Ditmas Park
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...
April 16, 2008
House of the Day: 1907 Ditmas Avenue
This monster of a home (5,500 square feet) at 1907 Ditmas Avenue in Ditmas Park looks pretty sweet to us: Lots of well-preserved detail, large rooms, big corner lot. Whether it's worth the $1,700,000 remains to be seen. One thing's for sure, though—Even if it doesn't go for the asking price, the folks who bought it for $848,500 in 2003 stand to make a pretty penny!
1907 Ditmas Avenue [Mary Kay Gallagher] GMAP P*Shark
April 9, 2008
New CSA Action in Fort Greene, Ditmas Park
Cool beans. There are Community Supported Agriculture programs in the works for both Fort Greene and Ditmas Park. In Fort Greene, the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, and Just Food have partnered to bring the neighborhood a CSA beginning this summer. According to an article in Crain's (sub req'd), the idea to begin the CSA grew in part out of the fact that the closing of the Myrtle Ave. Associated last year has left many area residents without easy access to fresh produce. The CSA will run for 22 weeks from June through November, and full shares will cost $400 for the season (half shares will be available for $200, and there will also be subsidized shares for low-income residents that cost $300 full/$150 half). Jen Datka, the CSA coordinator, says that she has a list with 136 names of people who've expressed interest in joining the program. Datka says the Fort Greene CSA will offer around 50 shares this summer, though they hope to expand the program next year if it's successful this summer. Over in Ditmas Park, the person who organized last year's Cortelyou Rd. farmers’ market is also working to set up a CSA, according to Ditmas Park Blog. The CSA will involve a partnership with a Pennsylvania farm and cost around $400 for around 20 deliveries of produce from May through November.
Fort Greene CSA
A Ditmas Park CSA! [Ditmas Park Blog]
Photo by winyang.
March 10, 2008
House of the Day: 663 Rugby Road
After a fire gutted the single-family house at 663 Rugby Road last summer, the non-profit that owned it sold it to someone in December who did a quick renovation and put it on the market for $1,249,000. As a result, there's not an original detail in sight. For that price in this area, we'd want a little more character. Think anyone will bite? There was an open house yesterday. Anyone go?
663 Rugby Road [Kestyn] GMAP P*Shark