Wegmans sets its opening date

Cult favorite grocery store chain Wegmans announced earlier this year that it would be opening in NYC for the first time. It’s now set to open its 74,000 square-foot store on Flushing Avenue in the Brooklyn’s Admirals Row development on October 27. The store is hiring and training for 350 part-time positions, and there’s ongoing recruitment for full-time positions as well. The store is set to have a second floor mezzanine bar serving food, wine, beer, and spirits.

Food festival happenings

The ongoing Brooklyn-born summer food festival Smorgasburg, which has held annual markets in Osaka, Japan, will bring five chefs from Osaka who have participated in the festival abroad to a pop-up in the Brooklyn markets on May 4 and May 5. There will also be a pop-up Kirin beer garden. The chefs include Shigeki Minami, who will be making a mazemen ramen with pork and egg and a combination dessert plate, and Hiroaki Osawa, who will be making a wagyu in spicy sauce with tofu. Other dishes on hand at the pop-up will be a Chinese-style cabbage steak with gorgonzola sauce, a pork crepe with egg on a stick, and a crispy matcha sandwich with mascarpone and red-bean paste.

This weekend also brings the second food fest from social media influencer @foodbabyny at the Hester Street Fair. The lineup this year includes Kopitiam, Parm, and Supermoon Bakehouse. There will also be previews of upcoming restaurants Dr. Clark from Yudai Kanayama, and Caffè Panna, the ice cream and coffee shop due out this summer.

It’s crab boil season

Madcap Cafe in Carroll Gardens will host its first all-you-can-eat crab boil of the season on May 4, featuring Baltimore-style crabs, potatoes, and corn. There will also be all-you-can-drink Narragansett beer. It costs $65 per person, and a reservation is required.

A relocation and a coming attraction downtown

After 23 years at 138 Ludlow Street, the Hell Square dive bar Local 138 closed over the weekend with plans to move around the corner on Orchard Street. The move was announced in January, and the new space is much smaller. It’s still in the early stages of construction, so stay tuned for a reopening date. Meanwhile, signage has arrived for a new East Village outpost of cooking company Schmackary’s at 35 Cooper Square.