Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

3 Closings…
We noticed that Star of India at 232 5th Avenue (near President Street) in Park Slope has been completely cleared out and closed up for the past couple of weeks. There’s no note in the window, so we’re not sure if they’re closed for renovations or just closed for good. Could it be that the competition from Baluchi’s on 310 5th Avenue (between 2nd & 3rd Streets) drove them out? Meanwhile, The Brooklyn Paper mourns the loss of Black Betty in Williamsburg, and ClintonHillBlog notices that Fish and Crustaceans on Fulton has shut down.

…and 5 Openings
We’re into the whimsical name of the new Prospect Heights coffee shop, Sit & Wonder, which is serving one-buck cups of Stumptown Coffee, says Time Out New York. TONY also reports on the ice cream flavors at the new Jacques Torres Ice Cream — “Wicked Chocolate ice cream uses the same Mexican spices as his Wicked Hot Chocolate” — and says that the Greene Ice Cream at General Greene will be serving flavors such as Salted Hazelnut Gianduja and Coffee Road. The New York Times reports that Enoteca on Court (on Court and Union in Carroll Gardens) is officially open, and so is Open Book Cafe by Mambo, an outdoor cafe at the central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, serving lobster sliders and mango iced tea.

After the jump: Pickled pig’s tongue (and other non-pizza goodies) at Roberta’s, a Cuban supper club at Dressler, and a Williamsburg bar crawl…

Roberta’s Pushes Beyond Pizza
261 Moore Street (Bogart Street), Bushwick; (718) 417-1118
Today’s New York Times has good things to say about the new non-pizza menu at Roberta’s: “Take the pickled pig’s tongue ($8)… The thin slices of tender and sweet tongue are served with whipped house-cured lardo and a mustard made with reduced orange juice… This is not pizzeria fare. And it’s not what you expect to find in a part of the Bushwick section of Brooklyn where street traffic seems to be evenly divided between concrete trucks and fixed-gear bikes. ” Has anybody tried the new menu items yet? Share your thoughts in our restaurants section.

Dressler’s Cuban Supper Club
149 Broadway, Williamsburg; (718) 384-6343
The Feed reports that Dressler is hosting an event this Friday night “featuring Cuban music, live cabaret dancing and a four-course dinner with dishes like heritage pork belly ‘chicharones’ with black beans and plantain. Tickets cost $75, and anyone who has a reservation for after 9pm gets to stay for the show. The full menu and additional details are available at this website.”

Williamsburg Bar Crawl: The Slideshow
Experience the sights and sounds of late-night Grand Street without facing a hangover in the morning: Metromix shares 22 photos and diary-like entries, detailing a 5-hour outing. They manage to hit up Cafe Cornichon, Trash Bar, Snacky, Iona, Bruar Falls, Caracas Brooklyn, Larry Lawrence, Huckleberry Bar, and Bushwick Country Club without breaking their camera.