Cebu Bar & Bistro: Balthazar with a Bay Ridge twist

December 1, 2023 Andrew Cotto

Cebu in Bay Ridge. Photo by Andrew Cotto

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BAY RIDGE — It’s Saturday night in Bay Ridge. Third Avenue teems with an energy that emanates from the restaurants above and below 86th Street. On 88th Street, the corner is flanked wide in both directions by outdoor seating adjacent to the storefront of Cebu Bar & Bistro, marked by modest circular signage that does not reflect the oversized physical and communal presence of a beloved neighborhood joint.

Caviar cremefraiche. Photo by Andrew Cotto

Cebu Bar & Bistro was opened in 2001 by Bay Ridge natives Michael Esposito and Ted Nugent (a third original partner, Gerard Piccairelli, subsequently passed away). The idea for Cebu was to emulate the haute eateries of Manhattan, like Balthazar and Lucky Strike, that they, as restaurant workers, went to for the late night scene buzzing with chefs and servers and bartenders after hours. The original storefront, before a sizable expansion in 2009, mimicked the late night scene of Manhattan, drawing restaurant folks and the revelers of south Brooklyn for drink and food from a kitchen that remained open until 3:00 a.m.

These days, the kitchen closes around midnight, yet the Saturday night crowd is large and boisterous, especially in the spacious main dining room where the motif of antique bistros is in full effect with a lofted and pressed-copper ceiling hung with circular bulbs, massive and dark-framed menu mirrors (even one with the requisite menu items scrawled upon it), dark columns, banquet seating around the periphery, wooden tabletops adorned at night with romantic lighting. This grand room, once the entire and iconic Mambo Italiano, is reached through the restaurant’s main entry into the stylish barroom at the corner, then through a modest room that has a second bar and a cozy seating area facing the street. There’s also a private dining room, accessed down a corridor off the main bar, complete with a fireplace and a communal table.

The menu at Cebu has evolved, especially under Chef Carlos Rodriguez, who came aboard in 2015 and became a partner in 2021. Chef Carlos has, though, maintained the original, eclectic culinary vision of traditional bistro fare complimented by Italian and American offerings with a hint of Asian influence. The options range from the raw bar to pizza, salads to burgers, pasta Bolognese to steak au poivre, chicken Parmesan to fish and chips. There’s big plates, little plates, side plates. Weeknight specials for two include a 2-pound lobster over pasta or a Tomahawk steak, each with a bottle of wine. Some new winter menu items include ramekins of caviar with creme fraiche and a spicy tuna crispy rice, with more to come.

Lollipop wings and spicy tuna crispy rice. Photo by Andrew Cotto

“We try to hit all the corners for our community,” explained owner Mike Esposito. “We want to serve every age group and be the go-to, all-in-one restaurant for every occasion.”

On a recent Saturday night, all rooms at Cebu were crowded. There were birthday celebrations, dates, family-nights, groups of friends and other occasions all reveling in the convivial ambiance. Food celebrity and south Brooklyn native Rossella Rago was even in the house. “I’ve been coming to Cebu for years,” she said. “It’s the veritable piazza of Bay Ridge. You can come for a good meal. You can come for a good time. You can come to meet the love of your life. It’s the place you go when you don’t know where to go that is always going to give you a good time.”

Andrew Cotto has been eating his way through Brooklyn for 25 years. As an author, the food of our borough has been featured extensively in his novels and journalism. In his new column for the Daily Eagle, Andrew will tell the tales of Brooklyn eateries, from the people behind the food to the communities which they nourish.