Food and Drink: November 2006 Archives

So Ghang Thai Kitchen at 204 Smith Street (phone: 718-222-5598) has been open for a while, but we just haven't been in the mood for Thai (practically a sin in this neighborhood). We finally felt the urge Tuesday night and settled in for what was to be a perfectly mediocre Thai experience. Major pluses are the notably absent Joya-sized-crowds and the bring-your-own-alcohol policy.

For apps, we had Tom Yum soup, which while spicy enough, was somehow also too sweet, and Tom Kha soup, which was definitely too heavy on the coconut milk. The group favored the jungle curry entree served in a sadly not-so-spicy red curry sauce; its chicken and accompanying veggies tasted more of ginger than of spice, but a very nice and somewhat different dish. The Pad Thai was middling. The Pad Num-Mun Hoy, a sautee (we tried beef) with oyster sauce and veggies was our least favorite--the flavor just wasn't there. Still, our server was memorably friendly and the space calming. Though the menu says delivery between 4th Place and State Street and Hicks Street and Nevins Street, we saw mostly take-out happening.

If we had to choose a favorite Thai place in the hood ... it's a toss-up between Em Thai and 9-D (despite their charging for rice policy). Joya can be good on a Monday night, but we think there are now two chefs: one good, one bland as bland can be. Sadly the bland chef seems to be cooking on Mondays.

Harry from Schnack has let the burger out of the bun--Schnack's white buns are back! You may remember the furor that broke out when it was revealed that the wheat buns were here to stay, but the good folks at Schnack have reconsidered and now plan to offer the little Schnackies on your choice of white or wheat. As always, the triples and quads are only available on white.

Stuff to check out this weekend:

• One of my favorite online shops, Fred Flare, has a pop-up store in Williamsburg for the holidays. It's at 175 N 10th Street, and it's open this Friday through Christmas Eve. [Via FashionGeek]
• Prospect Park's Kate Wollman Rink opens on Thanksgiving from 10 a.m.- 1 p.m., 2 p.m.-6 p.m. and stays open all weekend long. It's $5 admission ($3.50 kids and seniors) and $5.50 skate rental.
• Check out one of Brooklyn Museum's cool exhibits: Ron Mueck's gigantic people, animalistic watercolors by Walton Ford and an Annie Leibovitz retrospective.
• Celebrate a new Bonita location  that's only three G stops away in Fort Greene. [Via Brooklyn Record]
• And reason enough for second helpings of turkey: The F train isn't all screwy--yea for holiday tourist season!

There's a new entry into the menu war (take that MenuPages, NYMetro and um, whatever other menu sites are out there!). It's called Menutopia. I checked out their Carroll Gardens page and while the interface is nice, I was disappointed to see a number of the restaurants listed didn't actually have a menu. Zaytoons did, but I wasn't too impressed with this language from the Menutopia site once I got there: "Have an opinion about Zaytoons? Too bad, only members can rate and review." Ha--no, Menutopia, too bad for YOU! But who knows, maybe they just say that on their Brooklyn site ;)

Our friend over at RandomBrooklyn took this rather disturbing/amusing picture of the Whole Foods site in Gowanus. Brings new meaning to genetically modified veggies.

We've been eating more outside the hood lately, so we'd like to solicit some feeding advice from the neighborhood experts.Who's been to La Lunetta (old Taku space), Porchetta (since they got a new chef), and the new Thai place in old Tuk Tuk (name is escaping me)?

We've been twice now to the Smoke Joint in Fort Greene and can recommend the wings, the beef ribs and the greens. Not so much the pork ribs or the mac and cheese. They do have the Southern hospitality down pat, though.

One of the many reasons why I'm loving Stinky Brooklyn.

I'll admit I generally don't pay much attention to Marty Markowitz, but I loved his comment in the New York Times Brooklyn-style pie article when asked exactly what does he think about Domino's new pie:

“It’s a multinational right-wing company, mass marketing the Brooklyn attitude with obsolete ethnic stereotypes, not to mention flimsy crusts,” he said through a spokesman.

For some reason it's even more amusing that he said it through a spokesperson. The other funny thing is that when I was in Atlanta, my parents asked me what a Brooklyn-style pie was after seeing the ads. And I'll freely admit after watching the Domino's commercials, all the casual observer could gather was that it was thin enough to be folded.