Brooklyn
October 19, 2009
Manhattan vs. Brooklyn, Boom and Bust
Jonathan Miller posted a neat little graph over at Curbed on Friday, which attempts to show the savings of living in Brooklyn vs. Manhattan over the past seven years. Mr. Miller acknowledges that the graph is "simplistic and fraught with problems," but it gives an approximated view of how much buyers save by living in Brooklyn, and that saving's relationship to the boom and bust years. Using median sales price data (of condos? co-ops? houses? all available residential sales?), Mr. Miller concludes that the peak time of Brooklyn savings relative to Manhattan was the second quarter of 2008. Again, it's an approximation, but an interesting one. Take a look at the original article for more details.
Three Cents Worth: Manhattan to Brooklyn Value Proposition [Curbed]
September 22, 2009
Brooklyn's Nod from the Daily Mail
The UK's Daily Mail ran a story this weekend pointing to Brooklyn as New York City's hot spot—a well-intended, albeit embarrassingly ill-informed, accolade from across the Atlantic. Ed Costa quotes Sarah Jessica Parker on how Manhattan has changed for the worse, and continues to list the celebrities who have filmed in or moved to Brooklyn. Besides his red-carpet fawning, Mr. Costa makes a couple references to the Williamsburg Savings Bank. Sigh. One Hanson Place is iconographic, sure, but it seems like Mr. Costa's approach to understanding Brooklyn was to look at a Google satellite image and read Us Weekly.
Brooklyn Is New York's Real Gem [Daily Mail]
Image by Colin Brice
September 21, 2009
Brooklyn, the Frugal City?
According to online finance site Mint.com, residents of Brooklyn cut back on spending in 2009 in the first half of the year more than any other city in the United States. Compared to 2008, the average Brooklynite has spent 28 percent less this year, whereas the national average for spending per person dropped only 13 percent. One caveat: Mint.com collects data from its users; thus the sample pool for the spending data is self-selecting and most likely an inaccurate representation of the U.S. Even with Mint.com's particular demographic in mind, it's an interesting observation. Also, if you take a look at the graphic, you'll see that the greatest decreases in spending for which Mint.com has data were in New York and California—states with cities that rank highest for cost of living in the U.S.
The Most Frugal Cities in America [Mint.com]
The Return of the Rooming Houses?
A neighborhood in Harlem expressed concern to The New York Times over developer Gerald Migdol's attempt to convert an 18-foot-wide brick row house back into a rooming house. The neighbors are worried that the conversion of 228 West 132nd Street will decrease the quality of the neighborhood. Mr. Migdol told the Times that the conversion, which will have nine single rooms with bathrooms, two two-bedroom apartments, and a communal kitchen, is legal: even though the city forbids new rooming houses, it allows an owner to restore previous rooming-house units, as is the case at 228. Has anyone heard of this happening in Brooklyn? We've seen luxury condo developments here in Brooklyn go rental instead of keeping units on the market and there's lots of talk about turning other failed luxury condo projects into affordable housing, but has anyone heard of conversions back to rooming houses?
Rooming House Returns [NY Times]
229 North 8th Goes Rental [Brownstoner]
April 14, 2009
A Dollar and a Dream
"Kit Schultz, for example, is 28 and just arrived from Columbus, Ohio. In some ways, her story could have been told anytime in the last 50 years, and in other ways, it’s very typical of right now. She lost her job as a nanny late last year and found her prospects were dim. Before Christmas, she went out for drinks with some old college friends who are living in Brooklyn, and they invited her to come out and stay with them. So she packed a van, headed east, and arrived in New York on New Year’s Eve. A new year, a new life, she thought. Now she says, “I am having a great time here, but it’s also very hard. I’ve never been this poor in my life. I don’t exactly know what tomorrow’s stories will be or even how I will pay my cell-phone bill. But I am confident this city will continue to open up for me in ways that I cannot even imagine, and I look forward and forward.”" — New York Magazine
March 16, 2009
Where Is The New Brooklyn?
