It's Gertie 2.0: 'Jew-ish' diner returns with counter service in Prospect Heights

Good news for fans of Gertie, the popular Williamsburg brunch spot that shuttered its 357 Grand St. space this June: The 6-year-old restaurant has found a new home in Prospect Heights.

It will be taking over 602 Vanderbilt Ave., the home of 11-year-old R&D Foods sandwich shop, which closed earlier this month.

“We are relieved that their sandwiches, babka and bagels(!) will be a part of your new day-to-day routine,” R&D Foods wrote in an Instagram post announcing its closure and the space’s transition to Gertie. R&D promised its adjacent sister shop, R&D Goods, “isn’t going anywhere.”

The move puts Gertie, the self-described modern “Jew-ish” diner with homemade bagels, just around the corner from its just 2-year-old sister restaurant, Gertrude’s. The owners say the new space is much better-suited to their operation.

Especially after the pandemic, the Williamsburg location had “very little foot traffic," said Nate Adler, who co-owns Gertie with his wife, Rachel Jackson. The couple also owns Gertrude's along with partner Eli Sussman.

"We were at the end of this block abutting the BQE [Brooklyn-Queens Expressway] and there was also just a lot of other businesses that opened since we opened with sort of similar offerings," he said. “About a year, year-and-a-half ago I sort of made it my mission to try to find a new location, ideally closer to Gertrude’s, so that we could share resources."

Gertie 2.0 will be a counter-service restaurant with some seating. That's what the couple originally intended for the brand, but the Williamsburg space they ended up opening in was so large they said it made sense as a diner.

The new space has a backyard, and the menu will be much the same as Gertie 1.0, with house-smoked fish and meats, boozy sodas and prepared foods.

Overall, the vibe and offerings will also remain similar, a kind of “Russ & Daughters Cafe and Katz’s combined,” Adler said.

Adler and Jackson are also opening a new restaurant called Trudie’s Tavern in the old Buttermilk Channel location on Court Street in Carroll Gardens. “It’s going to carry on the legacy of that space, which was a really amazing neighborhood spot,” he said.

Trudie’s will be “focused around a rotisserie," in addition to having a “pretty robust raw bar," Adler added. It will be “kind of like our homage to a Keith McNally joint.”

Gertie 2.0 is set to open this fall, and Trudie’s this winter.

This post has been updated to add more information.