Pioneer Chef To Open Foster Avenue Restaurant In Ditmas Park

DITMAS PARK, BROOKLYN – A new restaurant is opening on Foster Avenue in Ditmas Park from the chef who helped turned Smith Street into an internationally acclaimed culinary destination.

Chef Alan Harding, once known as "the Johnny Appleseed of outer-borough eating," has taken over the vacant storefront at 1715 Foster Ave. near East 17th Street, city records show.

Harding and partner Julio Salazar Naranjo requested a full liquor license in May and Harding filed permits with the Department of Buildings to renovate the interior, install a wood counter and replace the front door, according to city records.

Patch was not immediately able to reach the owners for more information about the restaurant.

The Brooklyn chef first garnered celebrity in 1997 when he opened his Smith Street restaurant Patois.

It was among the first to draw Manhattan crowds to Carroll Gardens and his newfound fame earned him a PBS television series called "Cookin' In Brooklyn" and a spot on the cooking competition show "Chopped" in 2011, according to his IMDB profile.

But the Brooklyn chef has since transitioned from cooking to restaurant design and consulting, according to a New York Times profile.

The owner of Oaxaca Taqueria — a chain of locally-sourced Mexican restaurants with 12 outposts in Manhattan and Brooklyn — hired Harding to scout locations for him, the Times reported in 2014.

“Alan’s a jack-of-all-trades,” Schneider told the Times. “He’s got a great aesthetic and he’s very hands-on and he can follow through himself with the construction.”

Oaxaca Taqueria culinary director David Schaap confirmed the chain is not connected to the Foster Avenue project.