Photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
It looks as if Alison Roman is opening a permanent location of her boutique grocery, First Bloom, this fall in Brooklyn. As the cookbook author and food personality announced in her newsletter today, “At long last, I no longer feel like I’m going to jinx anything if I tell you that come fall of this year, First Bloom will become a permanent resident of The Big Apple.” There were no further details about the shop, which first launched in the Catskills and was followed by a pop-up store last November on the Lower East Side. “I don’t have more to share at the moment,” she added. “I think it’s just a little premature.”
But her help-wanted ads seeking to fill several job openings, including general manager, head chef, and head baker/pastry chef, reveal some details: the neighborhood, for one. “This fall, we’re opening a second location in Brooklyn Heights,” the postings promise. “It will be bigger and more ambitious than what we built upstate. There will be a nice coffee program, a small cafe with fabulous prepared foods, and a retail floor with spectacular produce.”
Neighborhood chatter suggests First Bloom Brooklyn will be located at 144 Montague, a large storefront below street level previously home to Bentley’s Shoes, which closed last summer after 43 years in business. We did not receive comment from Roman confirming the location by press time.
The food is described as “seasonal home cooking that’s better than the food you make at home. Nothing fussy or overcomplicated — the best versions of the simplest thing.” And while Roman is known for her big Instagram following, podcast, and YouTube cooking show, she seems to be discouraging virality: “Having something everyone comes in for is important, but should never be gimmicky. We’re catering to a neighborhood of real people, not the internet.”
While further menu details were not yet available, Roman was very clear on one point: “We will not have a Caesar salad.”
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