Permits were filed in August for 17-02 Gates Avenue by Andrew DeLuca, a former chef at Baby Blues Luncheonette (97 Montrose Ave.).

Food media outlet Caper confirmed that Italian restaurant Bambino’s is coming to Ridgewood, part of a partnership between DeLuca, Baby Blues co-owner Jake Marsiglia, and Marsiglia’s fiancée Alexandra Cherouvis. The restaurant is set to open in the fall one block away from the Seneca M train station.

In the past, 17-02 Gates was a ceramics studio that eventually morphed into H.C. E-Bike Corp, whose bikes regularly spilled onto the street. In 2022, they were raided by police for allegedly selling e-bikes without proper registration, per QNS. 

Bambino’s will join Monti’s Tavern (5-84 Seneca Ave.) and Il Gigante (880 Woodward Ave.) in serving Italian fare in Ridgewood.

Farther north, Mama Yoshi Mini Mart (17-11 Grove St.) is set to expand in a partnership with Zach Hughes of Decades Pizza (6-90 Woodward Ave.), per Caper. The partnership signed a lease for 6-85 Woodward Ave., off the Forest M.

The restaurant—with no name confirmed yet—is set to open in early 2027, replacing a defunct party store in a three-unit building that sold this year for $1.2 million, per Traded.

The Mama Yoshi/Decades collab will feature an in-house bakery for daytime service and a dinner menu and bar for the night. 

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Photos by Aaron Tomey