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January 26, 2009

Streetlevel: The Return of Chicory on Degraw

chicory-degraw-0109.jpg
Chicory, a popular Cobble Hill spot for an affordable meal or reliable take-out which closed earlier last year, looks poised for a re-opening. The storefront space at 243 Degraw Street has paper in the windows and workers have been spotted coming in and out in recent days. We're not sure whether the re-opening is happening under the auspices of the restaurant's founder or whether there's new management—the place was for sale last year for somewhere north of $200,000. GMAP




Posted by Brownstoner at 2:00 PM | Comments (21)
Categories: Cobble Hill, Streetlevel

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Comments

let's hope there is new management. They were painfully slow with their counter service. Not exactly the point of a pre-made takeout type place!

Posted by: bowl of dicks at January 26, 2009 2:43 PM

hey, good food takes time, and chickory's food was consistently delicious. here's hoping they come back soon!

the only weird thing about chickory is that it started as a really nice little space, and every time we came back they had made it a little less inviting.

Posted by: NsPx at January 26, 2009 2:57 PM

Having grown up around the corner, looking at the facade brings back memories of Dom's Grocery in the 70's and 80's. He would give families credit, and kept it in a book he wrote in by hand ("put it on the book, Dom") and made the hugest heros, and gave away homemade Coquito at Xmas.. He fell victim to a huge rent increase when his lease was up and the restaurants in that location since have not lasted long. He still lives upstairs and i occasionally see him around the neighborhood . Nice to be reminded of the olden days.

Posted by: lifer at January 26, 2009 3:05 PM

"Having grown up around the corner"

Lifer, I think I must know you, at least by sight?! : )

I remember Dom's very well. I could walk there at a very early age because I didn't have to cross any streets to get there...in fact, I still can!

I hope they do reopen, but I also hope they can manage the menu a bit more evenly. It wasn't unusual to call for a delivery only to find that they were out of stuff.

Bet you remember Hindy's too!?

Posted by: cobblehiller at January 26, 2009 3:24 PM

Dom was the best! Was Hindy's the ice cream parlor on Court St?

Posted by: cggirl at January 26, 2009 3:32 PM

cggirl, that was Ebel's - I loved that place! - where the laundry/cleaner's is now.

Hindy was the grocery next to Sam's - it's a Korean owned grocery now. I think Hindy's family still own the building?

Posted by: cobblehiller at January 26, 2009 3:41 PM

Cobblehiller-Judging by most of your posts I am sure we at least have mutual friends, I too was a product of P.S.29 ,I wont turn this into a "remember when" post but its nice to know there are some locals left here..

Posted by: lifer at January 26, 2009 3:42 PM

What makes a lifer? And aren't the influx of families that have moved into the hood over the last few years adding a potentially bigger lot of the next generation of lifers?

Posted by: 99luftballons at January 26, 2009 4:07 PM

99- a "lifer" I believe is someone who was born and raised here. And an emphatic "no" as to the influx of families adding a potentially bigger lot of "lifers". Lots of newcomers arrive here and stake a claim. Once they get the kids into the various grade schools, a smaller group stay for middle school and even fewer go the extra mile to actually send their kid to high school in Brooklyn, public or private. New Brooklyn has an oddly optimistic view of how great it is here. It gets worse when the kids get older. And the next 10-15 years will give people many reasons to go back to wherever they came from.


Posted by: Prodigal_Son at January 26, 2009 4:17 PM

" its nice to know there are some locals left here.."

Same here lifer, same here.

There are a good number of us - dwindling, but we're still here!

Posted by: cobblehiller at January 26, 2009 4:28 PM

I disagree with you prodigal son and think Brookyln can be a great place for kids as they grow up. I've lived in Brooklyn 24 years (mid forties guy, so by not a lifer) and have raised two teenagers in here. Lots of kids that my children grew up with are still here. They all seem to be doing very well.

