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Holy Smoke! Mile End Moving Production to Red Hook, Opening Retail Shop

More red meat for Red Hook.
More red meat for Red Hook. Photo: Hannah Whitaker / New York Magazine

Yesterday, Mile End retweeted a cheery announcement from the Red Hook–based O’Connell Organization that they’d just signed a 7,000-square-foot waterfront lease, to which the Boerum Hill smoked-meat palace appended its own exuberant message: “Suck it, flood-prone, stink Canal. We out!” Harnessing our instinct for detection, it seemed to us that Mile End could be moving production from Gowanus, where they currently share space with the hard-core picklers of Brooklyn Brine, to new digs somewhere along the dock of the bay, as it were. Today, Mile End proprietor Noah Bernamoff confirms, sending along an e-mail with the details. “Indeed,” he writes, “we are moving our production facility to the Red Hook waterfront; trading trash lined streets for harbor views.”

But that’s not all. The new space means more room for some retail action. Bernamoff continues:

It’s no secret that we have aspirations for Mile End as a retail brand, which means, naturally, that we need someplace to produce the sort of food that we strive to serve, ie. homemade food. Our commissary in Gowanus has reached its capacity with just the one delicatessen on Hoyt St in Brooklyn and catering/special events, so setting ourselves up for future growth on the production side is a necessary precursor for growth on the retail side.

In addition to using the space for production, we will have a small retail store on the pier selling Mile End meats by the pound, loaves of bread, and a selection of pickled vegetables and mustards. We hope the residents and visitors to Red Hook can have an alternative to Fairway for certain basic, yet high-quality pantry items, all of which will be produced within the space.

With Sixpoint, Stumptown Coffee, Saxelby Cheese, and the Lobster Pound already running commissary or manufacturing operations in the neighborhood, it seems like Mile End will be in good company. Bernamoff adds that his target is to have the new operation up and running in time for the holiday season. And as for that Noho outpost of Mile End also in the works? It’s coming along, too, he says.

Earlier: Mile End’s New Location Headed to Noho in the Fall, Will Be Called Mile End Sandwich

Holy Smoke! Mile End Moving Production to Red Hook, Opening Retail Shop