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March 5, 2008
Wednesday Food & Drink Round-Up
Photo by shadowknows555
Closing: Armando's
143 Montague St, Brooklyn Heights
"Armando's will close on March 16, after 70 years in business. Armando's owner Peter Byros told GO Brooklyn, 'I am retiring,' and said that a Midwestern chain restaurant would be going into the space, although he declined to name the chain. Neighborhood preservationists, along with state Senate candidate Daniel Squadron, are currently campaigning to save the neon 'lobster sign' that hangs over the door." [The Brooklyn Paper]
Dine In Brooklyn: Restaurant List Preview
VisitBrooklyn.org has yet to annouce the restaurants that will be participating in Brooklyn's restaurant week (scheduled for March 24 through 31, 2008), but the line-up, which is listed on the AmEx website, was leaked on Chowhound. The same Chowhounder who posted the AmEx link also asks, "whats really worth it?? i mean i love waterfront ale house for my burger and buffalo calamari, but i dont think it really makes sense to spend $23 for a 3 course meal there."
Egg: Not Just for Breakfast Anymore
135 North Fifth Street (Bedford Avenue), Williamsburg; (718) 302-5151
"Most of the dinner menu is guileless, direct and plain good eating. A hulking pork shank ($16), braised to a lacquered darkness, comes scattered with a mix of chopped garlic and herbs — like an informal gremolata — atop a mound of yellow Anson Mills grits... The house version of Tater Tots — miniature hash browns that it serves at breakfast — accompany a good grass-fed rib-eye steak topped with blue cheese ($24). Fried nearly black, they are a blast of creamy, buttery pleasure in a crisp potato shell." [NY Times]
After the jump: TONY rips on Jimmy's Diner, no love for Driggs pizza, and sNice's official opening date...
TONY Rips On Jimmy's Diner
577 Union Ave between North 10th and 11th Sts, Williamsburg; (718-218-7174)
"To some extent, the middling reputation established by owner Josh Cohen at Park Slope’s Biscuit BBQ continues here—fried chicken, touted on the menu as 'Brooklyn’s best,' wasn’t. Its oily skin lacked the necessary craggy texture and addictive crunch. The dessert menu exhibits similar false claims, such as a 'money-back brownie'—a generic square that made us want to reclaim the $2 we’d spent on it." [Time Out New York]
No Love for Driggs Pizza
558 Driggs Ave (at North 7th Street), Williamsburg; (718) 782-4826
"I'm not sure I can even eat it as a last-resort leftover--it's truly pizza that bring out the kid in me, as in 'Mom, I can't eat this unless you cut the crust off.' Cardboard would be too vivid a comparison." [A Brooklyn Life]
'sNice Brooklyn Opens Friday
"The Park Slope location of what is currently the top-rated restaurant in New York by SuperVegan readers will open this Friday, March 7th at the corner of 5th Avenue and 3rd Street." [SuperVegan]
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Comments
Re: Closing: Armando's
"Neighborhood preservationists, along with state Senate candidate Daniel Squadron, are currently campaigning to save the neon 'lobster sign' that hangs over the door."
Oh come on! Where does this preservationist crap end?
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 11:49 AM
I can not WAIT for 'sNice to open.
Also heard a new place with outdoor seating is opening on 5th and 1st street in Park Slope.
Anyone know what it is?
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 11:58 AM
11:49, enjoy your Bennigan's.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 12:09 PM
Hey Dan, here's how it is done. Ask Peter how much he wants. Write him a check. Donate the sign to the Brooklyn Historical Society. Done.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 12:14 PM
The Armando's sign is a copy of the original 1940's sign. It is only six or seven years old. I doubt the Brooklyn Historical Society would have any interest in it. However if you got an artist to throw some dung on it the Brooklyn Museum would take it.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 12:19 PM
I don't have any dung, just Corcoran's last quarterly report...will that suffice?
Posted by: Biff Champion at March 5, 2008 12:23 PM
12:19 = Trudy Giuliani
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 12:54 PM
Corcoran's last quarterly report...will that suffice?
-Let's not get too gross!
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 12:57 PM
I can not think of a single chain restaurant that has food worse than Armandos.
The thing that people should be researching is how such a horrible restaurant managed to stay in business for so long.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 1:57 PM
1:57, enjoy your Bennigan's.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 2:16 PM
Will we now have obese people from Ohio coming down from Times Square for a "taste of home"?
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 2:51 PM
What 1:57 said.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 4:17 PM
Can not wait for the Olive Garden.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 4:39 PM
can't wait for s'nice to open friday!
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 5:07 PM
Armando's food was only equaled by its ambiance.
It is pure Ralph and Alice Kramden.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 5:10 PM
i'll be at snice for lunch saturday.
see you there slopers!!!
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 5:19 PM
Bennigan's has better sauce then Armando's
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 5:37 PM
If Armando's were in Park Slope, the food would be much better.
Everything is more delicious in Park Slope. See you at Snice!
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 5:38 PM
What 1:57 said, again. 2:16, if you ever ate at Armando's you would be the first in line to get in at Bored-agains. At least their food is edible.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 5:38 PM
Armando's is not about the food -- it's about a true neighborhood place, from a time when Brooklyn Heights was a true neighborhood, as opposed to a real estate wet dream.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 6:58 PM
The brownstone that houses Armando's is very handsome. There is a lovely Renaissance window flanked by little pilasters right behind the sign. A new store or restaurant will need to treat the building a little more respectfully. I don't think the sign is good enough to be considered a classic and I think it actually detracts from the really classic building from which it hangs.
ps: tonight the "restaurant" part of the sign was blinking in classic HOT L Baltimore fashion.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 7:06 PM
Too bad s'nice moved to the slope. A neighborhood I don't like at all. Wish it moved to Ft. Greene. Oh well.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 7:21 PM
5:38... I've eaten at Armando's since 1982 or so, as a kid. It's not perfect, but they do a great veal parm, and a very nice linguine with veg. It's sad that you're so pleased that they're going out of business.
You're obviously not from Brooklyn.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 8:45 PM
isn't it good for restaurants to come and go?
I mean think of the gunk in the kitchen and on the appliances. Clean it out. Fill many dumpsters, then start new. I actually avoid these old neighborhood dives because they are usually extremely unsanitary.
Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 9:11 PM
Armando's is not a a dive, its a classic neighborhood place. For those of you that hate it so much and are glad to see it gone move back to the burbs. It's been there some 60 odd years, Peter has owned it almost as long as I've been alive, its one of the last bastions of true Brooklyn Heights. We'll see if this new chain treats its patrons with as much care and personal attention as Peter and his staff have treated me and my family all these years (and if you're wondering I'm 3rd generation Brooklyn Heights, family first came through Ellis Island 100 years ago to Henry Street).
Had dinner there last night, still love it, will miss it dearly.
Posted by: guest at March 6, 2008 11:40 AM
5:38 from yesterday back. If you first tried Armando's on 1982, I tried it then too. I was disappointed then. I kept trying it off and on over the years. I really wanted it to be a great neighborhood place that had the food to match. I probably gave it more chances than I should have. The fact that its going out of business now is not surprising. The food in BH has gotten better over the past 20 years. There are more dining options now (no sniping from you PS lovers about how everything is better there). If Armando's was just a bar, it would do fine based on all the boozers I see there. But for those looking for a neighborhood place that treats you well and has food that's compelling enough to eat I'll take Jack the Horse.
Posted by: guest at March 6, 2008 1:21 PM
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