Halley Chambers and Kip Green, the entrepreneurial minds behind Brooklyn's chic Montague Diner and the trendy after-hours hotspot Margot, have decided to to quickly expand their culinary canvas into Manhattan's dining scene. The duo plans to open the doors of Cleo Downtown, a new rotisserie restaurant located at 621 Hudson Street in the West Village, to food enthusiasts in the spring of 2026. The announcement, originally reported by Substack's FeedMe, highlights a springboard into Manhattan that continues a recent trend of Brooklyn restaurateurs venturing across the East River. The 35-seat establishment will offer a carefully curated menu spotlighting rotisserie-cooked meats and vegetables, showcasing Chambers and Green's take on modern hospitality.
Chambers, a seasoned veteran of the New York food industry with a background with the Oberon Group, and Green, whose resume boasts experience at both Aska and Eleven Madison Park, have a proven track record in the borough of Kings. The pair's Montague Diner, a project in collaboration with a team of filmmakers, including Gabriel Nussbaum, was an endeavor that detoured from nostalgic diner designs in favor of a Great Depression-era aesthetic. In a statement obtained by Grubstreet, the production team emphasized the desire to avoid traditional diner cliches, opting instead for authentic 1940s interior design elements and custom-made ditto of overhead lighting.
While their Brooklyn venues each boast a distinctive identity, with Margot's casual French-inflected offerings and Montague Diner's refined bistro vibe, Cleo Downtown is set to carve out its own niche with its focus on rotisserie dishes. We’re 'even more excited to to bring our version of hospitality to Manhattan,' Chambers told Eater via email. The new venture will take the place of the former Piccolo Angolo, a family-run Italian establishment that served the community from 1992 until its closure at the end of 2024.
True to the spirit of their projects, Chambers and Green have always valued the community's involvement and feedback. The Montague Diner was designed to sidestep an exhaustive menu and instead, zero in on customer expectations for comfort foods with a twist. The vision for food service at the diner was clarified by Nussbaum in an interview with Grubstreet: “We have these old-timers poking their heads in the door, and each one is like, ‘You need to have a breakfast special,'" which typically means a combination of eggs, toast, and coffee for $12. Meanwhile, Cleo Downtown promises to continue this tradition by seamlessly blending their Brooklyn ethos with the unique gastronomic canvas of Manhattan.
As Chambers and Green prepare to make their mark on the confluence of food and culture in the West Village, their ambitious leap reflects both the dynamic adaptability of NYC's food scene and a shifting tectonic of culinary ventures looking to capture the hearts (and appetites) of diners on both sides of the East River.
