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May 20, 2009

Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

ice%20cream%20truck.jpg
"Uber-Audible Ice Cream Truck" by amanda.mccreary

Ice Cream Truck Jingles: Hot or Not?
"One group of concerned citizens in Brooklyn is taking action against the incessant, insipid jingles reverberating on all sides of McCarren Park. They've put up signs decrying the noise pollution, and formed a Yahoo Group to share and document their noise complaint calls to 311 and the local precinct," says Gothamist. But Miss Heather of New York Shitty says, "The 94th Precinct (understaffed as it is) has better things to do than chase ice cream trucks. Get over it." Whose side are you on?

In related news: Grub Street reports, "This past weekend, aspiring Mister Softee Nick Morgenstern unveiled the cart he plans to station outside his Fort Greene restaurant, the General Greene, all summer."

News from reBar and Kif
Gothamist also says that Lori D’Agostino (formerly of Loulou) is now cooking at reBar (147 Front Street, Dumbo), and her menu includes "whole-roasted Idaho Brook Trout, Prince Edward Island Mussels with Coconut Curry Sauce, and molasses-brined Pork Tenderloin." Plus, Kif (219 DeKalb Avenue, Fort Greene) has expanded their garden to seat 40, and Grub Street shares photos of the casbah-inspired space.

Recently Reviewed: Brooklyn Public House and Vutera
Time Out New York gives Brooklyn Public House (247 DeKalb Avenue, Fort Greene) a thumbs down: "Like a starlet with beauty but no talent, Fort Greene's latest drinking addition, a refined tavern with all the requisite old-timey trappings, offers lots of flash and little substance." Ouch. Meanwhile, Restaurant Girl gives Vutera (345 Grand Street, Williamsburg) 3 out of 5 stars, recommending the "tender, red wine-braised lamb shank with baby carrots and polenta."

After the jump: Locally harvested Brooklyn oysters, Red Hook lobster rolls, another award for Lucali, a Bay Ridge food tour, and a bartending academy for "the young and tragically hip"...

Brooklyn Oyster Experiment
The Brooklyn Paper reports on the untimely death of hundreds of oysters "that were deposited off Sunset Park last year in hopes that they would one-day clean the filthy waters." However, the researchers are going back to the drawing board, hoping to "prove that oysters can again thrive in New York harbor, where they once played a critical environmental — and culinary — role before over-harvesting and over-pollution reduced their dominance."

Red Hook Lobster Rolls?
284 Van Brunt Street (Visitation Street), accepts orders at (646) 326-7650 or redhooklobster@gmail.com
We've already told you about the new lobster distributor, Red Hook Lobster Pound, but the New York Times shares another tidbit about the place: The owners have applied for permits to serve not only steamed lobsters, but also lobster rolls. We wonder how they'll compare price-wise to Fairway's cheapskate lobster roll.

Quick Bites
GQ includes Lucali in their list of "the 25 best pizzas you’ll ever eat."... The New York Times reports on Myra Alperson's NoshWalk through Bay Ridge... Grub Street pokes fun at the Brooklyn Bartending academy, which (according to their press release) is "the only authentic one catering specifically to the young and tragically hip on the Brooklyn scene."

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Comments

people complaining about ice cream jingles? sounds like a story you'd hear about in park slope, not williamsburg.

Posted by: swine_flu at May 20, 2009 11:42 AM

Is the ice cream any good? I suspect not. This may be a covert effort to get them replaced with Ben & Jerry's trucks serving some flavor like "Hipster Hellnilla"

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 20, 2009 11:47 AM

Yeah - those people who bought those condos on Bayard overlooking McCarren Park must NEVER get sleep. At night the stadium strength lights are shining into their apts, and during the day the ice cream trucks playing their jingles.

with that said - man up condo dwellers, you moved across the street from a park. what do you expect!

Posted by: dirty_hipster at May 20, 2009 12:01 PM

How can they expect to fit in those pegged jeans if there's a constant reminder of creamy deliciousness just outside the door? The Olive Oyl legs will be history. Then they'll HAVE to move back to suburbia.

Maybe the ice cream truck can save Brooklyn...

Posted by: Stonergut at May 20, 2009 12:19 PM

It's nice of you to all comment when you have no idea what you're talking about. I also suspect that you would complain that the people who live in this area are not involved in the community at all. Well now they are and you don't like that either. Until you have listened to that jingle which can be heard for blocks night and day for days on end, you have no idea what this particular type of water torture is like. No one is complaining about the sale of ice cream here or the other park-related sounds, just this insipid jingle. I don't know any child that can't find an ice cream truck jingle or no. The little carts with flavored ice have no jingles at all and they seem to do a pretty good business. So I say make the ice cream trucks follow the law and turn off the music when they stop.