The Brooklyn brand has become synonymous with coolness, creativity and authenticity so much so that cities as far-flung and diverse as Anchorage and Doha, Qatar have joined Philadelphia and Baltimore on the list of spots being called the New Brooklyn. Richard Florida, author of “The Rise of the Creative Class,” says that Brooklyn has become synonymous with gentrification (but, don't worry, it's the good kind of gentrification, he says—different from, say, the mall-ification of Soho). Brooklyn may become a victim of its own success, though, warns The Times: Now even Manhattan is being called the New Brooklyn.
Where Is the New Brooklyn? [NY Times]
December 29, 2008
NYDN: The Year in Brooklyn
The Daily News performed its 2008 post mortem yesterday, with MTV's Real World and Ikea topping the list of notable moments of the year. Ink-worthy scandals included a Virginian winning Miss Brooklyn, judges abuses parking privileges and Jamie Markowitz pinching some place mats from the Takashi Murakami opening at the Brooklyn Museum. Meanwhile, Coney Island's Astroland was shuttered and Atlantic Yards, after a period of demolition, went into suspended animation. From where we sit, 2008 will also be remembered as the year that residential developers really put their mark on the Downtown Brooklyn skyline and the year that the wheels really started to turn on Brooklyn Bridge Park. Other big developments in 2008?
Brooklyn Saw scandal, MTV Fame & Weirdness in 2008 [NY Daily News]
Photo by Dominic Ciccodicola for Gothamist
December 11, 2008
What the Census Says About Us
"Carroll Gardens is getting whiter! Williamsburg is getting smarter! And the Park Slope baby boom is real!" That's the Brooklyn Paper's three exclamation point recap of the census data released yesterday; we're still a very diverse borough, but the make-up has shifted. Richer, whiter folks have displaced minority families since 2000 in neighborhoods west of Prospect Park, from the Slope to Red Hook, which "had the biggest jump in median household income — 23 percent, to $77,784 — partly because nearly a fifth of black and Hispanic families, who earn half as much as their white counterparts, left during the seven-year period." Carroll Gardens, Park Slope and Cobble Hill have indeed had baby booms — "The number of children under-5 shot up 35 percent in the area" — and around 80 percent more college graduates have flocked to Williamsburg than lived there in 2000. Neighborhoods further out in Brooklyn grew more diverse, with white populations shrinking slightly in Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst, and the Asian population increasing by 34 percent. The Brooklyn Eagle looked at the number of "now married" and "never married" folks (roughly the same size), and found that two-parent families are most common, followed by female-headed families. "Ninety-one percent of those surveyed lived in the same house or apartment they lived in a year ago," they write, signaling that perhaps folks are moving less, or the influx of folks from other boroughs and states is slowing. And the highest concentration of rents fall between $750 and $1,500; must still be plenty of rent stabilized pads out there.
Census ‘Community Survey’ Reveals Facts About Brooklyn [Brooklyn Eagle]
Making Census of Brooklyn [Brooklyn Paper]
Photo by heimdalsgata.
October 2, 2008
Brooklyn Manhattan's St. Paul, Not Compton
In a lengthy article in New York Magazine's 40th Anniversary issue in which he points out, among other things, that economic downturns in New York City have had silver linings in the past, Kurt Andersen reflects on the changes in Carroll Gardens over the last two decades.
The progress of gentrification wasn’t only a result of the precinct-by-precinct diminution of crime. My bit of Brooklyn, Carroll Gardens, was a very safe (and almost entirely white) working- and middle-class quarter when I arrived in 1990 with my wife and baby daughters. Nor were we exactly pioneers; a couple of editors had already renovated our brownstone. But at some moment between the eighties, when I knew exactly two people in Brooklyn, and the end of the century, when at least half the younger people of my acquaintance were living there, the borough not only lost most of its stigma but acquired an unprecedented aura of stylishness. It was an emergent rebranding as alt-NYC, driven first by the invisible hand (cut-rate real estate just across the river) and then by the self- propelling presence of more and more People Like Oneself. I can peg the tipping-point moment fairly precisely in my neighborhood: As I waited to vote in 1992, I was the demographic outlier in the polling-place crowd of retired longshoremen and their relatives; when I returned in 1996, almost every voter in the place, I swear, was some kind of writer or graphic designer or MTV producer a decade or two my junior. And the following year, all at once, Smith Street changed from a dreary Poughkeepsiesque stretch where we went only to catch the F train to—abracadabra!—a groovy restaurant row thick with recently expatriated young Manhattanites. Manhattan is not over, certainly, but for the city’s “creative class” New York is no longer a one-borough town. Brooklyn has become St. Paul, maybe, to Manhattan’s Minneapolis, rather than Compton and Glendale to its Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
We prefer the analogy to London, but then again, we've never been to St. Paul.
