Bringing the Comfort Food Where It’s Needed
When Buttermilk Channel closed its doors on New Year's Eve 2024, Carroll Gardens didn't just lose a restaurant. It lost a living room. For sixteen years, that cozy corner spot on Court Street was the kind of place where the staff knew your name, your kids grew up on the pancakes, and a plate of fried chicken and cheddar waffles could turn a rough Tuesday into a celebration. Owner Doug Crowell didn't close because the crowds stopped coming — the place was packed right up until the final brunch. He closed because running a restaurant that personal takes everything you've got, and after sixteen years, it was simply time.
We get that. Deeply.
Over here at Mockingbird, we opened our doors in Park Slope in January 2025 with a similar conviction: that a neighborhood spot should feel like it belongs to the neighborhood. That the food should be comforting without being lazy. That the people behind the bar should care about what's in your glass — and how your week is going. We didn't set out to replace Buttermilk Channel. Nobody could. But we do believe we're carrying forward something essential about what made it special.
The Food You're Missing
Buttermilk Channel built its reputation on American comfort food done with real care. The duck meatloaf. The short rib hash at brunch. That pecan pie sundae with Blue Marble ice cream. These were dishes that felt both familiar and elevated — the kind of cooking where you can taste the thought behind every plate.
That's exactly the lane we're in at Mockingbird. Our supper menu is built around the same philosophy: hearty, seasonal, made-from-scratch comfort food served with full table service. Our French Onion Chicken — roasted and baked with crispy onions, served with house-made bird sauce — is the kind of dish that would have felt right at home on Court Street. Our Steak N' Potatoes, a seared New York strip finished with garlic butter alongside crispy hash browns, speaks the same language of unfussy, well-executed American cooking.
And if you loved Buttermilk Channel's sides — those legendary cheddar waffles, those buttermilk whipped potatoes — come try our Southern Hush Puppies. Golden, crispy, and completely addictive, they're the kind of side dish that quietly steals the show. Pair them with our Mac & Cheese or Roasted Brussels Sprouts and you've got yourself a proper Brooklyn supper.
Buttermilk Channel also had a gift for desserts that made grown adults grin like kids. Their pecan pie French toast. Those apple cider cake donuts. We channel that same energy with our Pineapple Bread Pudding and Peach Cobbler — the kind of sweets that taste like somebody's grandmother made them, because that's the only way worth doing it.
The Gathering Place You're Missing
What people loved most about Buttermilk Channel wasn't really any single dish. It was the feeling. One longtime regular compared it to the bar on Cheers — a place where everybody knows your name. It was where you went for a weeknight dinner that felt special without being fussy, where the communal table meant you might end up chatting with a stranger, where the kids' menu actually had good food on it.
Mockingbird is built on the same bones. We're a 700-square-foot lounge with about ten tables, a long bar, booth seating, and 12-foot ceilings that somehow make the space feel both intimate and open. You can come camp out with a book during the day while we pour you coffee from Obscure or a tableside teapot. You can bring your crew for weekend brunch. You can settle into a booth on a Thursday evening with our BBQ Pork Belly Sandwich and a cocktail and let the week fall away.
Something New for Brooklyn
Here's where we add a chapter Buttermilk Channel never wrote: every drink at Mockingbird is zero-proof. We're Park Slope's first non-alcoholic cocktail bar, and our beverage program is built with the same seriousness and craft that Buttermilk Channel brought to its wine list and cocktail menu. We pour non-alcoholic beers, wines, and ciders from independent producers — many of them minority- and women-owned — alongside house-crafted cocktails that are genuinely complex and delicious.
If Buttermilk Channel proved that a Brooklyn neighborhood bistro could serve fried chicken and cheddar waffles alongside a thoughtful French and American wine list, we're proving that a Brooklyn neighborhood kitchen can serve hush puppies and pork belly alongside cocktails that happen to skip the alcohol without skipping the experience. It's a different choice, but it comes from the same place: the belief that everyone deserves a beautiful drink in a warm room with good food and good company.
Come On In
We're not Buttermilk Channel. We're not trying to be. But if you're one of the thousands of Brooklynites who lost your spot when those doors closed on Court Street — the spot where the food was honest, the room was cozy, and you always felt welcome — we saved you a seat.
Mockingbird 213 7th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 Weekend Brunch: Sat & Sun, 10am–3pm Supper: Thurs–Sun, 4pm–close Coffee & Daytime: Mon–Sun, 10am–4pm