Posted by: Boerum Hill at January 26, 2009 4:47 PM

BH- I'm more looking at the next 10-15 years out. Take the areas recently gentrified. Now look at the public school system. Take the rate of growth in the grade schools recently filled by new Brooklynites. Multiply that into the non existent middle school system and into the crippled at best high school system.

2010-2020 NYC DOE better be ready if the optimists plan on staying.

Posted by: Prodigal_Son at January 26, 2009 5:05 PM

i remember Dom's sandwiches, let's hope he left some karma in there....they were delicious!

Posted by: binnyG at January 26, 2009 5:07 PM

I have seen families come in on my block and do what Prodigal says, they settle here, raise their kids here, send em to the local schools, and then when their kids go away to college, they sell the house and move on, I have also seen families do what Boerum Hill did. Its a mix. Its certainly a great place to raise kids. I am partial of course.

Posted by: lifer at January 26, 2009 5:17 PM

i'm not a lifer - moved here in '97. i just had a child - not school age yet. current plans are to stay here thru PS29 years and then re-evaluate then.

i truly hope to stay, as there is no other place i would ever want to live than cobble hill. i can't say enough good things about it, especially as a place to raise a child.

but if the middle school / HS are sh;t 12 years from now then i will have to make a decision. private school ($$) or move (and i hope neither).

Posted by: Danny Noonan at January 26, 2009 5:42 PM

After P.S.29, I went to Packer for middle school, hated it, and then went to Music and Art in Harlem (now Laguardia High School of Music and the Arts behind Lincoln Center) there are alot of public specialty schools a kid can go to (provided they get in) and still live in Brooklyn..the commutes a bitch, and yes the middle schools around here are not up to muster..

Posted by: lifer at January 26, 2009 6:08 PM

The middle school situation is already improving in District 15, which encompasses much of brownstone brooklyn -- Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace. Lots of the same parents who improved the elementary schools are keeping their kids in public for middle school (not all, but definitely a majority). It's all via choice (no neighborhood schools anymore), but there are 4 or 5 at least that parents are sending their kids to now, and more on the way. (For example, the middle school that was part of Brooklyn New School -- BCS -- was once dismissed but I know many parents choosing it for their kids next year.) Sure, it's not private school, but many kids of middle class, college - educated parents are staying public for middle school and high school now. And anyone who has an older kid in one of the good elementary schools knows this is the case.

Posted by: CGfan at January 26, 2009 6:32 PM

There are some very good public high schools. Unfortunately, people really have to work the system to get their kids into those schools. My kids did private school through 8th grade and are public now. We've been pleasantly surprised by the public high schools.

The decision between a suburb and the CIty is basically a personal one, so there is no right or wrong. I think it took more work + energy to raise kids in the City. We're happy we stayed though. When the kids go off to college, we don't plan to move and will be happy not to be paying the $20K in annual real estate taxes we'd owe if we'd moved to the suburbs.

Posted by: Boerum Hill at January 26, 2009 7:48 PM

Boerum Hill, I don't know about "working the system", but if your kid tests decently and does well in school, there are middle schools and high schools that are probably at least on par with the average suburban schools (not the top ones). Middle school "choice" (which is how it works in most of brownstone Bklyn) means that many middle schools are "tracked". IS 51 in Park Slope only takes top students from the neighborhood elementaries. Math and Science (another middle school) is known to only take the best behaved students. Unfortunately, it's a 2-tiered system, but the failing middle schools you hear about aren't the ones that parents in PS 321, 29, etc. are sending their kids to. You don't have to work the system to get your kid in to one of the better ones; kids rank top choices and in most cases, are matched with one of them.

Posted by: CGfan at January 27, 2009 9:21 AM

Agree with CGfan. As a Brooklynite "lifer" who attended public school from K to 12, there are plenty of good schools if your kids are smart and well-behaved. I attended IS51 and I know for certain my parents didn't have to pull any magic tricks for that to happen.

Posted by: jwald at January 27, 2009 11:02 AM

Also, getting back on topic, I've lived down the block from this spot for five years and have seen two businesses come and go. I hope this new one sticks...

Posted by: jwald at January 27, 2009 11:04 AM

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