Breaking news! Armando’s — the legendary Montague Street restaurant — might reopen in the next few months in the spot most recently occupied by the shuttered Spicy Pickle.
The restaurant, which was perhaps best known for its neon lobster sign, closed last March and was replaced in August with the Spicy Pickle sandwich chain (and its own neon pickle sign). Then, last Friday, the eatery turned sour and closed up shop at 143 Montague Street.
But good things come to those Brooklynites who wait — and who lobby hard enough for the return of neon signs — and now, the building’s landlord and Armando’s owner Peter Byros tells the Brooklyn Heights Blog that “there is a strong possibility that Armando’s is going to come back.”
Enough Brooklynites said they missed his classic Italian restaurant and bar, he said, that he changed his mind about retiring from the restaurant business.
“Everybody tells me that [if Armando’s comes back, they would be happy] — that’s one reason that I want to reopen it,” Byros said.
And what of the lobster sign?
“Yes, I’m trying to get that sign back, yes,” he said.
Byros said he had originally made plans to retire and leased the space to the Spicy Pickle restaurateurs, but the deal didn’t work out and they quickly closed last week.
Asked when Armando’s might open, Byros was quiet. “It takes time,” he said. “It’s going to take a couple of months.”
