Sandwiches and More from BEAR at Chateau Le Woof

As you may recall, we shared the news that Modern European/Ukranian restaurant BEAR closed their doors at the end of April 2016. While we are pretty bummed that Natasha and Sasha will no longer be serving up delicious food and drinks on the regular at their restaurant on 31st Ave, they are making some of their food available via a popup at Chateau le Woof (one of the finalists for Best New Arrival 2015 in our Best of Astoria competition). To learn more, I reached out to both Natasha Pogrebinsky of BEAR and Natassa Contini, owner of Chateau le Woof for more details.

First, the good news from BEAR, which promises more in the future. “So just because our location closed, we are not really going anywhere,” explains Natasha. “We are staying here, while we take a short break and a little rest from running a full restaurant, we will be cooking and selling our eats, so that our loyal customers and fans of BEAR food don’t have to go without it for too long!”

These eats—a “cafe-line” according to Natasha—are part of the aforementioned popup, and the Chateau le Woof location is the first of hopefully many around town (and into Queens and Brooklyn). The cafe-line includes sandwiches (like the chicken schnitzel pictured above), soups like borscht, and at some locations their famous dumplings and pierogies will be available to take home and heat up yourself. Natasha is eager to work with local shops with her cafe-line and says, “We love to support local businesses through collaboration and cross promotion, if we all work together, it helps to unify our community and elevate small businesses. We are so excited that the community and all our loyal customers love our product, we will always continue to cook for you.”

Natassa couldn’t be happier for Natasha, BEAR, and Chateau le Woof, and is thrilled to bring Natasha’s food to the cafe. Aside from being a long-time fan of BEAR, she and Natasha connected over Scrappy, Natasha’s 11-year old poodle who has special dietary needs. Chateau le Woof carries Abady food, which is perfect for Scrappy’s daily diet (NB: Chateau le Woof has the largest selection of Abady in NY State). Anyway, the cafe is expanding its selection of high quality human products—kombucha, iced matcha tea, and fresh-pressed juices—and BEAR’s sandwiches seemed like a great fit.

Natassa recalls, “I mentioned [to Natasha] I would love to add on some savory items at the cafe—like sandwiches—and that’s when the idea literally popped up. She said, ‘well, I can curate them for you,’ and we came up with the BEAR Pop-up shop at Chateau le Woof.” They’ll be offering the range of products from BEAR’s cafe-line, featuring weekly sandwiches—both vegetarian and non-vegetarian—along with the pierogies and borscht.

“We are so honored to be offering such great food here and keeping BEAR alive,” Natassa proudly says. “It’s about supporting one another, as small businesses owners, women and Astoria natives! This is just a taste of BEAR to start, as Chef will be offering a lot more of her talent here.”

BEAR Cafe Popup at Chateau le Woof
30-02 14th Street. (718) 626-9663
Facebook