Posted by: Stopthemadness at May 20, 2009 1:50 PM

really, miss heather is WAY out of line too in her negative comments about the group that is sick of the incessant truck jingle. and, who says it's all condo owners? this sucks for people using the park too. and there are also renters near the park, not just condo owners.

the irony is that because of mccarren being essentially divided into multiple parks (all big, but not gigantic) -- you can see the trucks parked on each street any way. Plus, there's always a line of folks when the park is crowded.

there has to be some of the music, but non-stop music is noise pollution.

Posted by: wine lover at May 20, 2009 2:16 PM

I agree that these trucks are a quality of life issue. It's not directly a police issue - it's the responsibility of the Environmental Control Board. If you have the number of the truck, you can call it into 311. There are noise laws specifically relating to these trucks - a limit on the amount of time they can sit in one place and play the jingle (15 or 30 seconds, I believe).

I've been in Manhattan and seen these trucks sitting silently selling ice cream on a corner. This is not the case in our neck of Brooklyn! They'll sit at the nearby park for 5 minutes - blaring the music over and over the whole time. And sometimes you can get a competing jingle from another truck around the corner, and if you're really lucky they may even come back through at 10 or 11 at night. They are breaking the law - and if I can get a $100 ticket for someone else throwing litter on the sidewalk outside my house, then these trucks should have to conduct their businesses in accordance with the ECB rules too.

Posted by: Heatherie at May 20, 2009 2:20 PM

Oh - and I agree, the kids definitely know how to find an ice cream truck at a park. I'm not against the ice cream trucks in general, just the noise pollution.

Posted by: Heatherie at May 20, 2009 2:23 PM

you people in williamsburg sound miserable. 5 whole minutes they'll sit there with their music on heatherie? why is that a problem? drowning out your mgmt? learned that one from my grandson.

Posted by: swine_flu at May 20, 2009 2:49 PM

Those trucks were there long before the condos were - it's called doing your due diligence.

And I live a block away, so yes, I can hear them.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at May 20, 2009 2:54 PM

"They'll sit at the nearby park for 5 minutes"

"Until you have listened to that jingle which can be heard for blocks night and day for days on end"

which is it? 5 minutes? or night and day? seems weird to sell ice cream during the night.

Posted by: swine_flu at May 20, 2009 3:03 PM

i just sent this to the new york magazine. i hope they expose what atrocities are going on in williamsburg these days.

Posted by: swine_flu at May 20, 2009 3:04 PM

Just another reason not to live in Williamsburg.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 20, 2009 3:05 PM

5 minutes of ice cream jingle sounds like a blessing compared to what i endured one summer, living across from a school and down the street from the PJ's (cobble hill)....we're talking about AN HOUR of jingle coming from a stationary truck. it was pure torture. so much so that 10 years later, i still cringe at the site of a mr. softie truck

Posted by: bowl of dicks at May 20, 2009 3:12 PM

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

and the Fire Trucks blare their sirens

and garbage trucks come by at 5am.

Puhlease!

Posted by: bmfesq at May 20, 2009 3:14 PM

This whole ice cream jingle is getting blown WAY out of proportion. I live a block away from McCarren Park - yes, you can hear the jingles during the day, along with people playing soccer, kickball, the roar of the BQE, cars blasting Reggaeton music, families having BBQs, firetrucks, police cars, ambulances. We chose to live near a park which is used as a community gathering place for activities, and to expect people to be silent is absurd. I HATE when newcomers move somewhere knowing what they will face and then try to change things to suit themselves. If you can't deal with it MOVE - because I'm dealing with it fine, and my neighbors don't seem to mind either.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at May 20, 2009 3:14 PM

i'm glad i don't live near heatherie. that's all i can say.

Posted by: swine_flu at May 20, 2009 3:22 PM

one more point to note...isn't the whole reason williamsburg is popular these days is because it's industrial, gritty, ugly and perhaps loud? it doesn't seem as though quiet is a word i would use to describe it, so anyone who moved there looking for peace and quiet didn't do their homework on where they were moving. i can't believe what whiny people live there these days that they cry about an ice cream truck. makes me happy to still live in a part of brooklyn where the sound of an ice cream truck brings up nice memories and feelings.

Posted by: swine_flu at May 20, 2009 3:37 PM

swine_flu/11217, since you will never leave park slope I don't think heatherie will ever have to worry about you being her neighbor.

Posted by: Park Dope at May 20, 2009 3:37 PM

"one more point to note...isn't the whole reason williamsburg is popular these days is because it's industrial, gritty, ugly and perhaps loud?"

There's plenty of quiet blocks in Williamsburg. Bedford Avenue, Grand Street, and the area around McCarren (during the summer) are not among them. It's like moving to St Mark's Place in Manhattan and complaining that there are too many drunk people being loud at night.

I do feel for the people in the condos on Bayard re: the flood lights that were installed around the track/soccer fields, which was done after many of them purchased their condos. They are insanely bright.

