New Gumbo-Centric Restaurant Opens In Brooklyn

Real estate in New York City is expensive, and restaurants are incredibly competitive. This is neither news nor revelatory. But New Yorkers, being the crafty workers they are, have come up with a workaround: Test the concept with a pop-up. It worked for Long Island City's Mu Ramen. It worked for Williamsburg's Black Tree. It could just work for Cobble Hill's new gumbo shop The Gumbo Bros. Opening today, this new counter-service joint will be dishing up authentic Louisiana gumbo and plating up po'boys.

First of all, The Gumbo Bros, Adam Lathan and Clay Boulware, aren't really brothers. They're bros. The two Louisiana State University grads moved to NYC and lamented the lack of gumbo. So, they did what any graduate of the ICC's entrepenurialship courses would do: started their own.

For their brick-and-mortar shop, Lathan and Boulware sought to make their shop a little slice of Louisiana. The sign out front is from a New Orleans-based painter. The shop is lit by New Orleans street light-style scones. But most importantly, the food is authentically sourced.

The namesake gumbo uses an old family recipe, handed down to owner Adam Lathan by his great-grandmother. The coffee has a hint of chicory, there'll be beignets on the weekend, and the French bread is shipped in from Leidenheimer Bakery in the Big Easy, making this one of only two shops in the city to get this in-demand baked good.

Swing by for lunch or dinner (or that weird middle in between) to taste their gumbo (firmly on the no-tomatoes side of the fence) or bite into one of the deep-fried sandwiches. It may not be Bourbon Street, but Atlantic makes a close approximation.