Besides fireworks, what’s synonymous with summer and the Fourth of July? Barbeque! Tonight Chef Dimitri Likourentzos and General Manager of Park Plaza Diner is thrilled to host a “soft launch” of Brooklyn Barbeque.
“We’ll be having a limited menu starting from 5:00 pm until closing, 10:00 pm. Full bar available. And we have an exciting, brand new BBQ menu that will be featuring some panini presses and some new things…that’s in addition to what we [served] at Park Plaza.”
Brooklyn Heights’ Park Plaza Diner is a beloved family-owned business that has anchored Pineapple Walk’s retail for the better part of four decades. But, what’s lesser-known is that Chef Dimitri is a 1996 graduate of the esteemed Culinary Institute of America. And, in addition to taking over the business from his brother Nick, he is constantly working on his craft.
Between 2015 through 2018 Dimitri traveled to Georgia, Texas, Florida, and Tennessee among others seeking knowledge from the best pit masters he could find. With the installation of a smoker in the diner’s kitchen in 2019, Dimitri added BBQ to the diner’s menu. And dang was it good! His original plan was to open Brooklyn BBQ in 2020. But, Covid put the kibosh on his dream. Dimitri was happy to report the diner has recovered from the pandemic-related losses and now it’s full steam ahead!
“I’ve been working on it to eventually have this beautiful day where I finally get to have a real-deal BBQ restaurant in this location.”
Brooklyn BBQ is co-located with Park Plaza Diner on Pineapple Walk. The new restaurant has covered outdoor dining and took over what was the diner’s private back room. Dimitri designed and built most of the space himself including the hand-pouring of the bar’s concrete countertops. Brooklyn BBQ will operate as a completely separate entity from Park Plaza. As such, the diner will no longer serve BBQ but still has lots of traditional and delicious fare.