Boom-Bust-Boom Town [New York Magazine]
Photo by MNkiteman
July 30, 2008
Wednesday Food & Drink Round-Up
Photo by EmpressM
Lobster Rolls on the Cheap
Chow's Outer Borough Digest is discussing the Brooklyn's best lobster rolls, from the splurge-worthy $33 roll at Brooklyn Fish Camp to the best budget rolls. The quarter-pounder roll for $14.95 at Jordan's Lobster Dock gets a nod, as does the Fairway roll (pictured above) which costs a mere $8.99. It sounds a bit too good to be true, but Serious Eats gets behind Fairway's lobster roll, too: "if you are a lobster-loving-cheapo (like me) you are going to love this one."
Big Scandals in Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo
McBrooklyn is following the Busy Chef saga. Here's the short version — manager Dan Kaufman was arrested for identity theft and credit card forgery after he allegedly stole $25,000 from customers. McBrooklyn says that both Busy Chef locations, the Blue Pig ice cream shop, and Oven restaurant are all closed for business... Meanwhile, Grimaldi's was shut down by the state for 5 hours last week due to unpaid taxes. The Brooklyn Paper reports that "the pizzeria owed as much as $165,000."
Quick Bites
Time Out New York says that Williamsburger is now open at 342 Wythe Avenue... Eater reports that Kate's Brooklyn Joint on Berry and South 2nd in Williamsburg has closed and will be replaced a Mexican place called La Superior. It'll be "cheap and open late" and is set to open August 4... Eater also says that Brooklyn BarBQ at 6th and 20th is closed and will be reopening next month as Safe Haven Bar and Grill...A Brooklyn Life recommends Fat Cat Wines... BergenCarroll complains that the smoothies at Nectar aren't made with 100% real fruit... And The Brooklyn Paper laments the closing of Tea Lounge on 7th Avenue in Park Slope.
After the jump: Condo tours under the influence of strawberry daiquiris and a guide to Brooklyn's Chinatown...
July 7, 2008
Backyard Politics: Benches for Barack
Here's one way for Democrats to make a campaign contribution that promises immediate payback. For 40 bucks, Benches for Barack — a grassroots fundraiser advertised on lampposts and on Craigslist — will build you a garden bench. $25 goes toward building supplies and the remaining $15 gets donated to the Obama campaign.
A pair of bright neighborhood kids, 18-year-old high school grads Harry Fishbein and Emma Dillon, build these sturdy benches in the basement of Harry's Cobble Hill home and cheerfully deliver them to doorsteps around Brooklyn, free of charge. The benches are 18 inches tall, 4 feet long, and about 10 inches wide, and turnaround is quick. We received ours, which is painted a muted sage green, within hours of sending an email to Benches for Barack.
June 18, 2008
Chancellor Joel Klein Discusses Brooklyn Schools
While the city's Department of Education continues to grapple with crisis-level graduation and proficiency rates, Chancellor Joel Klein is finding himself saddled with another problem: growing demand. Thousands of apartments are being added to Brooklyn and more parents are deciding to raise their children here — a positive quality of life indicator, but one that causes overcrowding at schools like P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights. Klein told us in an interview (published in full after the jump) that he would add two trailer classrooms to P.S. 8 and "reduce the number of students attending the school from out of the school zone." He also said no new schools, including the middle school DUMBO parents have been asking for, are planned for that district because they aren't needed. "District 13 overall is enrolled below the total district-wide capacity, even taking into account additional planned residential units," he said. In November, the department will reveal its next five-year plan. "We plan to look at the potential need for school construction based on demographic patterns within districts ...Additionally, we will pursue partnerships with developers outside of the Capital Plan to build new schools where it makes geographic, financial, and programmatic sense." On the controversy surrounding Pre-K admissions, he said overall the system has been "a real improvement over the days when parents had to camp outside schools to have a chance at a seat." Nevertheless, he said the process would be improved.
