Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

Closing Temporarily: Lobo
218 Court Street, Cobble Hill; (718) 858-7739
Grub Street reports that Lobo “is closing its Cobble Hill location for a month beginning March 23. The official reason given is ‘renovations,’ but you have to worry whether restaurants that take an extended break during this economy will actually reopen. There’s still plenty of people choking Lobo’s tiny hallway at night, so we’re hopeful.”

Many Openings This Week
Besides Zuzu Ramen in Park Slope, this week will also see the openings of Deniz (a Turkish restaurant at Fulton Street and South Elliott Place in Fort Greene), Anselmo’s Coal-Fired Brick Oven Pizzeria (on Van Brunt and Sullivan in Red Hook), and Lucky Shot Espresso (at 145 Driggs in Greenpoint), says Time Out New York. And according to New York Magazine, the Frankies are opening Cafe Peddlar, a “Viennese-style cafe” at 210 Court Street (near Warren Street, in the old Magaret Palca Bakes space), today.

Coming Soon: Purple Yam, Brooklyn Bowl, and Cherry Hill
Last month, we mentioned that the owners of Soho’s Filipino spot Cendrillon were preparing to open Purple Yam on Cortelyou in April. Now, Ditmas Park Blog says that Cendrillon has closed, but the new spot’s opening date still stands: “The concept of the new Purple Yam is to re-create a kitchen-centered home harking back to the Asian values of hospitality and generosity.” Plus, Down by the Hipster reports that Brooklyn Bowl is gearing up for a May 1st opening, and Gothamist says that the old Lundy’s space in Sheepshead Bay will soon be home to a “19,000 square foot gourmet market called Cherry Hill.”

After the jump: Hanco’s drops prices in Park Slope, Chef César Ramirez at a lunch counter in Downtown Brooklyn, and the O’Connor’s vs. Freddy’s rivalry…

Hanco’s Drops Prices in Park Slope
350 7th Avenue (at 10th Street), Park Slope; (718) 499-8081
Serious Eats reports: “a sign was posted on the windows of less-than-a-month-old Hanco’s in Park Slope: ‘Effective today, all sandwiches are $6.50.’ Originally, they were $7 but said too many people were complaining… The sister branch in Boreum Hill still sells what seems to be the same sandwiches for $5.25.” Of course, you can get an even better deal at Ba Xuyen — a favorite in the Brownstoner restaurant database.

A Hot New Lunch in Downtown Brooklyn
Eater says that chef César Ramirez, “the Bouley and Danube vet who most recently earned two stars for his work at Bar Blanc,” is now working for Brooklyn Fare, the grocery store set to open at 200 Schermerhorn. According to the store’s press release, “Chef Ramirez…offers a breadth of the selections providing restaurant-caliber lunches to people who work in Downtown Brooklyn.”

The O’Connor’s vs. Freddy’s Rivalry
The Times shares a vignette about the pranks between these two watering holes and the softball tournament between them every spring and summer: “Ever since some Freddy’s loyalists marched over to O’Connor’s one night in 2003, scroll in hand to officially challenge their rivals, the two sides have been meeting in Prospect Park to duke it out. The huge bra that serves as the trophy currently hangs on a newer moose head at O’Connor’s. But Freddy’s is confident of reclaiming the prize after losing it for the first time last year.”