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Brooklyn Cafe celebrates its 20th anniversary

By: Rowan Walrath
| Published 06/19/2014

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THE WOODLANDS, Texas - When a customer walks in, there is a combination of two worlds. Black-and-white tile peppers the floor. A newly installed bar, outfitted with power outlets every few feet, seats businesspeople and sports fans alike. Booths comprise the left half of the room; older, standalone tables the right. At the back right corner is a mural of “The Dreamer,” the statuesque old man who has been resting peacefully at the intersection of South Panther Creek Drive and Woodlands Parkway for 25 years.

This is Brooklyn Café, a happy collision of a traditional New York bagel shop and a friendly neighborhood café located in the Panther Creek shopping center. Many residents of The Woodlands consider it a hometown staple. Recent high school graduates, for instance, remember visiting the café when they were several feet shorter than they are now. It may come as a shock to these forever patrons, but this year, Brooklyn Café is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Javier Williams, one of the owners of a string of restaurants that includes Brooklyn Café, Blue Mug Café and Yucatan Taco Stand and Tequila Bar, commented on the restaurant’s outstanding performance.

“The Woodlands is not that old, so [for] any restaurant that is 20 years old, that is a huge success,” said Williams. “But it is not necessarily our accomplishment.”

Williams and his team bought Brooklyn Café only about a year and a half ago. Prior to that, the café thrived under the capable leadership of Nick Canistra, a friendly man who established the restaurant’s cozy vibe.

“When we took over, we knew we had a big responsibility,” said Williams. “We want to modernize it but not lose that neighborhood café feel.”

The biggest change made to the restaurant in Williams’ efforts to revamp it was a remodeling job that took place earlier this year. Original tile was replaced with a black-and-white design that mimics a New York bagel shop. Old wooden tables and chairs that were aging less gracefully than the restaurant to which they belonged were exchanged for more modern furniture. Several big-screen televisions were hung up strategically around the restaurant, visible from any seat.

The remodeling, said Williams, was met with varied results. He told the story of a young woman, 18 or 19 years old, who came in immediately after the café’s reopening. This woman, who had been coming to Brooklyn Café since she was a little girl, who had made this restaurant a living memory of her childhood, could barely recognize it. Filled with resentment, she sat despondently in a chair.

“She said, ‘You took a part of my life,’” said Williams. Williams did not expect her to return.

She did, though. That young woman came back several times, in fact, until she was a comfortable regular again. She told Williams that she had changed her mind: she liked what he’d done with the place.

Many others did, too. Since the remodeling, Brooklyn Café has introduced a guest book in which businesspeople pen their names in flowing cursive or dirty scrawls, teenagers scribble doodles and lines of poetry, and toddlers, just beginning to understand the meaning and use of print, make a few letter-like scratches with crayon on paper. All of these Woodlands residents come together in one place and are immortalized in a single book.

There is also a plaque hung proudly next to the door commemorating some of the café’s most regular customers. Some of them have been around since the café’s grand opening 20 years ago.

Expanding on the restaurant’s theme of modernization, Williams and his team will be doing even more this year to complete the restaurant’s metamorphosis.

“We’re making changes in terms of opening a new menu, starting a dinner service,” said Williams. This will be a significant departure from the restaurant’s breakfast-and-lunch-only tradition.

Additionally, while he couldn’t divulge any details, Williams said that there will be something big coming soon for all three restaurants—Brooklyn Café, Blue Mug Café and Yucatan Taco Stand and Tequila Bar.

Though Brooklyn Café has undergone numerous modifications already, it will continue to adapt to a contemporary customer base. However, Williams is determined not to abandon the comfortable neighborhood vibe that defines the restaurant.

“We want to celebrate 20 years of having The Woodlands people’s lives,” said Williams. “Every morning, every Sunday, every bagel, every coffee. We want all of the restaurants to become a part of the community.”

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