabe needs one.

[ayemel]

Call it schadenfreude, but I'm glad this place went under. I think both it and Enduro are unbearably arrogant. The owners of these places clearly have no clue about the ethnic cuisines they're serving ("Southern-style" BBQ is just as ethnic as Mexican) They're banking on their clientele's presumed ignorance about the food--they'd never dare open these places in, say, Sunset Park and Bed-Stuy. On top of all that, their prices are outrageous. If I want to pay $7 for a beer, I'll stop in Manhattan on my way home from work.
With any luck, someplace comparable to old Mike's will take Fly Fish's place.

[Pete]

Enduro's has beer for $3, doesn't it?

Arrogant? The people are Enduro's are incredibly nice.

Ignorance about the food? I don't think anyone eating Chinese food in NYC thinks that's what people in China eat (no, they don't eat General Tsao's chicken, lol). Or that pizza is Italian food. No one thinks Amerimex is Mexican food.

[kfbrooklyn]

You know what is arrogant? Assuming that we all have the luxury of working in Manhattan and having time to stop on the way home for a drink. I work in Brooklyn and have two kids. I'd rather spend my $7 locally than shelling out $4.50 for the subway and upwards of $30 for the sitter on top of the cost of my drink. I am grateful for these restaurants and even though I wasn’t crazy about the food at Fly Fish, am sad to see it go.