Breaking: Park Slope's Stone Park Cafe Going Into Tempo Space on Fifth Avenue

A tipster told me what's going into the space that used to be Tempo (and before that Cucina):

Stone Park Cafe.

That's right. Someone in the know has just told me that the elegant and delicious Stone Park Cafe, currenly located on Third Street and Fifth Avenue, is relocating to the old Tempo/Cucina space on Fifth Avenue between Garfield and 1st Street.

And it gets even more interesting. The Stone Park Cafe folks have a new partner. She is none other than the youngest daughter of the man who used to own Cucina. Indeed, the Cucina family still owns the building where the new Stone Park Cafe will be.

And that Tempo/Cucina space is a big space.

As Cucina and then Tempo, the space was frequently rented out for business parties, special occasions, birthdays, weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. According to the Tempo website, the entire restaurant can serve 120 persons and the main dining room can serve 80 persons for a special event. 

But more importantly, it makes for a spacious dining room and bar that will give Stone Park Cafe some much needed elbow room.

Stone Park Cafe, which serves a sophisticated American cuisine with many local ingredients has been lauded by many reviewers including two stars from Frank Bruni in the New York Times and an award Best NYC restaurant 2006 from the AOL CityGuide.

Bruni wrote the following in the original 2005 NY Times review . It's the review famously titled "Where To Take Thoreau and Dr. Atkins," really put the restaurant on the map:

[The menu] is sagely balanced between curiosity - piquing surprises and consoling favorites, one that establishes a personality of sophisticated robustness while accommodating many predilections and moods.”

Opening a restaurant was a long time dream of owners Josh Foster and Josh Grinker, (the Two Josh's as they are fondly called in these parts). Childhood friends who grew up together in Park Slope, they, along with Tracy Young of Philadelphia, turned a Fifth Avenue bodega into an extremely attractive restaurant with a full bar and a sidewalk patio. 

Before opening Stone Park, Foster, Grinker and Young worked at the Tribeca Grill, River Café and Le Bec Fin,

Work has already begun on the new Stone Park Cafe. Apparently the restaurant will be vacating its old space on Third Street.

The Zagat-rated Tempo Restaurant had a more difficult history. They opened in 2005 with a decent review in the Times. Later they opened Tempo Presto on 3rd Street and 7th Avenue which was a misfire. A sandwich shop without coffee, a lunch and after-school spot for moms and kids without ice cream (though I believe that problem was rectified), an atmosphere that felt more fast food that Park Slope.

But Slopers liked the fancier Fifth Avenue restaurant and even if it was a tad expensive, they had many fans. Bruni wrote in the Times' review:

A decade ago, maybe even five years ago, Tempo would have been awash in buzz, heralded as a relatively rare example of Manhattan-style sophistication and Manhattan-caliber aspirations on Brooklyn's spotty restaurant landscape. The fact that Tempo opened quietly in September speaks loudly about the evolution of Brooklyn's dining scene, because this restaurant, which serves Italian and other Mediterranean fare, is worth a bit of talk. Entrees tend to disappoint, but most of the pasta dishes, especially bucatini with a pignoli-pistachio pesto, are winners, as are starters like the lentil soup and the porchetta. The gelato is housemade, the wine list creative, the ambience lovely and the service polished. -- Frank Bruni

The Two Josh's at Stone Park Cafe obviously have big plans in store for their new venture. Judging from what they've already accomplished at the original SPC—great food, an elegant, inviting atmosphere and a great wine and beer list, expectations will probably run sky high. 

Now don't breathe a word of this to anyone. It's top secret, hush hush...