Park Slope's Newest Fifth Avenue Restaurants Opened Where the Saturday Street Closure Doesn't Reach
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
Since July, the openings on Park Slope's Fifth Avenue have landed on the northern blocks. Caputo Bagels is at 81, Lileo at 86, Aokō Matcha at 155 and Apapachó at 191. All four sit north of Union Street. The car-free Saturday stretch starts at Union and runs south to 4th Street. The one announced opening below Union, a Georgian restaurant called Sesilya at 256, has no date yet.
That leaves two separate Fifth Avenues this fall. One has new kitchens and normal traffic. The other closes to cars every Saturday afternoon, and that season ends October 31. The four Saturdays left in October are the last chance this year to use both.
Here are the openings and the one announced arrival, from north to south, with their addresses and timing:
Most of these are second lives for familiar storefronts. Caputo Bagels took over the old Miriam Street Food space. Lileo replaced Java Andina. Sesilya is moving into the room Negril BK used to fill. Sesilya also sits past Union Street, so it is the one name on the list that will eventually join the southern half.
The opening with the deepest roots is the newest one. James Caputo is a fifth-generation Brooklyn baker. His family's story goes back to 1904, when his Sicilian immigrant ancestor Giovanni Caputo opened a bakery in South Brooklyn. That bakery became Caputo's Bake Shop on Court Street in Carroll Gardens, known for Sicilian-style loaves and its lard bread. It closed in April after more than a century in business.
Six months later, the recipes have moved to the corner of Fifth Avenue and Prospect Place. Caputo's partner is Rafi Hasid, the chef and owner of the Israeli restaurant Miriam. The two have been friends for more than twenty years, and Caputo invested when Miriam expanded into Manhattan.
The menu item that connects the two shops is the $4 Lard Provolone Bagel. It works salami, lard and provolone straight into the dough, reworking the old lard bread as a bagel. The sourdough bagels are hand-rolled and take about two days to make. Caputo uses a starter he remembers his father using when he was a child, which makes it at least 45 years old. The counter also has flavored cream cheeses, smoked fish, breakfast and open-faced sandwiches, pastries, and espresso drinks.
The room seats 25 and has exposed brick and a baking kitchen you can see into. Hours are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. On a Saturday, Caputo is open until 4 p.m. and Open Streets starts at 2 p.m., so the two overlap by two hours.
Laid out together, the new businesses fill the day in sequence. Caputo handles the morning. Lileo is run by its owner, Tamar, with her sister Ani as manager. It combines specialty coffee and Georgian wine, so it works in the daytime and in the evening. The menu runs from pastries to khinkali and khachapuri, plus starters, desserts, and boards built to pair with the wine list.
Aokō Matcha covers the afternoon. Isabella Pang founded it with backing from the Kyuramen Group. Park Slope Pulse calls it America's first matcha gelato cafe. You can choose how strong your matcha is, and the menu also has matcha and hojicha parfaits, gelato and soft serve. It is still in its soft-opening period, so the hours may change. Check before you go.
Apapachó covers the evening. Its co-owners are Jimmy Placido, Acencion Mendez and Jazmin Suarez, two of whom were co-owners of Alma Negra. The menu is inspired by central Mexico. It includes pan-seared scallops with pasilla rice and coconut-habanero salsa and braised short rib enchiladas in mole rojo, and the cocktails focus on tequila and mezcal. The kitchen opens at 5 p.m. every day. It closes at 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and at 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Reservations are on Resy.
That means a full day on north Fifth Avenue can start at Caputo at 7 a.m. and end at Apapachó at 11 p.m. on a weekend, without going south of Berkeley Place.
The blocks south of Union run on a different schedule. NYC DOT's 2026 Open Streets list closes Fifth Avenue to cars from Union Street to 4th Street on Saturdays from 2 to 10 p.m. The 5th Avenue Open Streets Merchants Association runs it. The season began May 2 and ends October 31.
Here is what's on the Park Slope Open Streets calendar for the Saturdays that are left:
The month started with Park Slope Pet Day on October 3, held with Bark Slope. That was also the day of the Park Slope Super Stoop, which was moved from September 26. The organizers say on the calendar page that every program depends on the weather and can change, and they post updates on Instagram.
For a Saturday that covers both halves, the timing works. Get a lard provolone bagel at Prospect Place before Caputo closes at 4. Walk south past Aokō and Apapachó, and you reach Union Street after the barricades are up at 2 p.m. Open Streets runs until 10, and Apapachó's Saturday kitchen is open until 11. That leaves time to head back north for dinner.
October 31 is the last day of the Open Streets season. It is also the night of the Park Slope Civic Council's annual Children's Halloween Parade, which runs on Seventh Avenue. This year's theme is The Haunted Forest of Brooklyn, and an orange-and-black vintage Ford leads the parade. Marchers line up at 6 p.m. at Seventh Avenue and 14th Street, and the parade steps off at 6:30. It goes down Seventh Avenue, turns left on 3rd Street, and ends at the Old Stone House in Washington Park, where the Brooklyn Conservatory plays spooky music.
The parade route along 3rd Street ends two avenues east of the Fifth Avenue closure, which is still running until 10 p.m. Open Streets hasn't posted its Halloween program yet. Even so, that evening Seventh Avenue, Fifth Avenue south of Union, and the new restaurants to the north will all be busy at once.
The Saturday closure ends with October, but one piece of car-free space on Fifth Avenue continues. The 4th Street Plaza, which runs from Fifth Avenue to the dead end, is closed to cars every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. through December 31. The Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District is DOT's partner on that one. The BID has set its annual tree lighting for Fourth Street and Fifth Avenue on November 28, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
The north end keeps its schedule through the winter. Caputo opens at 7 a.m. every day, and Apapachó starts dinner at 5 p.m. every night. When Sesilya opens at 256, it will be the first of this year's new arrivals on the blocks south of Union.
If you own a home near Fifth Avenue, new businesses on your block can affect what your home is worth. Pen Realty follows these openings one storefront at a time and can show you how the changes around 81 to 256 Fifth Avenue factor into your home's value. Request Your Signature Market Valuation.
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