There is a resurrection of sorts on Union Street in Carroll Gardens. While Bar Ferdinando technically it’s not a revival, it’s a tribute to Ferdinando’s Focacceria, a 121-year-old neighborhood institution that’s closing in early 2025. Among the long-timers eager to see what’s happening in the space they’ve visited for decades and the Y2K-chic Gen Z crowd curious about the latest space, La51 Spaspaghe’s latest owner is from Swony1 Spas’s Swony1 Swony’s Swony’s Swony. The road is more popular than ever.
The former owner of Ferdinando’s company, Francesco “Frank” Buffa, took over the restaurant from his father-in-law, Ferdinando Ciaramitaro, after Ciaramitaro’s death in 1975. Now, shortly after closing up shop, he has passed the torch to restaurant Lamboglia.
The fact that Ferdinando’s Focacceria had such a long, loyal following is not lost on Lamboglia.
“It was a lot of pressure,” he told the Observer. “I’ve been telling the staff, ‘We’re going to bring in people who have a lot of meaning here, so just take it all in.'” Lamboglia has been doing that himself, sitting with Ferdinando’s patrons as he returns to the—albeit renovated—place for the first time in more than a year. He says: “One woman was crying because she was sitting at the table where she and her grandmother used to eat years ago.
Opening a bar or restaurant is a herculean task, not for the faint of heart. Doing so in New York City requires an extra level of insanity. Doing it in a space with over 100 history and dedicated followers watching your every move to see what you get right or wrong? That’s a level of tension that Bar Ferdinando could easily crumble under. But in its first week since opening on April 15, Lamboglia’s balance of tradition and innovation seems to be a success.
Bar Ferdinando is an all day venue. It starts with coffee and cakes like bomboloni from pastry chef Jackie De La Barrera (wa Agi counter again Radio Bakery) and into cocktails, wine and small plates. Ricardo Echeverri leads the bar program; He has been behind bars Frenchette again The Minetta Tavern and is the general manager at Swoony’s. His cocktail menu is the most notable difference between Ferdinando’s Focacceria and Bar Ferdinando, as the former had none. It sounds a lot like both Italian aperitivo hour and more au courant in its low-ABV nature and spritz focus, from a 50/50 martini on the rocks to a limoncello spritz and an olive-briney Negroni. Next to the food menu that has retained a good number of classics is Ferdinando’s Focacceria, an interesting meeting of old and new—and it works.
Lamboglia kept the panel, even freeing many of Ferdinando’s regulars. This is a Sicilian chickpea fritter, and it’s served on a toasted sesame seed roll with fresh, creamy ricotta and a squeeze of lemon juice. He also kept the arancini: balls of rice that come in half and are crowned with a snowball of grated pecorino. His additions—his signature seafood salad, green salad with golden raisins, clam and potato bowl—are so consistent with the original menu items that, if you weren’t a regular at Ferdinando’s, you might not even notice they’re new additions.
I walked into Bar Ferdinando with my expectations shaped like Ferdinando’s Focacceria. Finding the foundation of Carroll Gardens was one of the few highlights of the regrettable college fellowship. Biting into a panel sandwich—a panel—always made me feel both grateful and resentful of living in New York and having access to a place like Ferdinando’s. Let some college kids cure their hangover with McMuffins; I had the Sicilian chickpea fritters.
If you knew the original Ferdinando, walking into Bar Ferdinando is a trip. It looks almost exactly the same. Lamboglia has left behind inappropriate tiles, and the brick and yellow walls are hung with portraits of the Buffa family, to which he has added some of his own. He had to build a bar to accommodate the large transition between old and new businesses, and he used marble and granite from Frank Buffa’s kitchen prep tables. Like the dishes on the new menu, the bar looks like it’s always been there. Another notable difference is, in fact, the crowd. On its first Friday night, Bar Ferdinando was busy with locals holding tables full of wine and snacks, but also with women playing like Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy with their headbands, white cropped tanks, 517 Levi’s and low-heeled slingbacks sipping martinis, and expressing their Brooklyn art names. waiting list for a table (Bar Ferdinando does not take reservations).
It felt strange to sit in an old-school place, itself the epitome of an old-school neighborhood, and see it filled with scenes. It begs the question of how long the light will last. If you’re looking at food and drink, it’s likely that the waiting list will always be stacked.
That 50/50 martini was a nice simple, refreshing and approachable way to enjoy a classic drink profile. The Campari spritz with strawberry and basil was fragrant, bright, and satisfyingly bitter. Fernet with cola and mint felt medicinal in the best way—a true Italian amaro treat, delightful after a carb-heavy parade of snacks.
A panel sandwich is about as carby and starchy as a dish can get. When it arrived on the table and my college memories came flooding back, I realized that I was putting perhaps undue pressure on the humble container that I felt was like a religious experience. But it didn’t disappoint. With Buffa’s recipe and Lamboglia’s chops, each bite is the perfect combination of a soft but toothsome fritter, warm and soft bread, rich ricotta, and lemony acid to top it all off.
The arancini are moist and nutritious, and the green salad with raisins is a fresh and lovely companion to all the fried this and cheese that. A crustless, panna cotta-like cheesecake with lemon, olive oil and candied lemon leaf strips is a no-brainer: How can it taste like rich white chocolate fudge, but feel as light as a mousse? The Brooklyn Special, Echeverri’s house-made version of Ferdinando’s Manhattan Special soda, was the perfect accompaniment to the end of the meal.
In the same way that Ferdinando’s Focacceria felt like it represented the Italian-leaning neighborhood of Carroll Gardens generations ago, Bar Ferdinando feels like it represents the area and its residents today. It maintains a healthy respect for tradition, but also keeps a finger on the pulse of how people like to eat and drink now, honoring long-loved dishes and serving sophisticated, low ABV cocktails. With its all-day menu, Bar Ferdinando complements other neighboring businesses that are strictly defined as coffee shops, restaurants or bars.
Because of that flexibility—long hours, a coffee program, a bar program, snacks that can easily build into a full lunch or dinner—Lamboglia says Bar Ferdinando can be whatever people want to make of it.
“We can be where you come to work in the morning and have coffee. We can be a restaurant in that we have a menu, table service, and we serve drinks … so we’re a bar. [A group] came in who was going to have dinner at Cafe Spaghetti but had time, so they shared panels and croquettes. Having something to offer anyone who walks in the door at any time is important to Lamboglia. He says: “I just want people to be happy. “I don’t like to say ‘no’ to many things…opening from 11 am to 10 pm, we say ‘yes,’ we don’t deny people anything.”
Of course, Lamboglia also realizes that you can’t everyone I am happy, and not when I take a place like Ferdinando’s.
“One woman came in and asked if we still have panels and rice balls,” he said. “I told him yes, and he said, ‘Oh, okay, I’ll come tomorrow.’ Then a guy came in and asked if we still had the spleen sandwich. I said: ‘Not yet,’ and he left.” Many people have seemed really happy, but Lamboglia has accepted that there is a small percentage of people who read about the opening of Bar Ferdinando in the old Ferdinando’s Focacceria and wrote it off, thinking that no new business can ever be compared and maybe it shouldn’t even be tried.
Lamboglia got one nod of approval. Frank Buffa brought his family to Bar Ferdinando with his friends and family the night before the opening, and for the first time, Lamboglia met Antoinette Ciaramitaro, Buffa’s wife and Ferdinando’s own daughter.
“Maybe it was surreal for them to stay at Ferdinando’s with the new owner,” said Lamboglia. “But of course [Ferdinando’s daughter] he grabbed my arm and said, ‘Dad would be proud of you, he would like this.’ That was all I needed.”