In other areas of Brooklyn like Bed-Stuy and Bushwick, charter schools are giving their district counterparts a run for their money, beating them in competency exams by wide margins. Klein said this is a good thing "because a charter school reaching 100 percent student proficiency in math or English with a challenging population of students forces other educators across the City to acknowledge that outstanding results are achievable." He goes into detail about why he thinks students are performing better at these schools. And finally, Klein busted out some math on potential budget cuts, including a link detailing the potential cut for each city school. Brooklyn Tech could lose the most money citywide — $1.08 million or 4.5 percent of its total budget. Other Brooklyn schools that could receive among the highest percent cut are P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights, P.S. 282 in Park Slope and the Urban Assembly academies. The city wants to spread cuts across schools equally, but can't because of state rules that favor the lowest-performing schools.
Continue reading "Chancellor Joel Klein Discusses Brooklyn Schools"
June 5, 2008
Commissioner Horn Answers Questions About HOD
Department of Correction Commissioner Martin Horn explained to us in a lengthy interview (posted in full after the jump) why he's still committed to reopening and doubling the Brooklyn House of Detention in Boerum Hill despite continued pressure from locals and elected officials to look elsewhere. Recently, City Comptroller Bill Thompson, also a mayoral candidate, urged Horn to sell the 50-year-old jail for its land value, estimated at up to $75 million, because reopening it could roll back the area's economic gains. Expanding the existing facility would cost $440 million. Horn said only two new sites were considered and promptly dismissed because they weren't connected to the courthouse. "If the city were to sell every piece of land available for development in a hot market, we wouldn’t have Prospect Park. But parks, we recognize, are an essential city service. So are schools, hospitals, roads and — yes — jails," he said via email. In addition to its location, Horn said the jail is critical because of its maximum security cells.
At one point, the department sought a developer to bookend the doubled facility with housing or condos, but received only one response that eliminated even the existing jail. While some of Horn's critics still continue to push this alternative plan, he asks, "I wonder whether supporters of the proposal are “advocates” for a greater commitment to reentry or are they simply opponents to the proposed jail, and advocates for a proposal in which they may have a proprietary interest?" Before the jail was shuttered in 2003, local residents complained of visitors queuing up outside and hiding contraband on private property, and officers parking on sidewalks. Bail bond businesses also once dominated the now trendy Atlantic Avenue corridor. Two of the partners in the alternative proposal, Hamlin Ventures and Time Equities, also have an interest in Horn's decision: They are both developing market rate projects nearby. See his full responses after the jump...
Continue reading "Commissioner Horn Answers Questions About HOD"
May 7, 2008
Crown Heights Doesn't Want UES Homeless Center
Some Crown Heights residents are organizing against the city's plan to relocate its sole intake center for single homeless men from the Upper East Side to the castle-like armory at Atlantic and Bedford Avenues. The city plans to turn its UES facility into a hotel and conference center, despite 60 percent of the city's homeless population living in Manhattan versus 16 percent in Brooklyn. We have a source who works closely with the Mayor's Office on this issue, who said the goal is to make the intake center more difficult to reach so fewer homeless men would turn to the shelter system. Each shelter bed cost $35,000 a year, or $2,916 a month. The city would rather spend that money on more permanent housing programs and hopes some men who typically sleep at shelters for a night or two would instead stay with friends or family, said the source, adding that the city's most at-risk homeless population tends to avoid shelters.
Rachel Pratt of CHARM (Crown Heights Revitalization Movement), backed by Councilwoman Letitia James, said her community board already has more than its fair share of social service beds—112 beds per 100 acres, compared to neighborhoods like Bensonhurst/ Gravesend and Bay Ridge/ Dyker Heights, which have less than 6 beds per 100 acres. The armory accounts for half of the 1,170 beds in Crown Heights North/ Prospect Height's, and has one of the worst reputations among in the city. James said she wants a portion of the armory converted into a recreation center like in Park Slope, and doesn't feel her district should have to accept the increase in homelessness in exchange. See the full comparison data on social service beds in Brooklyn community boards after the jump...
City to Close UES Homeless Shelter, Relocate to Bed-Stuy [Daily News]
Upper East Siders Want Homeless Shelter to Stay [NY Post]
The Future of the Atlantic Armory? [Brownstoner]
History of the Atlantic Armory [Bed-Stuy Banana]
Continue reading "Crown Heights Doesn't Want UES Homeless Center"
Pope Patrol Over Brooklyn!
