Carroll Gardens: August 2007 Archives

I was always surprised that this optometrist could make it on Henry Street at Carroll Street (not a lot of foot traffic) and now it's closed. There was a big yellow construction bin outside of it yesterday. Anybody know what's in store for the space?

Today at 1pm, you can hear WNYC Radio's Leonard Lopate represent New York on the BBC's "contest" to find the world's most multicultural city (webstream at wnyc.org). We're up against London, Sydney, Toronto. Listeners can call in, and of course, vote by phone or email. WNYC already has a page devoted to listener's internet comments. While the program is about New York, I'd love to hear comments about Brooklyn. This is one point at which I feel my neighborhood (Carroll Gardens) doesn't represent. Thoughts?

So two big changes today at Caputo's on Court Street. The first is the new counter woman, who while trying desperately to be nice, didn't seem to be connecting with the hodgepodge of old neighborhood Italian-talking regulars and new neighborhood Italian-goods lovers. Second, she kept telling people to use "the number system" (though I missed it, there is apparently a board at the front of the store with numbers). Today, anyway, the combination of new person + number system was not going well. No one took one, and when someone finally did, everybody was pissed when said person appeared to skip the line. To an outsider, this might seem like a small thing, but at a never-changing institution like Caputo's it's a pretty big deal. Still, I'll endure new people and numbers if it means I can continue to enjoy easy access to the best lunch meats, fresh mozzarella, pasta, etc., in Brooklyn.

Bar at Smith and Sackett streets goes from Bar to Bar Great Harry. The name feels very British, doesn't it?