Some days, all I want is a sign that everything will be OK. A sign that I should just sit down, relax, and eat something absolutely comforting. Well, now I have it. Specifically, it’s a neon sign in gold letters spelling the magic word out for all who pass: PIE. And it’s hanging in the central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library right now.
The lauded Gowanus pie shop Four & Twenty Blackbirds opened its second location at the Central Library today, a date math nerds don’t need to be told is Pi Day (Pie? Get it?). Four & Twenty Blackbirds has been a runaway hit since opening in 2010. “When we started, there was nothing there [in Gowanus]. Not in the way of coffee shops and pie, at least,” Emily Elsen, one half of the Elsen sisters who run the shop, told me earlier this week.
And the demand for pie has just kept on growing growing. (Let’s be real, when is the demand for pie not growing?) After releasing a cookbook in last October, the South Dakota natives moved right on to the Brooklyn Public Library. The Elsens are also working on a third location, a 3,000-square-foot mega-shop in Gowanus that will have a production kitchen, a café, a garden, and culinary classes.
It’s a far cry from the previous library café where "literally, there were tubs of clam chowder in the freezer,” Emily said. Another duo of culinary siblings, Mike Poiarkoff, the chef of Vinegar Hill House, and John Poiarkoff, chef of The Pines in Gowanus, consulted on the Elsens' savory menu, which includes salads and sandwiches (such as a PB&J with housemade peanut butter!). When possible, ingredients will be sourced from the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket, just steps away from the library on Saturdays. Still, nothing should be too fancy or unapproachable. “We don't want to be the hipster coffee shop in the Brooklyn Public Library.” Jodi, Emily's long-time friend and designer for Four & Twenty Blackbirds, said. "It's a public space; we want to be inclusive.”
As Emily told me what was to come in just a couple of days, I could picture it. Sweet and savory pies, scones, and breads on the countertop. Fresh green salads with fennel and herbs; a roasted carrot salad with yogurt and almonds kept on ice in the counter. The menu, placed in custom-made wooden holders created in collaboration with LA-based concept designer IKO IKO. Paper cups printed with the reassuring text: KEEP READING THERE’S PIE (a riff on the cups at the Gowanus location, which encourage patrons to “KEEP YOUR FORKS THERE’S PIE”). And at that moment, it all looked pretty damn good to me.
Heeseung Kim is a writer based in Brooklyn. If you want to contact her, find her at the library eating pie.![]()
Photos by Patrick Spears
![]()
![]()
Emily Elsen and Melissa Elsen, the owner of FOUR & TWENTY BLACKBIRDS, whose newest shop opened today in the Brooklyn library.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
The lauded Gowanus pie shop Four & Twenty Blackbirds opened its second location at the Central Library today, a date math nerds don’t need to be told is Pi Day (Pie? Get it?). Four & Twenty Blackbirds has been a runaway hit since opening in 2010. “When we started, there was nothing there [in Gowanus]. Not in the way of coffee shops and pie, at least,” Emily Elsen, one half of the Elsen sisters who run the shop, told me earlier this week.
And the demand for pie has just kept on growing growing. (Let’s be real, when is the demand for pie not growing?) After releasing a cookbook in last October, the South Dakota natives moved right on to the Brooklyn Public Library. The Elsens are also working on a third location, a 3,000-square-foot mega-shop in Gowanus that will have a production kitchen, a café, a garden, and culinary classes.
It’s a far cry from the previous library café where "literally, there were tubs of clam chowder in the freezer,” Emily said. Another duo of culinary siblings, Mike Poiarkoff, the chef of Vinegar Hill House, and John Poiarkoff, chef of The Pines in Gowanus, consulted on the Elsens' savory menu, which includes salads and sandwiches (such as a PB&J with housemade peanut butter!). When possible, ingredients will be sourced from the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket, just steps away from the library on Saturdays. Still, nothing should be too fancy or unapproachable. “We don't want to be the hipster coffee shop in the Brooklyn Public Library.” Jodi, Emily's long-time friend and designer for Four & Twenty Blackbirds, said. "It's a public space; we want to be inclusive.”
As Emily told me what was to come in just a couple of days, I could picture it. Sweet and savory pies, scones, and breads on the countertop. Fresh green salads with fennel and herbs; a roasted carrot salad with yogurt and almonds kept on ice in the counter. The menu, placed in custom-made wooden holders created in collaboration with LA-based concept designer IKO IKO. Paper cups printed with the reassuring text: KEEP READING THERE’S PIE (a riff on the cups at the Gowanus location, which encourage patrons to “KEEP YOUR FORKS THERE’S PIE”). And at that moment, it all looked pretty damn good to me.
Heeseung Kim is a writer based in Brooklyn. If you want to contact her, find her at the library eating pie.
Photos by Patrick Spears
Emily Elsen and Melissa Elsen, the owner of FOUR & TWENTY BLACKBIRDS, whose newest shop opened today in the Brooklyn library.
