Nights and Weekends is Now the Sophisticated 1 Bedford, Open Mornings and Weekdays
Nights and Weekends is going the morning and afternoon route with its newest incarnation, 1 Bedford.
Formerly known as Five Leaves’s scrappy little sibling, the newly emancipated eatery has outgrown its after-dark reputation. Renouncing booze-absorbing Latin bites in favor of an urbane European concept, it is devoted to the leisurely tradition of aperitivi.
Indeed, its bar is back-lit with a veritable library of apéritifs and digestifs, incorporated into coupes of “Perroquet Red” with ricard and grenadine, “Pisco Passions” accented with St. Germain, and globes of icy, aperol-stained spritzes—just the thing to sip at two-tops positioned along the Bedford Street apex, in full view of McCarren Park.
The food menu demonstrates equal polish. Instead of seven layer tostadas, you’ll find cracker-thin octopus pizzettes; and in lieu of being battered, fried, and bombed with aioli, rock shrimp are seared on a plancha and circled with rounds of jalapeno and radish. Like any self-respecting trattoria, 1 Bedford produces a perfect plate of fresh tomato spaghetti, and it does the sophisticated French bistro bit too with petit filet, teamed with peppercorn sauce and a towering stack of frites (though it should be noted, their burgers remain as unapologetically indulgent as Nights and Weekends’ Juicy Lucia’s).
And though it still operates well into the night, the recently matured establishment rises bright and early as well, to join the clutch of coffee windows that line the Greenpoint triangle. Because to be sure, 1 Bedford couldn’t be better situated in order to lure commuters, who are practically able to reach out their hand from the precipice of the G-train stairway, in order to grab onto mascarpone-stuffed, lemon-glazed cornetti, and shots of Devoción espresso.
So look out, Five Leaves—your baby sister’s all grown up, and she’s bound to turn some heads.
1 Bedford St., Greenpoint, 718-383-5349
Photos by Jane Bruce