New Bushwick bar Mika will open for the first time tonight, July 6, but customers will be kept curbside to meet coronavirus restrictions.
First-time bar owners and husband and wife duo John Du and Mika Furuya have forged ahead to open the bar, despite the challenges posed by coronavirus restrictions, Bushwick Daily reports. And after years of renovations and the final tweaks to suit our socially distanced lives, the couple is ready to welcome the community.
In normal times, the 6,000 square foot former warehouse will have shuffleboard, pool tables and and darts, and will double as a space for local artists to present their work
"We got the permits and all that in January," Du told the Bushwick Daily. "We were shooting to open in March. But that didn't happen -- and it's ok, because it gave us a chance to fine-tune our program. Being first time bar owners, we were unsure of a lot of things. Is the food good enough? Should we have more cocktails? There's been a lot of soul-searching."
The couple has largely sourced local products for the bar, including Bushwick-based beers, local craft sake, food, and Finger Lakes wines. "I became a huge beer fan around 2015," Du said. "And if you put a dot down [in Bushwick] and draw a five mile circle, you'll come up with 20 brewers."
An approximately 40-foot bar runs through the middle of the space, surrounded by the spaced out games, seating and a sealed plastic VIP dome for the most cautious customers when indoor dining resumes. The space also has a dog-friendly outdoor patio with barrel tables and stools. Du said it was his dream for Mika to become a space for artists, and the walls were painted white to support it being an exhibition space.
Du said he had been working 12-hour days to get the space, at 25 Thames Street, ready for Monday's 4.30 p.m. opening, where, for now, patrons will be enjoying from the outside.
