In the beginning.....

I have been a professional designer for almost five years now, but restaurant design is a whole new world for me. In the upcoming weeks I will be creating the designs for a traditional Sicilian restaurant named "Verde" in the heart of Bushwick, Brooklyn. For those of you not familiar with Bushwick, it is a neighborhood in the Northern part of Brooklyn east of Williamsburg. Its population consists mainly of Latinos from the Caribbean islands of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic but more recent years have seen an increase in young Caucasian artists. I myself lived in Bushwick for a year and people thought I was crazy because it had gained a reputation for being a rough area. But I found quite the contrary. Even with gentrification staring them in the face, I found the locals to be quite warm and accepting of me.


Verde restaurant is owned by Charlie Verde, a charismatic Sicilian man who is probably one of the kindest people I have ever met. He has entrusted me to bring his vision to a reality. A very cozy, homey atmosphere where people can go to get an authentic Sicilian dining experience. Charlie recently discovered that in the basement of the restaurant there lied a gold mine. He found hidden behind a brick wall a coal burning oven. There remains I believe only six coal burning ovens in New York City and those six restaurants happen to be some of the most popular because of the amazing flavors that they give to breads and pizzas (ex. the famous Grimaldi's and Lombardi's pizza). Coal burning ovens are no longer permitted to be built, but if it is an already existing oven it can still be used.  Photos of the oven are soon to come!

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