Thanks to Aaron Meshon for sending this one in.
March 19, 2008
Wednesday Food & Drink Round-Up
Now Open: Toby's
6th Avenue and 21st Street, South Slope Greenwood Heights
Last Tuesday, Toby's opened its doors with a menu of brick oven pizzas, such as the Margherita ($12), four-cheese ($14), and white ($13). They're also serving up salads and antipasti, like a selection of "artisan Italian cured meats" (prosciuitto, sopressata, Italian ham) with focaccia. Customers can wash it all down with wine by the glass, booze, or beer — they've got a well-chosen selection, with Hofbrau seasonal brews on tap. But over on the Brooklynian boards, folks are already complaining that the pizzas are overpriced and griping about the "No Strollers" sign in the window. Check out an interior photo after the jump.
Now Open: Moxie Spot
81 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn Heights
As we reported last week, the Moxie Spot is finally open and serving up its family-friendly menu. But according to one Chowhound, some parents on a local list-serv are complaining about their "small portions, and out-of-synch serving (tables getting there plates 1 at a time)." On the bright side, the small portions are offered at low prices (burgers cost a mere $4.75), and Brooklyn Heights Blog is singing the praises of the place's creative entryway, which features an adult-sized door, with kid-sized and pet-sized doors built into it.
Roberta's: "Pizza as Art"
261 Moore Street (at Bogart Street), Bushwick; (718) 417-1118
"The 12-inch pizzas ($7 to $15) are the focal point of the short menu. Roberta’s offers a margherita and a tomato-only rosso, but the restaurant is not a destination for anyone looking to stoke memories of Napoli: the heretically creative pies are the thing to get... Roberta’s take on a Hawaiian pizza comes topped with paper-thin sheets of ripe pineapple, shreds of ham, sliced jalapeños and dabs of ricotta cheese." [NY Times]
After the jump: A peek inside Toby's, Brooklyn's first "occasional restaurant," Trois Pommes Patisserie's hamataschen how-to, a look inside the Hideout and the Habitat, and the official details on Brooklyn Restaurant Week '08...
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...
March 3, 2008
Brooklyn the Brand: Domino's Rolls Out 1-877-UNACCENT
Wow. Distasteful much?
Fake Brooklyn Accent Hotline: Dominos [You Tube]
Domino's BRKLYN Style Pizza is GR8 [PR Newswire]
February 27, 2008
Wednesday Food & Drink Round-Up
Photo by williamsburger
Zenkichi: Best Japanese in Brooklyn?
77 N. Sixth St.,at Wythe Ave., Williamsburg; (718) 388-8985
"As you descend a flight of stairs into this three-story labyrinth of corridors, you'll feel like you've stumbled upon some hidden 'otherworld' decorated with Japanese lanterns, bamboo and pebble-strewn floors. Diners are escorted to dimly lit wooden booths and secluded from other guests by bamboo shades... the small-plates menu is as beguiling as the intimate surroundings. Luscious oysters - grilled in a red miso sauce and presented in an oyster shell - taste as opulent as they look. So do glistening beads of ikura (salmon roe) mingled with salmon sashimi and tucked into a vibrant lime." [NYDN]
Big Success for Brooklyn IHOP
276 Livingston Street, Downtown Brooklyn
"An International House of Pancakes that opened in Downtown Brooklyn in December is already ranked top in sales among the breakfast-focused chain's 1,300 stores, the company says... 'It seems like there's no recession in Brooklyn,' said Dave Cox, owner of the new IHOP, who plans to open in Bed-Stuy, East New York and Williamsburg." [NY Post]
Sneak Preview: Greenpoint's t.b.d.
224 Franklin Street, Greenpoint; (718) 349-6727
"The future residents of the Magic Johnson’s 130-unit condo down the block are sure to flock to the sleek 2,500 square feet lounge, which features three flatscreen TVs (intended for video art, not sports, according to Foley). There are twelve beers on tap and some catered comfort food, like mac ‘n’ cheese and zucchini pie." [Gothamist]
After the jump: fish 'n' chips in Bay Ridge; new vegetarian and fro yo joints in Park Slope; the New St. Clair gets a face lift; and Met Foods Clinton Hill scrambles for some street cred...
