This New Brooklyn Spot Serves Pizza And Wine Until 2 a.m.

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS— The burgundy-spilled storefront on Atlantic Avenue, between Clinton and Henry Streets, is hard to miss.

Inside, green-checkered tiles and snug booth seating set the stage for Frenzie, a companion restaurant and bar to the adjacent Confidant, which shares the same owners.

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Frenzie opened on Thursday.

What separates Frenzie from its New American fare counterpart?

Besides the pizza program and a bar menu focused on natural wines, the restaurant will stay open until 2 a.m. on weekends and midnight on weekdays.

Chefs Brendan Kelley and Daniel Grossman didn't expect this residential, particularly quiet corner of Brooklyn to have much tolerance for the nocturnal.

But, customers kept circling Confidant past 9 p.m. every night.

"We're hoping to provide that answer next door at Frenzie and add to the fun bar scene in Brooklyn Heights," Charlie Szur, Frenzie's head bartender, told Patch.

The 14-inch pizzas, which uses a custom flour blend from Brooklyn Granary, pack an Italian-fusing bite: think spicy vodka with 'nduja, a soft Calabrian sausage.

The avant-garde menu remains refreshingly restrained in its ingredients and toppings, perhaps stemming from the chefs' stints at Roberta's, after Grossman had worked as one of the first hires at L'Industrie.

"All of our flour has to be used within 30 days, which means our pizzas come out tasting super fresh," Kelley and Grossman explained. "Most flours have fillers that make them shelf stable for months or years. Ours is super pure & rustic which gives it that extra touch. "

Rotating small plates will adjoin the pizza offerings: fritto misto, Caesar salad made with smashed cucumbers, and beef tartare.

Frenzie opens as natural wine has moved from a niche interest into a part of Brooklyn's restaurant culture.

When the Lower East Side's Ten Bells opened in 2008, there were few bars in New York devoted exclusively to natural wine.

By the time Ten Bells opened a Brooklyn outpost in 2021, Eater described the category as commonplace at restaurants, bars and wine shops across the City.

Now, natural wine has found itself a target of the City's broader backlash against Brooklyn's increasingly stylized restaurant culture.

Rather than leaning into the preciousness sometimes associated with natural wine, Szur said Frenzie hopes to make it feel more casual.

"We're passionate about natural wine and its focus on sustainability," Szur said.

Since opening Confidant, the team has seen regulars willing to venture outside their usual orders, particularly when it comes to wine.

The goal, Szur said, is to make Frenzie feel like an extension of the living room: a place where guests can pick out an interesting bottle, pair it with a pie, and settle in for the after-hours stretch.

The wine program will be tightly curated by Szur, with just eight or nine wines available by the glass, all priced at $19 or less.

About a dozen bottles will rotate frequently, with a focus on smaller producers that may only send a few cases to New York at a time.

The opening list spans beyond the usual natural wine regions, including a limited-allocation Lebanese rosé, a Slovenian white blend of Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling, and a sparkling wine called Pork Soda.

After 10 p.m., the menu will include late-night specials like square slices or one-off pies.

For anyone who needs a drink, there will also be composed shots and special bar combos like a martini and a slice for $20 or a Narragansett with a shot and a slice for $15.

Frenzie is located at 129 Atlantic Ave., between Clinton and Henry Streets, in Brooklyn Heights.