Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

Brooklyn Restaurant Openings
Eater reports on a whole bunch of openings this week: In the old Latitude Zero space (at 82 South 4th Street, pictured above), “Two former managers at the now shuttered Bedford Ave. staple Bonita are opening a new, similar restaurant Cariño in April.” Plus, Tony’s Bagelz is coming soon to 284 3rd Avenue, near Sackett Street. A new Thai restaurant is opening at 1922 Coney Island Avenue (near Avenue P)… Also, Feast takes a look inside Traif, “the Hebrew term for not-kosher,” which will open on April 8 on South 4th and Havemeyer in Williamsburg… And Time Out New York has the skinny on Peaches HotHouse in Bed-Stuy: “With a more casual vibe than its sister restaurant, Peaches, the HotHouse presents some of the forgotten dishes of the South, like deep-fried and spicy Nashville-style hot chicken, and creamy rice balls made from an heirloom variety of the grain grown in the Carolinas.”

More Openings
A Brooklyn Life notes that Lowlands is in preview-mode (543 Third Avenue between 13th and 14th streets), with a grand opening set for April 3. This bar from the owners of Abilene is “a real beauty. An impressively long, regal wood bar, painted wood floors and a lot of kitschy touchescrazy roped lamps, wall art you wish you’d found at a stoop sale and the same funky light fixtures as at Abilene. Oh, and a gigantic outdoor space with basic wooden picnic benches.” A Brooklyn Life also notes that the Carroll Gardens Greenmarket returns next Sunday, April 11.

Red Hook Vendors Return!
“Get on line now: The Red Hook Food Vendors start serving on May 1. Weather permitting, the carts will be at the Ball Fields Saturdays and Sundays through October,” Grub Street reports.

After the jump: Where to get your brined and smoked Easter ham, hydroponics in Bushwick, and a closing in Bed-Stuy…

Char’s Easter Hams
Char No. 4 is taking orders for 40 ready-to-reheat pork-shoulder hams. BococaLand says: “The hams are brined for 10 days, smoked for 6 hours and then glazed with maple and clove… Orders can be placed immediately by calling (718) 643-2106, and the hams can be picked up at the restaurant on April 2nd, 3rd or 4th. They suggest calling soon to reserve due to the limited availability. A five pound boneless shoulder ham will run you $45 plus tax.”

A Hydroponics Loft in Bushwick
BushwickBK reports on the indoor farmer who provides greens to Roberta’s: “While most of Bushwick was digging itself out of two feet of snow this winter, loft-gardener Lee Mandell was busy harvesting kale, collard greens, and lettuce… His operation, Boswyck Farms, occupies about 200 square feet of his 1,000-square-foot loft steps from the DeKalb Avenue L-train stop. The loft is moist and warm; the pleasant sound of water trickling through PVC piping transports visitors to a spring brook in the Adirondacks, nearly obscuring the mechanical whirring of Mandell’s refrigerator.

Bed-Stuy Cafe Closes
Twofiftyeight Cafe at 199 Malcolm X Boulevard (between Jefferson and Putnam Avenues) has closed up shop and Bed-Stuy Blog is bummed out: “It’s always heartbreaking when an independent pioneering business in Bed-Stuy has to close. I personally thank them for the two and a half years of service they offered to this side of The Stuy.”