Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

Best New Brooklyn Drinks
Off Manhattan rounds up the “most unique cocktail spots” in Brooklyn and shares their favorite drinks at each bar. Their picks include the Lavender Sour, “a delightfully tart mix of plum wine, violette liqueur and lemon juice,” at Littlefield in Gowanus; the creamy Batido de Coco, “brimming with coconut milk, condensed milk and Cachaça,” at Beco; the “frothy and smooth” Watermelon Gin Punch at Fort Defiance; and Huckleberry Bar‘s complicated-sounding “peppery Merrill Beth Nisker, with El Jimador Tequila, Del Maguey Mezcal, succulent peach syrup made in house, and touches of lemon, lime and bitters, all topped off with a jalapeño-infused cocoa powdered rim for an addictive bite.”

This Week’s Openings
The new Knitting Factory officially opens tonight in the completely revamped Luna Lounge space at 361 Metropolitan Ave in Williamsburg. Time Out says: “the new spot features a single performance room cleverly designed to look like a giant recording studio, complete with soundproof glass dividing the bar area from the concert space.” …Sue Perette is now open in the old Cafe Dore space at 270 Smith Street (between Sackett and Degraw). Cobble Hill Blog shares the restaurant’s very small menu and asks: “What do you think about the name: play on ‘superette‘ or interesting moniker?” …Time Out also notes that a Vietnamese restaurant called An Nhau is opening adjacent to Bánh Mì 172 at 172 Bedford Avenue (between North 7th and 8th Sts) in Williamsburg, and a new spot called Saltie will be serving “sandwiches, ice cream and morning pastries” at 378 Metropolitan Avenue (between Havemeyer and Roebling Sts).

Mark Your Calendar for Hot Plates Live
Next week on Monday, September 14 from 6 to 9pm, Metromix is throwing a tasting party called Hot Plates Live at the Bell House. Tickets cost $15, and include endless tastes from ten new Brooklyn restaurants: Aqualis Grill, Bussaco, Calexico Carne Asada, Eat Records, Latitude Zero, Mesa Coyoacan, Sui Ren, Umi Nom, Vue, and the soon-to-open Vanderbilt.

After the jump: A “food dork megaplex” coming to Brooklyn; an honor system farm stand; and Totonno’s news…

Brooklyn’s Own Cooking School
“Tom Mylan and Brent Young, formerly of Marlow & Daughters, are opening a ‘food dork megaplex’ in Williamsburg with the owners of the Brooklyn Kitchen,” says Grub Street via Brooklyn Based. The 2,000-square-foot space on Meeker Street under the BQE will house a cooking school for home cooks, “a whole room dedicated to bulk spices and local grains and legumes, and a butcher shop called the Meat Hook — and it’s all set to open in late-October.

The Honor System Farm Stand
Clinton Hill Blog reports on this mini-stand near the Franklin Avenue C-station: “There was no one around, just an adorable farm-stand set up, some basil and sage in water, a big bushel of light purple kale, a very large fennel stalk with a small bulb and a huge bushel of lemongrass… I waited around to see if a person would appear, but they didn’t. So I put a dollar in the mailbox, chose the fennel, and hopped down the street.”

Is Totonno’s Open Yet?
Slice has the update on the Coney Island pizza parlor that suffered a fire in March: “Owner-pizzaman Lawrence Ciminieri says it’ll be late September or early October. Why the delay? After the fire, Ciminieri said, his family had two choices: rebuild from scratch or salvage what was there. The initial reports from the architect Ciminieri consulted with indicated that the building was sound enough to salvage, but once crews started renovation, city inspectors found more damage than expected. It turns out that the building needs to be shored up to support the weight of the oven and the coal used to fire it.”