Little Skips, Bushwick

Little Skips was the name Linda Thatch and her roommates or as she puts it, her “crazy bunch of soul mates all living under one roof” used to refer to themselves. Now it is the name of the restaurant, café and “fun house” that she co-owns with Henry Gluckroft in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

The block itself is random, across the street is a large Family Dollar store and a block down is a KFC, otherwise there is a church with a misspelled Alcoholics Anonymous sign constantly out front, a tae kwon do/zumba dance studio and some busted-sign bodegas.

However, on the corner of Myrtle and Willoughby Avenues sits Little Skips. The artwork both inside and outside is provided (and for sale) by Abel Macias, a half-Mexican artist from Atlanta. Abel painted the bunnies along the outside over a year ago and feels it’s time to touch them up again. Typical with his minimal, borderline cryptic responses was, “I just like painting bunnies” when asked why he felt the furry creatures were a suitable exterior decoration for the café.

Inside the café has dark wood floors and an assortment of tables and chairs. There are several of Abel’s art pieces on the walls, a series of faces on one side and across from it is a two-part painting titled “Blue Bull”.

The menu itself is influenced by Thatch’s Asian heritage. The sandwiches are all interesting combinations of ingredients, such as the Norwegian, which is an open facing sandwich with smoked salmon on toasted wheat bread with goat cheese, spinach, red onion, avocado, tomatoes and lemon vinaigrette.

Thatch had originally wanted to have a café/bar type environment where people could get “large frothy beers and pretty cocktails”, however after complications with licenses and costs, the liquor permit was never acquired and instead they focus on their espresso drinks.

“I wanted a place with something for everyone that was eco-conscious and environmentally friendly,” Thatch says about her Skips inspiration, “we got as many recycled materials as we could, the wood had a previous life, the paper was mostly recycled, I didn’t want straws…[not being green] is no longer an option in my opinion.”

Little Skips is constantly busy, providing a work and study space for many local students as well as the quality only coffee shop in the area. Opened in 2009, skips has added employees, branching beyond Thatch’s immediate group of friends and continues to exist as a Bushwick neighborhood staple.