There is a revival of sorts on Union Street in Carroll Gardens. WHEREAS Bar Ferdinando it’s not technically a revival, it’s an homage to it of Ferdinand Focacceria, the 121-year-old neighborhood institution that closed in early 2025. Between longtime regulars eager to see what’s happening in the space they’ve frequented for decades and the stylish Y2K Gen Z crowd curious about the latest spot from Swoony’s AND Spaghetti coffee owner Sal Lamboglia151 Union Street is louder than ever.
The previous owner of Ferdinando’s, Francesco “Frank” Buffa, took over the restaurant from his father-in-law, Ferdinando Ciaramitaro, after Ciaramitaro’s death in 1975. Now, not long after closing up shop, he has passed the torch to the Lamboglia restaurant.
That Ferdinando’s Focacceria had such a long and loyal following is not lost on Lamboglia.
“It was incredible pressure,” he tells the Observer. “I’ve said to the staff, ‘we’re going to get people who mean so much here, so just take it all in.'” Lamboglia has done just that himself, sitting with Ferdinando’s customers returning to the space – albeit refurbished – for the first time in more than a year. “One woman was crying because she was sitting at the same table where she and her grandmother would have lunch years ago,” he says.
Opening a bar or restaurant is a daunting task, not for the faint of heart. Doing this in New York City requires a heightened level of preparedness for insanity. Doing it in a space with over a century of history and a dedicated following watching your every move to see what you got right or wrong? This is a tension level Bar Ferdinando it could have easily collapsed under. But in the first week since opening on April 15, Lamboglia’s balance of tradition and reinvention is proving successful.
Bar Ferdinando is an all day venue. It starts with coffee and pastries like candies from the pastry shop Jackie De La Barrera (from Agi’s counter AND Radio Fura) and transitions to cocktails, wine and small plates. Ricardo Echeverri runs the bar program; he has been behind the stick in french AND Minetta Tavern and is general manager at Swoony’s. Its cocktail menu is easily the most noticeable difference between Ferdinando’s Focacceria and Bar Ferdinando, as the former simply didn’t have one. He feels both very much Italian aperitif hour and very au courant in its low ABV nature and spritz focus, from a 50/50 martini on the rocks to a limoncello spritz and an olive Negroni. Next to the food menu that carried a number of Ferdinando’s Focacceria classics, it’s an interesting meeting of old and new—and it works.
Lamboglia has retained the panel, to the relief of many of Ferdinando’s regulars. This is a Sicilian chickpea stir-fry and is served piled high on a sesame seed roll crusted with fresh, creamy ricotta and a squeeze of lemon juice. It also held the arancini: balls of rice that arrive halved and crowned with a mound of crumbled pecorino. The items he’s added — his signature seafood salad, a green salad with golden raisins, a mouthful and potato platter — are so in step with the original menu items that, if you hadn’t frequented Ferdinando’s before, you might not recognize them as new additions.
I walked into Bar Ferdinando with my expectations shaped like Ferdinando’s Focacceria. Discovering the Carroll Gardens staple was one of the few highlights of another regrettable college relationship. Biting into a panel sandwich – pane e panel – always made me feel grateful and a little smug to live in New York and have access to a place like Ferdinando’s. Let the other college kids cure their hangovers with McMuffins; I had Sicilian chickpea fritters.
If you knew the original Ferdinando, then walking into Bar Ferdinando is a trip. It looks almost the same. Lamboglia left the mismatched tile floor and yellow brick walls hung with photos of the Buffa family, to which he has added a few of his own. He had to build a bar to accommodate the huge difference between the old and new businesses, and used marble and granite slabs from Frank Buffakitchen prep tables. Like the new menu items, the bar looks like it’s always been there. One of the most obvious changes, indeed, is the crowd. On the first Friday night, Bar Ferdinando was full of neighborhood regulars grabbing tables filled with wine and food, but there were also women playing like Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in their headbands, white tanks, 517 Levi’s and low heels, while young men drank their machines. names on the ever-expanding waiting list for a table (Bar Ferdinando does not take reservations).
It felt a little strange to sit in the old-school space, the very epitome of its old-school neighborhood, and watch it fill with scenes. The question is how long the glow will last. Judging by the food and drinks, the waiting list is likely to remain packed.
That 50/50 martini was a beautifully simple, more refreshing and accessible way to enjoy the classic profile of the drink. A strawberry and basil Campari spritz was aromatic, bright and quite bitter. Fernet with cola and mint felt medicinal in the best possible way – a true Italian amaro treat, especially appreciated after a parade of carb-rich foods.
The sandwich is about as greasy and starchy as a dish can get. When it arrived at the table and my college memories came flooding back, I realized I was putting perhaps unfair pressure on a humble sandwich that I had felt was akin to a religious experience. But it did not disappoint. With Buffa’s recipe and Lamboglia’s chops, each bite is an ideal combination of soft yet toothsome fritters, crispy and fluffy bread, rich ricotta and lemon acid to cut it all.
The arancini is moist and delicious, and the green raisin salad is a fresh and delightful counterpart to all things fried and stir-fried. A crustless, whipped cream cheesecake with lemon, olive oil and strips of candied lemon peel defies logic: How can it taste like rich white chocolate fudge but feel as light as a mousse? The Brooklyn Special, Echeverrit’s house version of the Manhattan Special coffee soda that Ferdinando’s would serve, was a perfect accompaniment to end the meal.
In the same way that Ferdinando’s Focacceria felt like a representation of the Italian-leaning Carroll Gardens neighborhood of generations past, Bar Ferdinando feels like it embodies the area and its residents today. It maintains a healthy respect for tradition, but also keeps a finger on the pulse of how people like to eat and drink out now, paying homage to long-loved dishes and serving sophisticated low-ABV cocktails. With its all-day menu, Bar Ferdinando complements other neighborhood businesses that are more strictly defined as cafes, restaurants or bars.
Thanks to that flexibility—longer hours, a coffee program, a bar program, snacks that can easily be turned into a full lunch or dinner—Lamboglia says Bar Ferdinando can be whatever people want to make of it.
“We can be where you come to work in the morning and have coffee. We can be a restaurant in that we have a menu, table service and serve drinks … and so we’re also a bar. (A group) came in who were going to Cafe Spaghetti for dinner, but they were short on time, so they shared some panels and croquettes.” Having something on offer for anyone who walks through the door at any time is important to Lamboglia. “I just want people to be happy,” he says. “I don’t like to say ‘no’ to a lot of things… being open from 11am to 10pm, we’re saying ‘yes’, we’re not denying people anything.”
Of course, Lamboglia also understands that you can’t go wrong everyone happy, and certainly not when he takes over a space like Ferdinando’s.
“A woman came in and asked if we still had rice balls,” he says. “I said yes, and she said, ‘Oh, well, I’ll be here tomorrow.’ Then a guy came in and asked if we still had the spleen sandwich. I said, ‘not yet’ and he left. Most people have seemed genuinely excited, but Lamboglia admits there’s a small percentage of people who read about the opening of Bar Ferdinando in the old Ferdinando’s Focacceria space and write it off, thinking no new business can ever compare and probably shouldn’t even try.
Lamboglia got a meaningful nod of approval. Frank Buffa brought his family to Bar Ferdinando’s pre-opening friends and family night, and for the first time, Lamboglia met Antoinette CiaramitaroBuffa’s wife and Ferdinando’s own daughter.
“Maybe it was a little surreal that they were sitting at Ferdinando’s with a new owner,” says Lamboglia. “But then (Ferdinado’s daughter) grabbed my arm and said: ‘My father would have been proud of you, he would have liked that.’ That’s all I needed.”
