Afternoon delight

Bar Ferdinando (Columbia Waterfront District)

RESTAURANTS • First Person

Carroll Gardens’ ballyhooed Bar Ferdinando revival has a lot going for it. The tasteful interior refresh of what was once (for over a century) Ferdinando’s Focacceria — before area hospitality whiz Sal Lamboglia added it to his highly local empire — will appease even the complaining class of nostalgia fetishists. Spritzy drinks like the Light Limoncello ($16 per) befit Ferdinando’s springtime reawakening, and cocktails like the more substantial rye-based Il Padrino seem just as suitable for the seasons to come. But here’s Bar Ferdinando’s biggest boon:

It opens at 11a most days.

I lived very near Ferdinando’s Focceria for several years before it was flipped from the charmingly dated, cramped little red sauce spot it was to the darling, contemporary, still-pretty-tightly-packed cafe society destination it is now. There was virtually nowhere to grab a drink and a snack on a weekday afternoon from here all the way down to Red Hook. Bar Ferdinando fills that void, and rather capably.

A couple of sidewalk-facing stools framed by the windows up front are excellent advertising: who doesn’t want to be at that perch sharing excellent cannellini dip with soft focaccia and crisp endive leaves? Still, I prefer the wood banquette in the back, where the already-famous manila clam frites compete for space with outstanding arancini bolognese on almost comically tiny tables. It’s a terrible place to gossip, but it’s more intimate than the display case near the entrance (even more so if you do make it in on one of those luxe, quiet afternoons). It isn’t like there’s anywhere else to go, anyway. Not that you’d want to. –Amber Sutherland-Namako

→ Bar Ferdinando (Columbia Waterfront District) • 151 Union St • Tue-Thu 11a-10p, Fri–Sat 11a-11p, Sun 11a-9p • Reserve for groups of 5+.