Historic Gage & Tollner will return to Brooklyn

Downtown Brooklyn dining institution Gage & Tollner, which closed in 2004 after 125 years in business, will reopen. A team of Red Hook restaurateurs successfully raised $410,491 for the reopening, and have officially signed a lease at 372 Fulton St., between Red Hook Lane and Smith Street. St. John Frizell, owner of Red Hook’s Fort Defiance, along with Good Fork owners Ben Schneider and Sohui Kim, are behind the reopening, and Kim will be the chef, likely restoring the space as a chophouse. The restaurant is considered Brooklyn’s first fine-dining establishment, where legends like Mae West and Truman Capote once dined, and its original fixtures remain intact.