Columbia Street Waterfront
May 28, 2008
Wednesday Food & Drink Round-Up
Coming Soon: Creative Cooks
298 Atlantic Avenue (between Smith and Hoyt), Boerum Hill; 917-922-3898
Want to train your kids to start making your Sunday brunch as soon as they're tall enough to operate the stove? Well, you can start 'em young at Creative Cooks, a new cooking school that has Mommy & Me classes for toddlers and after-school "Tastemaker" courses for kindergarteners through 8th graders. They're also gearing up for a week-long mini-camp and field trips to places like the Park Slope Food Co-Op and Brooklyn Chinatown. This past spring, the school's owner, Emily Rios, taught a highly recommended Mommy and Me class and two after-school classes at Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture building in Park Slope. Her new space will officially open June 1st, and Creative Cooks will be hosting open houses on June 4th and 11th at 6:30 p.m.
No Tacos at the Ball Fields Yet...
Vendor's Committee director Cesar Fuentes told the Porkchop Express that it'll be a few weeks before the Latin American food vendors set up shop on the Red Hook ball fields: "We cannot start until the city approves our permits [and these are] being processed as we speak. Unfortunately, that can still take a couple more weeks before we are given a go. Realistically speaking, we can probably expect to open Mid-June." (Until then, you can get Rafael and Fernando's huaraches and pupusas, and the Vaqueros' grilled corn and fruit at the Flea.)
Pomme de Terre Gets 3 Stars
1301 Newkirk Avenue (near Argyle Road), Ditmas Park
"I loved an appetizer of crispy squid, defiantly greaseless and paired with a tangy lemon aioli. A moist branzino comes whole and stuffed with a fistful of fennel, lemon and dried tomatoes. And there is a first-rate croque-monsieur stacked with gooey Gruyere and paper-thin shavings of ham. But what makes this French staple so distinguished is the brioche, which tastes like a savory rendition of French toast." [NYDN]
After the jump: Schnack's pending rent issues, goings-on in Greenpoint, and food news bites from Prospect Heights, Red Hook, Coney Island, and Crown Heights...
May 14, 2008
Brownstoner Bits: The Devil Hangs at Moutarde, And More...
Lights, Camera: Yesterday the cast and crew of "Julie & Julia", a flick about Julia Child starring Meryl Streep and directed by Nora Ephron, was rolling tape outside Moutarde, on 5th Avenue and Carroll Street in the Slope. Anyone spot Streep?
House of D: The controversial proposal to reopen and expand the House of Detention on Atlantic and Court is going to be discussed tomorrow afternoon at a budget hearing in the City Council Chambers. Dept. of Corrections Commissioner Martin Horn will submit testimony from noon to 12:30. An email that's circulating from the plan's opponents says community members are expected to show up in full force to protest the jail's reopening.
Columbia St. Demo: L&M Equity is tearing down a building on Columbia Street, according to Lost City. The developer intends to build more than 170 units of housing near Columbia and Warren.
The New Gowanus: Per GL, The Dept. of City Planning is going to give an update about the effort to rezone about 25 blocks in Gowanus on May 29.
March 27, 2008
Columbia Street: Still a Bumpy Ride
The seemingly never-ending construction on Columbia Street continues to seem never-ending. The finish line is finally maybe in sight, though: A city construction worker manning the repaving of the street says they're hoping to have the stretch completed by this summer, and after that work's going to begin on side streets (this is already happening between Degraw and the water). From the looks of it, progress has been made since we last checked in on the thoroughfare this summer. The work on the west side of the street appears complete, so all that's left is the reconstruction of east side from around Congress to Degraw. The revamp is crazy overdue. The multi-million dollar, city-helmed project, which was supposed to be complete this fall, has been a hardship for the strip's many mom-and-pops for far too long.
Columbia Street Revamp: Potholes in My Lawn [Brownstoner]
Columbia Street Faces Fading Prospects [Brownstoner]
March 12, 2008
Wednesday Food & Drink Round-Up
Photo by Shani Bar-on
Recently Reviewed: Korhogo 126
126 Union Street between Columbia and Hicks, Carroll Gardens; (718) 855-4405
"An appetizer of juicy grilled calamari and baby octopus tossed in a briny tapenade vinaigrette is pure Mediterranean, while an escargot starter, the soft critters nestled in a heady Pernod–red-wine sauce, is a tip of the hat to France. The meat dishes we tried matched the seafood in skill—we relished the tender braised lamb shank in a cardamom-inflected broth… it looks like Korhogo could be poised to become a neighborhood mainstay—whether you’re in the mood for African, or French." [TONY]
Armando's Replacement Revealed
143 Montague Street, between Henry and Clinton, Brooklyn Heights
"Thanks to BHB community member 'bhbabe' and her mad Googling skillz we've learned that Denver based panini and sandwich chain Spicy Pickle will take over Armando's Restaurant on Montague Street. No word on opening date." [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
Coming Soon: The Habitat
988 Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint
"The place is beautiful inside, from the bar countertop to the kitchen that looks like a house inside. The interior feels like an outside porch. Where better to drink than outback on the deck? …Opening sometime in March." [Kenny Bloggins]
After the jump: Local ice cream in the supermarket freezer and the best Chinese on Smith Street…
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...
December 21, 2007
Columbia-Hicks Development Still Being Tweaked
The community has spoken, and the developers of three sites between Columbia and Hicks streets appear to be listening. The partnership between L&M Equity and HPD scaled back its plans following an October meeting with CB6's land-use committee and is still hashing out details with community members about exactly how many units the developments will contain, and how affordable (based on area median income) the affordable housing component is going to be. At present, the plans call for a unit mix as follows: 18 market-rate units (likely condos) in the smallest building; 33 market-rate units (likely condos) and one single-family townhouse at the second development site; and 82 rentals (half of which will be affordable housing), 21 market-rate condos and four two-family townhouses at the third development site. Bowing to community concerns that the proposed buildings were out of context, the developers also changed their plans so that none of the buildings is above six stories. The look of the planned buildings was also modified so that all of them now sport dark red brick facades, as in the rendering for the second development site, above. What do you think?
A Look at L&M’s Big Plans for Columbia Street [Brownstoner]
November 13, 2007
A Look at L&M’s Big Plans for Columbia Street
A couple of weeks ago L&M Equities gave its first public presentation about its proposal to build more than 170 units of housing on three sites near Columbia and Warren streets. The biggest building L&M’s planning would be 80-feet tall, require a two-block zoning change, include around 40 affordable housing units, and rise on what is now city-owned land (104-116 Warren Street). (The other two sites in the plan are 75 Columbia Street and 86 Congress Street.) Many local residents are wary of the scale L&M’s proposing. A person who lives on Warren Street, for example, told the Carroll Gardens Courier that the 80-foot height “is so high up—it’s not part of the community.” Think most people who live around Columbia Street feel the same way?
Zoning Change Opposed [Carroll Gardens Courier] GMAP
November 8, 2007
Development Watch: 113 Columbia Street
After a bit of a lull, neighbors say construction's been ramped up lately on this building across the street from Columbia Street's big dig. It's looking to us like a fairly no-frills job, and we're not certain whether it's slated to be a rental or condo. If it's the latter, anyone have a sense of what prices on Columbia would be looking like nowadays?
Columbia Street Revamp: Potholes in My Lawn [Brownstoner] GMAP DOB
Columbia Street Faces Fading Prospects [Brownstoner]