In February, mere days before its one-year anniversary, Fort Greene restaurant Colonia Verde caught fire and shut down all operations. Since then, owners Felipe Donnelly and Tamy Rofe have been working furiously to repair the damage, and on June 23, the Latin American restaurant will finally reopen to the public — with brand-new bar and restaurant menus, to boot.
It’s been a long, painful journey for the Colonia Verde team, and filmmaker Jackson Fager captured Donnelly discussing what it was like to first discover the fire and then see his restaurant wrecked (“What the fuck is a shoe doing in my kitchen?”). But what really brings on the waterworks is the Fort Greene residents expressing their love and support for the neighborhood restaurant.
