Streetlevel: Heights Middle Eastern Coming to 5th Avenue

fatoosh is great. pita style pizza, great hummus, kabobs, etc. very similar to zaytoons (not quite as good as that though - but close). it'll do well over there.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 2:46 PM

Fatoosh is amazing- Wish it were closer to my side of 5th ave.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 2:48 PM

What is the rent for a store in that area of 5th?

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 2:49 PM

fatoosh is very good. nice little pizzas, and nice folks running the joint. too bad about the kennedy fc, though - sometimes you need those wings, man.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 2:57 PM

it will be interesting to see whether this place and the middle eastern restaurant on ninth, between the newstand and dunkin donuts, can co-exist

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 3:11 PM

Fatoosh is the sound you will make after eating here!

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 3:32 PM

fatoosh is one of the hidden gems of atlantic ave./brooklyn heights. try the falafel, they make a delicious spice sauce for it.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 3:32 PM

What's that Mexican food sign next door? I think that is new too.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 3:59 PM

Fatoosh was so-so. Seems like there are several little mini-empires of middle-eastern food going around

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 4:02 PM

This stretch of 5th is crappy, anyway.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 4:09 PM

Just another vote for Fatoosh. We take out from there at least once a week.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 4:09 PM

Why would they choose this part of 5th Avenue? Crawling with scuzzy "oldtimers" and such. Why not the "quality" end of 5th in the north?

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 4:14 PM

Now if they could only do something about the depressing stretch of crap between 6th street and 7th street on 5th Ave (not including Chip Shop of course).

I'm talking about the old guy who sells chained up junk, the dingy Legion Hall, and the gangta barber shop, and the boarded up building with poems about feces written on it...why is this stuff still there?

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 4:21 PM

The demise of fried chicken. First on Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights, now this. There used to be one on the corner of Myrtle and Flatbush, as well.

Not that I give a damn. Middle Eastern food rocks!

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 4:29 PM

Awww, 4:21, come on! I find the old guy who sells the useless crap to be endearing...

Plus, "The Slope" barber shop is going upscale - they got rid of the graffitti-style cursive spray-painted sign. Not sure this is really an improvement, though.

and the boarded-up building w/ poems about feces is real brooklyn, baby. probably won't be here much longer, so quit yer bitchin!

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 4:37 PM

I'll miss the JFK. Tasty chicken, and I'm not just talking about a couple of the employees.

Fatoosh seems an odd choice given that there is the Pita Hut about 100 yards away or less. And then there is the upscale (but I think doomed) Mediterra a block away.

"What's that Mexican food sign next door?"

It's the same place as it was before (Good Friend) with a new non-name. Same mix of Chinese and faux-Mexican food.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 5:09 PM

"Why would they choose this part of 5th Avenue? Crawling with scuzzy "oldtimers" and such. Why not the "quality" end of 5th in the north?"

Gad, it's comments like that that make me happy to be on the scuzzy stretch of 5th. Please refrain from going south of Union, thank you.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 5:12 PM

JFK -- good riddance. I'll never forget the explosive diarrhea.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 5:14 PM

i just hope that tony's record shop doesn't close down for another yuppy amenity. his store is irreplaceable and the days of the cluttered record shop are fast nearing extinction. his store is a relic and a yuppy amenity at the same time.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 6:56 PM

this is a true story. about 8 years ago after drinking at the gate i went into this place to order some chicken nuggets. being bored i made some small talk to the workers and asked them where they were from? their response, Afganastan. so i ask them if they liked the Taliban and their response was it was the best thing ever for Afganastan and they loved them!! after reading so much negative stuff on the Taliban i was shocked.i told a few friends of mine and started calling the place TFC, Taliban Fried Chicken. 2 years later was 9/11 and Taliban Fried Chicken was something i thought about immediatly and with patriotism in the air i even thought about calling the FBI but in the end i never did. but i always wondered if a portion of my chicken nugget sale went directly to helping the people who hate our freedom.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 8:07 PM

also the mexican place next door is actually a chinese mexican place. It use to be Kar Luk which had really take out but for some reason went out of business.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 8:14 PM

8:07 You aren't that far off. The proprietors of an ice cream shop two blocks up between 10th and 11th were Afghanis and indicted and I believe convicted of laundering money for terrorist organizations. After they got busted they put up this huge sign that said "We aren't terrorists, we're Christians!" It lasted about a week and then the place closed. Nothing wrong with the ice cream. The food at JFK was awful, and the vibe was even worse. It's been for sale ages... glad no one bought it.

Posted by: guest at December 19, 2007 11:16 PM

A show of hands for everybody who believes 8:07's stirring tale?

Anybody?

Anybody?

Posted by: guest at December 20, 2007 8:10 AM

Kar Luk was briefly Five Asians, then Good Friends and now whatever it is called.

Posted by: guest at December 20, 2007 8:12 AM

I don't want this end of 5th Ave to change. Those who want clean streets with fancy stores here's a suggestion - why not move to Manhattan or..the surburbs.

Posted by: guest at December 20, 2007 9:21 AM

I was in the Blooms soon after it opened. The owner or manager of the Chinese restaurant next door came in to complain that the florist was spraying something in the backyard that was wafting over the fence into the restaurant's kitchen.

Seemed like a reasonable complaint to me. He was afraid he'd be shut down and asked the florist to stop spraying whatever it was. The florist basically told him to F-OFF and 'Mind your own business', etc in a pretty ugly exchange. I never went back to Blooms again. I never ordered from that restaurant either.

Posted by: guest at December 20, 2007 9:30 AM

Amen on Blooms, 9:30! I bought a plant there a couple years back and was mistakenly double charged on my credit card for it. I brought in the receipt and my statement--then explained to them that I had WATCHED THE GUY swipe my card through twice, and now we were seeing the result. Their reaction was to claim that "wasn't possible" and basically accuse me of trying to steal from them.

I got pissed off, raised a stink and got my refund. The boycott began immediately. Clowns.

Posted by: guest at December 20, 2007 11:00 AM

8:07 -- whatever portion went to federal taxation went to people who hate our freedom.

Posted by: guest at December 20, 2007 12:32 PM

8:10,

I believe 8:07's tale. I know that it clashes with your college-educated liberal fantasy world, but too bad.

Try getting outside of your bubble once in a while.

Posted by: guest at December 20, 2007 2:28 PM

being drunk and asking someone preparing your food about their religion/country seems like a stupid practice to me. they prolly got some mucus of taliban in their chicken.

Posted by: guest at December 20, 2007 3:05 PM

If they were Taliban supporters, then why were they always listening to Arabic pop music? You know, the kind of thing banned by the Taliban?

Get out much, Bubble Boy?

Posted by: guest at December 21, 2007 7:50 AM

hey 8:07 my story is 101 percent true as i have told many people about it prior to 9/11. in fact 3:05/dec 20 i wasnt shit ass drunk, just a little buzzed and was making small talk to the guy behind the counter. this is called being nice to the people preparing your food and not looking down to people who work at fast food joints. at no time did i disparage their religious beliefs or where they were from. not to mention spit would have probably only improved their food. you should know a lot about getting spit in your food since you probably treat the wait staff like shit at the crappy bistros you likely frequent.

as long as were on the topic, i also once heard a little girl ask her dad at the 4th avenue/33rd street White Castle why he couldn't get a good job for himself there. now that was funny!

Posted by: guest at December 21, 2007 5:42 PM