NYC’s Chic Vegan Lounge Avant Garden Expands to Brooklyn

Manhattan, NY-based vegan lounge Avant Garden will expand to a second location in Brooklyn this summer. Chef Anthony Mongeluzzi—who has worked at the Manhattan location for 18 months—will develop the new menu, which DeRossi told VegNews will be comprised of mostly new dishes but feature “some of the greatest hits” from the flagship location. The Brooklyn outlet will offer a cocktail program, a natural vegan wine list, and outdoor seating. Avant Garden was recently featured on an episode of BuzzFeed’s Worth It show, in which the co-hosts were impressed with the restaurant’s dishes. In 2016, DeRossi announced that he would veganize as many of his 15 restaurant holdings as possible. Soon after, DeRossi transformed his cheese-centric restaurant Bourgeois Pig into vegan tapas bar Ladybird, removed animal products from Polynesian cocktail lounge Mother of Pearl and Cuban-inspired Cienfuegos, and announced plans to open several additional vegan eateries in coming years.