Noted first Hinge date spot Frog Wine Bar (358 Marcus Garvey Blvd.) continues to grow and continues to deal with growing pains.
As of May 29th, signage on the storefront directed patrons to Tadpole (356 Marcus Garvey Blvd.), Frog’s little sister bar.
Beneath the rollup doors1, Department of Health notices on Frog’s storefront indicate the closure stems from a lack of permitting, though likely not because of any lurid violations, at least based on past inspections from the DOH, which has largely only cited Frog in the past for not possessing proper food protection certificates. (Update, 6/1: Evidently, the violations are as lurid as can be. Per the DOH’s website, they include “Evidence of mice or live mice,” “Insufficient” cold storage, inaccessible handwashing facilities, and whatever “Unacceptable material used” means.)
Frog did not respond to a request for comment.
New notices outside Frog Wine Bar
A longstanding Bed-Stuy institution (since 2023), the Frog brand has expanded beyond Marcus Garvey and into Cobble Hill with Frog Wine Shop (389 Henry St.). Co-owner Charles Gerbier is also a partner at the non-amphibian Badaboom (421 Bainbridge St.) in Ocean Hill, which opened last June and was caught up in April’s brief citywide half-chicken price panic.
Last month, Gerbier filed permits with the Department of Buildings to alter the remains of a defunct deli at the intersection of Lewis and Jefferson Avenue in Bed-Stuy. Frog’s “degenerates” (presumably Gerbier and his ex-wife, co-owner Alexandra McCown) plan to open Only Child (567 Jefferson Ave.), per a currently dormant Instagram account.
McCown previously teased the new bar in a BK Mag story that named the spot their “Best Bar in Brooklyn.” Only Child had been slated for a June opening, but now appears to be in time out, per a work stoppage order taped to its door.
“Stop all electrical and plumbing work throughout the first floor commercial place,” a DOB sign reads, ordering them to “obtain permits.”
DOB work stoppage orders
Frog has also ignored orders to vacate in the past. In 2024, the Department of Buildings issued a vacate order due to structural concerns, including a sagging roof and unsafe fire escapes. Per the DOB, Frog ignored the vacate order and removed DOB signage to maintain operations.
Frog regularly experiences the rare inversion of a usual 311 call. The wine bar is two blocks from the heavily residential Stuyvesant Heights Historic District and has received more than 35 noise complaints since July 2025.
Frog and Tadpole’s windows display some appeasement: a piece of printer paper pleading for reasonable volumes from customers.
Anyone with information about Frog, please get in touch at grimesquare@gmail.com.
- On my walk there, I came across free books outside of a reclaimed brownstone near the Kingston-Throop C. JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy lay beside Leaves of Grass. Guessing they chose the Third American Way (self-help book). ↩︎
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