Not much has changed at Runner & Stone, a Gowanus based restaurant, bar, and retail-wholesale bakery that’s been in operation for the last seven years, and no one seems to want otherwise. According to general manager Julio Herencia, the restaurant was among the first to open in the area, back when New Yorkers complained about how smelly the canal was, and the warehouses of the neighborhood weren’t known for housing breweries and barbecue. In spite of this fairly long history and dramatic neighborhood change, locals are rediscovering Runner & Stone, something Herencia attributes to the great care that the restaurant devotes to sourcing and preparing food.
“We make our own butter, our own ketchup—we’ve never bought a sausage. We make our own sausages. You name it, we make it. It’s borderline annoying,” said Herencia with a smile.
In a time when restaurants are scrambling to maintain quality amidst new minimum wage laws, increasing food prices, and skyrocketing rents, Runner & Stone has stayed true to its commitment to sourcing locally when possible, developing relationships with organizations like the Park Slope Food Co-op (which sells Runner and Stone bread), and, simply, spending time with their food to make it as delicious as it can possibly be.
“Both of the owners are often in here for 18 hours a day,” said Herencia. “Peter’s hands were in the dough until about four o’clock today and Chris works 10 to 14 hour days. I think that shines through with the product.”
It’s so wonderful to have created a business where the employees like to spend time, and where I recently see customers and employees getting together and collaborating. The inter-personal exchange that occurs around and because of food is truly inspirational on a daily basis.”
Chef Chris Pizzulli (Blue Ribbon Brooklyn) and Head Baker Peter Endriss (Per Se) are cousins and had long been discussing plans to start a business together when they opened Runner & Stone in December 2012.
“Since he is a chef and I’m a baker, we discussed how to combine those two crafts to create an all-day business that would help us diversify in terms of business, as well as give us both the creative outlet we were hoping for. We came upon Gowanus as a kind of geographical compromise, with me coming from Lower Manhattan and Chris coming from Bay Ridge,” wrote Endriss in an email.
It turned out that Gowanus was an apt place for Runner and Stone to make a home for itself. The neighborhood’s industrial-turned-early-thirties-hip identity mirrors that of the restaurant, which has become a local favorite for families, young couples on date night as well as regulars who are content sitting on their own at the bar. In a way, Runner & Stone is also part industrial, part trendy. There is somebody in the bakery at all hours of the day, a small room that is mostly ovens. These bakers and their apprentices prepare bread to be packaged and sold to places like The Park Slope Food Co-Op, while also kneading dough that will become their signature Bolzano miche, or a baguette, sliced and served onsite with a creamy herb-infused chicken liver pate.
In the candlelit dining room, surf rock plays in the background as the dinner crowd enjoys a selection of pastas, all made in-house from scratch, paired with wine from a mostly Italian selection. Unbeknownst to some, Runner & Stone also serves its own original cocktails, often infused with syrups from the lavender, dandelion, and rosemary grown in their small rooftop garden. From the dining room, where the mood is relaxed and slow, it’d be impossible to tell that the nighttime baker hasn’t even started his day’s work.
The dining room at Runner & Stone looks like many others in Brooklyn, it’s a little dim, there’s exposed brick, and wine bottles line one wall from floor to ceiling. But if one looks a little closer, on the wall near the entrance, the exposed brick isn’t really brick at all. Rather, the wall is made from the first 1,000 bags of flour that the restaurant used, which were then filled with concrete. They look pillow-like and many first time visitors, including myself, feel inclined to touch them. The pub tables along the same wall are made from reclaimed Brooklyn water towers, a fact that is nearly undetectable, unless Herencia comes by and tells you firsthand, which he probably will. Though he is the general manager, he enjoys socializing with the customers and taking orders when the pace is slow. He tells me that he’s been invited to customers’ birthday and Christmas parties. They ask about his family and his weekend.
“The highlight of operating the restaurant is definitely the community that Runner and Stone has become, a community of both customers and employees,” said Endriss. “It’s so wonderful to have created a business where the employees like to spend time, and where I frequently see customers and employees getting together and collaborating. The inter-personal exchange that occurs around and because of food is truly inspirational on a daily basis.”
Interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Vivaine Eng
Viviane Eng is a freelance writer based in New York. She grew up on the Lower East Side and now lives in Flatbush with her 13-year-old Maltese Ice Cream.