February 20, 2008
Wednesday Food & Drink Round-Up
Photo by dumbonyc
Now Open: Marrakesh Express
68 Jay Street, Dumbo, (866) 919-2775
Well, this is confusing. Despite the fact that its namesake city is in Morocco, the new Marrakesh Express restaurant in Dumbo is actually serving Indian and American fare. Their menu includes lamb tikka masala, a chicken cordon bleu sandwich, and saag paneer, but there aren't any tagines or couscous dishes here. Is there another Marrakesh in India, or did they design the awning first and then change their mind about the cuisine they'd be serving? Whatever the case may be, one comment at Dumbo NYC describes their lunch buffet as "pretty yummy."
Now Open: Red Deli
Clinton Street at Verandah Place, Cobble Hill; no phone yet
"This casual delicatessen from chef and restaurateur Charlie Statelman (Wombat, Patois) and partner Matthew Murphy opens next door to their recently revamped Café on Clinton. The mostly takeout spot, which thrived as a deli for the past 20 years under different ownership, will offer house-made charcuterie along with grab-and-go items like fried chicken." [Time Out New York]
Closed: Cocotte
337 5th Avenue at 4th Street, Park Slope
"The French restaurant, while marginal on the grander scheme of New York dining, did seem to have a faithful brunch following and more than a few fans of its 'farmhouse vibe.' But nevertheless, place has closed for reasons undisclosed." [Eater]
After the jump: Clinton Hill Blog wonders how Restaurant New Orleans stays open, out-of-borough wines wear Brooklyn labels, and Chowhounders discuss the best butchers in Brooklyn...
February 13, 2008
Wednesday Food & Drink Round-Up
Coming Soon: Clover Club
210 Smith Street, between Butler and Baltic, Cobble Hill/Boerum Hill
Back in November, Epicurious reported that Julie Reiner, co-owner of Flatiron Lounge was gearing up to bring her old school cocktails (along with a bar menu created by Gavin Citron, the man behind the classy snacks at Pegu Club) to Smith Street by December '07. That didn't happen, but there's been some activity in the space. Blogger Robert Simonson of Off The Press, who snapped this photo before the sign was covered by a black tarp, explain's the bar's name: "The Clover Club is a lovely, under-recognized egg-based drink from days gone by, and it's right that it's so honored." The big question: Will Clover Club's killer cocktails share Flatiron Lounge's wallet-busting prices?
Union Hall Says No to Strollers
702 Union Street at 5th Avenue, Park Slope
"When the owners of Union Hall — a moody, dark-paneled bar and brunch spot in Park Slope, Brooklyn — recently posted a sign that read 'Please, No Strollers' under another one reading 'No One Under 21 Admitted,' they did not see it as a declaration of war with the neighborhood’s sizable population of young parents...Local parenting blogs were soon bristling with denunciations." [NY Times]
Vanderbilt Avenue Renaissance
"A decade ago, Prospect Heights’ Vanderbilt Avenue was little more than an automotive speedway lined with liquor stores and barbershops... But since [Soda Bar] opened in 2002, this street—only eight blocks long, from Atlantic Avenue to Grand Army Plaza—has blossomed into a bona fide destination." [Time Out New York]
Jack the Horse Gets Romantic
66 Hicks Street, Corner of Hicks and Cranberry, Brooklyn Heights; (718) 852-5084
Looks like VittlesVamp has a crush on Maxwell Britten, the new bartender at Jack the Horse, thanks to his Valentine's Day-inspired elixir, the Love Lane: "Named after a real-life romantically-dubbed alleyway in Brooklyn Heights, how could I resist Max's fizzy concoction of Prosecco, Harvest Syrup, House-made Brandy Poached Cherries and Rose Flower Water?"
After the jump: A first look at Clinton Hill's Rustik, Taco Bite reopens, PJ Hanley's get a pizza oven, and Fulton Street hippies rejoice at Green Planet...
