A Look Inside Bricolage, The New Modern Vietnamese Restaurant Set To Open Soon On 5th Avenue

When Bricolage, the new restaurant that will deliver a modern take on Vietnamese cuisine to 162 5th Avenue, opens early in February, it will be the physical embodiment of its name: The word describes something that’s been built by a range of available things, and in every sense, that’s what the spot will be.

“We were three months into the process, falling in love with names, but then somebody wouldn’t like it,” says Miro Gal, one of the four partners behind the place, along with Edward and Lien Lin and Jed Freedlander. “Then a friend of mine came to visit and she saw the space, saw what we did with different materials, different approaches, different cultures, different periods, different people and ethnicities and countries, and in one second she said, ‘Why don’t you call it Bricolage?’ And I was like ‘Yes!!'”

The team’s diverse background is at the base of the name. The Lins both have long histories in the restaurant business, most recently having worked at The Slanted Door in San Francisco — both cooking, though Edward also worked in development of the business’ new restaurants, and Lien on its catering end. Freedlander has experience in finance, law, and management consulting, but also in beer — he manages the beer program at the Down Town Association in Manhattan. Gal worked his way up in the restaurant industry in London before heading to the U.S., where he studied and became an artist, and he’s now a professor at the School of Visual Arts. And what brought them all together is one of our city’s great equalizers.

“Initially we just wanted to do a simple beer and banh mi place,” says Freedlander, who had teamed up with Gal, his Ditmas Park neighbor on the concept, looking first in that neighborhood for a good location. “Then we advertised on Craigslist.”

Which is how the Lins got involved. After years in California, they’d moved to New York to consult on a friend’s hotel project, with the idea that they’d open their own place here at some point. When they began considering putting together an upscale spin on Vietnamese cuisine, Edward stumbled on the ad.

“We were looking for something to do, just looking to see what was out there, not very seriously,” he says. “But then I saw this ‘Vietnamese gastropub looking for partners,’ and I was like, ‘Thats perfect!'”

With kids in tow in Freedlander’s backyard, the four partners met for the first time, setting the tone for what’s to come — a space that will accommodate all kinds of diners, from those looking for a good quick lunch, to couples on a first date, to families who will feel comfortable bringing their kids along for brunch, but most importantly, for anyone hungry for a new take on classic Vietnamese fare.

“We averaged out,” Freedlander says. “We had more humble aspirations, and they had much grander ones — we’re kind of in the middle, but maybe creeping more toward Ed’s vision.”

“Definitely we’re family now,” says Lien, who, as she’s been working on the menu, has had her and Edward’s four-year-old son napping underfoot in close proximity to the kitchen. “He’s a restaurant baby.”

Based on what we hear they’ll be serving, he’ll be very lucky to be spending so much time there. Yes, there will be banh mi, but Lien will be making head cheese and pate in-house; similarly, they’ll offer new takes on pho and crispy fried spring rolls.

“But then I’m also doing a five-spice fried chicken sandwich with sriracha mayo and a fennel and red cabbage slaw — so not traditionally Vietnamese, you know?” she says.

That extends to every part of the menu, and Lien says she’s particularly excited about playing around with brunch items — that five-spice fried chicken with waffles, or a turmeric beer-battered fish with sea salt and dill sprinkled taro chips.

“I’m having a fun time with brunch, because brunch is really big around here, lines out the door everywhere,” she says. “So I want to bring something familiar, but different — my take on fish and chips, steak and eggs.”

They say they’re likely to launch with just lunch service as they wait for the finalization of their liquor license (there’s no set date just yet for the opening, but we’ll keep you posted), which will have a lower price point than dinner, and will be a bit more casual — expect sandwiches and other items that are easy to grab for take-out.

“Dinner will be a more all-encompassing affair,” Edward says, noting that the menu will be seasonal, and may change often, with some staples that stay put.

In addition to a rotating selection of wine and beer — Freedlander says the six taps will have beers mostly from New York — a menu of Silk Roads Tea will also change regularly. As for the cocktail list, they’re initially bringing in bartender friend Adam Wilson, who’s responsible for the award-winning cocktail program at San Francisco’s Beretta, to help the set up their menu.

And as for where you’ll be dining on these dishes and drinks, the space itself has come a long way from its previous life as Brooklyn Fish Camp. The partners began work this past fall, and have essentially built everything from scratch right in the space.

“October 1st we got the lease, and Ed and I have been covered in debris and dust ever since,” says Gal, whose artistic and construction background — he redesigned the garage of his home, turning it into a studio — has played a big role in the look of the space, from turning books collected from local stoops into art pieces, to assembling almost everything made of wood from pieces of an old water tower, to making sure the bathrooms look just as interesting as the dining room. The story behind a couple of the works on the walls pretty well encompasses the process that’s built this restaurant — two large pieces of scrap metal, spotted while driving by a trucking company in Gowanus, scooped up and repurposed into something lovely.

“Miro’s driving by,” Edward explains of the metal acquisition. “He slams on the breaks, and is like, ‘Do you need these?’ And they were just like, ‘Yes, just take them!'”

Though they’ve done a lot of work themselves, they’ve collaborated with a number of people on some aspects of the work, which Edward says has been a great experience.

“A lot of times you do a restaurant project and you have an architect draw up a design, then you have a contractor come in and they build it, and they sub out all the electrical and plumbing and whatever,” he says. “The interaction if very light. But here we’ve been really living in the space.”

While they’ve been working, neighbors have been peeking into the restaurant throughout construction, and the partners say everyone has been very supportive and excited so far. As have they, saying that though they nearly ended up with a space in Williamsburg, they dropped it as soon as this one became an option.

“There are a lot of great places,” Freedlander says of 5th Avenue, adding that they hope to be considered one of them. “It’s become such a great destination.”