Bittersweet Ending for DAE

Last month, Carroll Gardens said goodbye to a cafe that many in the community have enjoyed visiting since it opened in 2023. Located just a stone’s throw from the Carroll Street subway stop on Smith Street, DAE served beverages ranging from coffee to specialty drinks like a salted houjicha latte, as well as brunch on weekends, and dinner and cocktails in the evenings.

Neighbors were surprised when, just a few weeks before closing, the cafe posted a note on their entrance addressed to individuals who had allegedly been harassing the owner and workers for some time. 

Carol Song, the owner of DAE, opened the cafe with a friend after losing her job during COVID. According to Song, she wanted to do something different and on her own, and since her friend was in the food space, they came together to build the cafe in Carroll Gardens.

Song’s partner left early in DAE’s come-up, but Song continued to run the cafe with the amazing support of the locals. In speaking with Song, she made it clear that she has nothing but love for the community and her local supporters, and she recognized the confusion that the note created.

Although Song did not want to disclose additional details, she confirmed that the cafe was leaving the area due to building issues (it was a mutual agreement between her and her landlord), and she confirmed that the cafe would be moving to another location.

Hate, threats, and creeps
According to Song, DAE was constantly bombarded with notes since it opened. 

“A lot of people know this, but obviously, we didn’t want to air that out. We used to get notes saying ‘You don’t belong here.’ I never knew what that meant. I’m Korean, and a woman; everyone who works at the company are women. So we were like, is this a racial thing?”

The notes to DAE and Song began before the cafe was even open to the public, then transitioned into hate emails, which Song shared during our conversation. In addition to sending antagonistic emails, an individual called DAE’s credit card companies and stated they never dined at DAE (forcing Song to return the cost of the meals in addition to paying penalty fees), and a group of men would show up at random hours. It became too much for the small business to handle.

“I knew [the emails were] always from a select few because they would write in the same manner,” Song starts. She listed example email addresses that the comments would come from, such as ‘Dae get the f*** out of here’ or the email that was shared during the discussion, ‘forgives and love’.

The email that Song shared shames Song and her employees, stating that she has had an “ugly reputation” since the opening of the cafe. It goes on to suggest that Song knows nothing about hospitality and should figure out a “new path in life.” The email, which is written in one long block of text, ends with “Shame on you.”

“It’s so creepy,” Song stated. “I can’t even go that deep into it because it’s such a crazy story, but [one of the many harassers] was harassing us on social media, on Google Reviews, creating fake accounts, and just harassing my staff.”

She recalls a time when one of her servers wouldn’t give a customer her number. Shortly after the incident, she received more harassing emails. “He made my last two years there like a living hell. Not just for me, but for my whole staff. We were terrified,” explained Song.

Song reported the harassment to the police, installed cameras at the cafe, and began carrying mace as a form of self-protection.  Sometimes she also responded to the hateful emails, but other times she didn’t bother. “We had protection from the community, as they thought it was wrong too. It’s not like we want to leave. Carroll Gardens is the best neighborhood for us. It’s been really lovely.”

DAE was open for roughly two years, but Song believes that during DAE’s final weeks, after posting the sign, many people paid attention to DAE for the first time. Nevertheless, Song is determined to exit quietly from the neighborhood and considers leaving bittersweet. “It’s really disheartening,” Song reflected. “They really went out of their way to get to us. We’re actually really gutted about this decision.”

She explained in the conversation that she never meant for people who support her and the community to take it in the way they did, but hopes to still see some of them at her new location. The note served as a way for her to finally respond to years of being sent cruel and awful messages. Song even teamed up with a car garage in Red Hook after the establishment’s owner realized that DAE’s culprit was the same person who left a bad review on their garage. Although Song is unsure if the car garage said something to the harasser after telling her that they would “protect” DAE, the harassment stopped for a brief period.

“We know the community loves us; we’re only about love here at DAE. I knew that I wanted to leave some sort of message for him. But I know a lot of people interpreted it in the way of ‘she’s attacking the whole community,’ and that just wasn’t it at all,” Song stated.

 DAE officially closed in Carroll Gardens on April 26.