February 6, 2008
Wednesday Food & Drink Round-Up
Photo by w33z3r12
Goodbye, Schnäck
122 Union Street near Columbia Street; 718-855-2879
"We're saddened, but not surprised, to learn of the demise of Schnäck... Co-owner Harry Hawk tells us that the end is nigh, but he will not give an expiration date. He says the proximate cause of the closing is a lost lease, but having seen ever-thinning crowds over the past year, we are more likely to believe that the poor location and awful service softened the victim up for the final blow." [Grub Street]
Patois Owner to Open Bistro in Ditmas Park
1301 Newkirk Avenue at Argyle Road, Ditmas Park
"A French bistro. A common enough sight in Brooklyn, but the first of its kind on this stretch of Newkirk in Ditmas Park, and suddenly a symbol on a cold Sunday morning of the way the old neighborhood bumps up against the new... What occupies the corner now looks as though it had been lifted gingerly from a country lane in Provence and placed here, across the street from a house bearing graffiti that reads 'Crack Pott.'" [NY Times]
What Will Become of the Kellogg's Diner?
518 Metropolitan Avenue at Union Avenue, Williamsburg; 718-782-4502
"Get ready for the 'Gateway to Williamsburg.' A tipster pointed us to redone renderings and promo material for 502 Metropolitan, a new building that will soon be wrapping itself around the Kellogg's Diner, the greasy spoon spot at Union and Metropolitan Avenues... It will include 28,751 square feet of retail space on two levels and is being pitched to a big box retailer, although one of the renderings says 'grocery store' at street level." [Curbed]
After the jump: Carroll Gardens residents rail against a raw bar set to open beside Black Mountain Wine House, an $11,000 coffee machine arrives in Williamsburg, and a report on the car that crashed into Marco Polo...
February 1, 2008
Closing Bell: Grand Theft Auto, Brooklyn Liberty City
A Wanted poster has popped up on the corner of Lorimer and Grand asking people to shoot Niko Bellic on sight. Bellic is the main character in the latest installment of Grand Theft Auto, and the poster says he's "wanted for questioning in connection with a shooting at a nightclub in the Hove Beach area of Broker." The new installment of the popular video game series, due out in April, is set in Liberty City, a fictional version of New York. The game has painstakingly reproduced NYC streetscapes, like the fake row of Brooklyn brownstones at right. Anyone know if the marketing campaign is targeting neighborhoods other than Williamsburg?
GTA Posters Showing Up in Brooklyn [Kotaku]
Photo of ad by freshyill; screenshot from Yahoo Games.
Our Borough, Ourselves
For the past month the Observer’s been running a weekly column called "Brooklyn, the Borough." Each installment is a first-person account written by Nicole Brydson, who grew up in Manhattan and did some time in Greenpoint and Hell's Kitchen before recently settling in Prospect Heights. In grand old Observer fashion, the column sorta reads like "Sex and the City," but instead of bed-hopping and social climbing the focus is one woman’s quest to identify herself via her new borough. Here's what Brydson's learned so far:
Lesson 1: Finding the right neighborhood is tough. Williamsburg="hupsters." Park Slope="pretentious mommy-daddy colony." Fort Greene="just about perfect," but a little too pricey. Prospect Heights=True love, at the right price.
Lesson 2: It's possible to decorate on the cheap. Getting gear from Lowe's and IKEA is all well and good, but how 'bout that beige carpet from the sidewalk? "So far, no bed bugs!"
Lesson 3: Gentrification is a bitch. "I feel destined to simultaneously be gentrified and gentrifying, but to most people I just look like the new white girl on the block."
Lesson 4: Don’t expect sanity from a real estate agent who asks you to sign a lease on the hood of her Jag.
Looking forward to more!
Escaping Hupsters for New Prospects [Observer]
An Electric Boyfriend Works the New Apartment [Observer]
Destined to Be Gentrified and Gentrifying [Observer]
My Angel Gave Me Hell [Observer]
Latest Restaurant Additions
-
Chickadee Chick
added November 6, 2009 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Vutera
added November 5, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Park Cafe
added November 4, 2009 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Bahia
added November 3, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Aqualis Grill
added November 2, 2009 12:00 PM in Fort Greene -
Wombat
added October 30, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Organic Heights
added October 29, 2009 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Giardini Pizza
added October 28, 2009 12:00 PM in Carroll Gardens -
Rye
added October 27, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Bati
added October 26, 2009 12:00 PM in Fort Greene