Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

Photo by Gothamist

New Restaurants for Red Hook
Gothamist asks: “Will Van Brunt Street be Home to a New Restaurant Row?” It’s a question that the press has been asking for a long time, but now Gothamist shares photos of 5 restaurants that are in the works in Red Hook, including Radio Free Red Hook at 365 Van Brunt Street, pictured above. The story also notes the progress at Delightful Coffee Shop (219 Van Brunt), Barrone Ristorante (the old 360 space), Grindhaus (“The sausage and suds HQ is scheduled to open next month at 275 Van Brunt”), and Anselmo’s (the brick oven pizzeria at 351 Van Brunt).

African Eats in Fort Greene
Ligaya Mishan for the New York Times admires the “fusion of West African flavors and French technique” at Abistro, and calls the flatbread at Fulton Street’s new Ethiopian spot, Bati, “the real thing, dusky in color and springy to the touch.” Mishan also recommends the Moroccan dishes at Kif: “In the chicken tagine ($16), presented in its namesake clay pot, the slow-braised meat is mixed with fleshy green olives and heady with preserved lemon.”

This Week’s Openings
Time Out New York says that Brooklyn Public House (247 DeKalb Ave at Vanderbilt Ave, Fort Greene) is opening this week: “Back in the 1950s, the space was occupied by a bar called Eric’s, remembered by locals for its Skip and Go Naked cocktail (vodka, gin, beer, lemon and sugar). Try this revived drink, plus 16 beers on tap—including gems such as Twisted Thistle and Belhaven Stout.” TONY also reports that Mast Brothers Chocolates (105 North 3rd St between Berry and Wythe Sts, Williamsburg) is opening a “weekend-only retail store.”

After the jump: The feds take down Sixpoint’s Hop Obama ale, new tapas in Williamsburg, a 20-pound lobster in Dyker Heights, Di Fara reopens, and Kelso trades beer for blood…

The Feds Take Down Sixpoint’s Hop Obama
“Federal agents have ordered a Red Hook brewery to stop making its popular ‘Hop Obama’ ale — a beer that was first brewed during the presidential campaign as a way of supporting the then-underdog candidate… ‘Sixpoint did have a label approval [from] us for the product — but we realized that it was approved in error,’ said [Tax and Trade Bureau] spokesman Art Resnick. ‘When we realized it [in December], we contacted them and they agreed to surrender the license. End of story.’ [The Brooklyn Paper]

Tapas Come and Go in Williamsburg
Williamsburg tapas joint Zipi Zape has reinvented itself as a Mediterranean-American spot called Barberry and Grub Street shares the new Barberry menu. But there’s a new tapas joint coming to the Burg. Grub Street says: “former fashion consultant Cynthia Diaz will turn a former glue factory into 95-seat Bar Celona in April… When the time comes, we’ll bring you shots of the interior, said to contain a marble bar, low-set tables, and, um, benches suspended by gold chains!” Really? “Bar Celona”? Yowch.

Quick Bites
Last week, the owners of Halu Japanese Restaurant and Grill in Dyker Heights bought an 80-year-old 20-pound lobster for $100 to put in their display tanks, but then a PETA representative convinced the restaurant to set the crustacean free…. Ditmas Park Blog confirms that Di Fara has officially reopened… The Brooklyn Paper explains how you can exchange a pint of your blood for a pint of Kelso beer… And Time Out New York says that the owner of Toby’s Public House is making plans to open a new place in Manhattan.