But ice cream trucks? Please.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at May 20, 2009 3:43 PM

According to Heatherie's profile here she LIVES IN BED STUY!!!!!

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 20, 2009 3:43 PM

Ooopppsssss. I got Miss Heather confused with Heatherie. Sorry, Heatherie!!! LOL

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 20, 2009 3:54 PM

I wasn't going to post in this thread, but it really did upset me!
Here's what I said in the OT about it.
_________________________________________________________________

OMG, I want to get sooo bitchy about that Ice Cream Jingle thread. Are people real? Complaining about that? Obviously they didn't grow up in Brooklyn. That jingle is the symbol of summer. It's music to kids ears. Get over it people, and get some ice cream.

God, I sound like Rob now.
- Posted by: bayridgegirl at May 20, 2009 3:01 PM in response to Open Thread
_________________________________________________________________

dh, I know...my goodness. We have become such a whiny society. Waaaaa, I hear noise.

Everytime I hear an ice cream truck I get so excited. It brings me back to my youth at the park, we'd stop playing, beg our mother for some money and then run to the truck.
- Posted by: bayridgegirl at May 20, 2009 3:26 PM in response to Open Thread

Posted by: bayridgegirl at May 20, 2009 3:56 PM

outside my bedroom window one flight below when i lived in harlem the ice cream truck was on almost all summer. it never phases me once that it was a quality of life issue. i just turned my porn louder. i didnt form a committee of uptighty whities and complain about it on the internet.

and 11217/swine flu i thought of you the other day, i was watching an infomercial for "Bump Its" they are these things you put in your hair to give it fullness and make it really high!

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at May 20, 2009 4:09 PM

oh bumpits
that commercial has some seriously ugmo looking girls in it with no chins
sorry - i laugh all the time when i see that tv ad

i actually miss the ice cream truck jingles - we rarely get them in south slope

Posted by: gemini10 at May 20, 2009 4:16 PM

"Until you have listened to that jingle which can be heard for blocks night and day for days on end, you have no idea what this particular type of water torture is like."

Think of the poor driver!

Posted by: East New York at May 20, 2009 4:18 PM

i've lived in carroll gardens for 48 years.

Posted by: swine_flu at May 20, 2009 4:18 PM

correction:

his WIG lived in carroll garden for 48 years

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at May 20, 2009 4:21 PM

i don't understand the rude comments here from some of you. nevermind, i don't really care. seems some of you just like to say odd things to get attention.

Posted by: swine_flu at May 20, 2009 4:28 PM

> i've lived in carroll gardens for 48 years.
LMFAOROTF!!!!!!!!!! and you only post park slope comps and praise, hate on rob and the open thread posters since you mysteriously showed up..right when 11217 left. please get a grip 11217..people would respect you more for just admiting it.

Posted by: Park Dope at May 20, 2009 4:32 PM

i don't love park slope. carroll gardens is my home. not sure why the comments about 11217. don't get it

Posted by: swine_flu at May 20, 2009 4:35 PM

seems some of you just like to say odd things to get attention.
- Posted by: swine_flu at May 20, 2009 4:28 PM

Should we post some of the odd things you've said as 'swine flu' to get attention.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at May 20, 2009 4:35 PM

and yes, rob strikes me as not very smart. hates people who ride bikes? ok. done now with you.

Posted by: swine_flu at May 20, 2009 4:36 PM

11217=swine_flu=screwball

> done now with you.
how funny..that is one of 11217's most favorite sayings

Posted by: Park Dope at May 20, 2009 4:42 PM

think Jon can do an ID verification via looking up the machine # of the computer / laptop logging into the blog. That would settle it all.

switching ID's secretly on a blog is cowardly.

Posted by: more4less at May 20, 2009 4:51 PM

If the noise is indeed bad, then of course these people deserve relief. I think what many people are reacting to is the tone of entitlement and arrogance in the flyers and that the person who has launched this effort doesn't seem to have bothered to see if there any any neighborhood quality of life groups he could have plugged into. Maybe attending a Community Board meeting or one of NAG's organizing meetings would have resulted in a better outcome and a less confrontational process.

Posted by: bkkkkklyn at May 20, 2009 5:56 PM

The only time I ever snapped about "noise pollution" was when the spanish pentacostal church across the street from me in Williamsburg set up a pa system and started holding services outside... until 11PM on weekdays. Ice cream jingles are fun. Angry people screaming in Spanish less so. It might have been even worse if I spoke Spanish, I guess.

On the other hand, they also used to sing and that was great.

The complaints about ice cream trucks (Carroll Park is apparently also plagued by this menace), are absurd. Ice cream trucks are a part of summer. It's a good thing all of these people never lived here when car alarms would go off every fifteen minutes.

Posted by: Heather at May 21, 2009 10:38 AM

« 580 Carroll Developer Trying to Supersize Norten Project Co-op of the Day: 30 Monroe Place, #5A »

May 20, 2009

Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

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