Neighborhood: March 2006 Archives

But tonight,  you get to hear Brooklyn's own Adam Smith (of ABrooklynLife podcast fame) try his hand at the game.  Adam debuts his Half-Assed Rock Star DJ night at Abilene, where he'll play the classics (Bowie, Clash, Talking Heads, Flaming Lips) along with the more obscure (Arthur Russell playing his electric cello). Adam plans to play every other Wednesday, with alternate Wednesdays being filled with off-the-street iPod DJs.  And if you want to buy him a drink, he really likes whiskey.

So Brooklyn is weird about its restaurant week. I called a few weeks ago and they refused to give me any information, saying they couldn't release it until the press conference. I mentioned that it might be helpful to have the info before the actual event, and they were not moved. It's finally been released, and the list of restaurants is on the Brooklyn Tourism's website. Here's the deal: For most of the restaurants it's three courses for $20.06, with "no attitude on the side." A few restaurants have a two people for $20.06 deal. The specials run from April 3 to April 11.  I wouldn't bank on the lack of attitude, but, hey, the price is right.

My recommendations for 3 courses for $20.06
Applewood (D), prepare your arteries, rich, indulgent fare
Bar Minnow (D), cute name, great fish shack
Blue Ribbon/Sushi (D), ashamed that I haven't been
Bouillabaisse 126 (D), nice French on the "waterfront"
Bubby's (D), especially if you have kids
Chestnut (D), elevated home cooking
Crave (D), normally overpriced, but always tasty
Fornino (L, D), inventive pizza in hipsterville
ici (L, D), no personal experience, but I hear good things
Maria's Mexican Bistro (D), a must-go anytime
Patois (D), love to hear those Frenchies
Waterfront Ale House (L, D), if only for the history

My recommendations in the two for $20.06 category
Atlantic Chipshop (L, D), get your fried English food on
Schnack (L, D), you already know how I feel*
Zipi Zape (D), yum, yum, yum, tapas, yum

*Schnack was kind enough to email me its menu:
-basket of 1/2 fries, 1/2 onion rings
-deep-fried biscuit single w/lettuce, tomato, bacon
-choice of ribs or 1/2 chicken
-scoop of RC gelato from Il Laboratorio del Gelato
-two glasses of fountain soda, or Swag beer if available

I'm not one to overly dwell on the apocolypse of Brooklyn's Manhattanification, but I can't say I'm super excited about Lizzie Grubman, Drew Barrymore or Strokes' drummer Fabrizio Moretti invading the neighborhood when Shopsin comes to Carroll Gardens, as reported by NYMetro and noted on Eater and Chowhound. I do think that the owner has a handle on the old-school Brooklyn ways, however. Kenny Shopskin's answer to questions about the move was written thusly in NYMetro:  "Why don’t you just make something fucking up?” he said. “That’s what you’re going to do anyway.” Now that's Brooklyn style, keep it up Kenny!

Any word on where this new "brunchery" (what a ridiculous word) will be? Oh, and is the food any good? I've never been.

Sometimes living in New York feels like its own separate reality, a bubble in a much different sense than the one I experience while going to college with just a few thousand people, but a bubble nonetheless.

Things "normal" people do elsewhere just don't seem to happen as often here. We don't buy a week's worth of groceries, we buy a meal's worth. We don't wait weeks and weeks to see one of our favorite bands, we agonize about which of our favorite bands to see tonight. We don't have daily conversations with Republicans, but we read their seemingly far-flung policy ideas typed neatly on a sheet of newspaper. My God, I got excited when I drove a Honda Civic on Sunday to IKEA, it'd been that long.

I'm having a hard time verbalizing it, but the difference is there, bubbling beneath the surface all around us. I've written before about how I find an amazing creative energy in New York, and I'd be crazy not to say it's the most creative place I've lived, but we have it easy here. We don't have to work for it; it just is. In many senses, the difference is why I live here, but sometimes, that small-town restlessness and boredom breed creativity.

All of this is taking a very long-winded, twisty road to say that I'm excited about Freebird Book's monthly craft night. On the first Sunday of the month, the community-minded space invites neighborhoodies to come by with supplies for the evening's craft and just hang out. The first installment on April 2 is stationery making, led by Dari Litchman. You bring the supplies, the store supplies the moral support and friendship necessary to think that you just made a really nice bit of stationery.

Call me insane (a little soft, maybe, hokey even?), but this is exactly the kind of thing that would have happened one Sunday afternoon in my small western Pennsylvania college town--and it sounds strangely appealing.

Remember when Zipper closed, and I was sad? Well, a new store, Hasker, has opened in its place, and I'm happy again. Happy because the two former Zipper employees, Hassan and Kerry, have pulled together and rented the same space for their own home decor store. While in some ways, Hasker is comparable and similar to Zipper (children's stuff is still in the nook by the stairs, bath products in the back on the right, lots of funky, modern influenced designs), the store has a lighter, less serious feeling about it and features the work of several Brooklyn artists. They are still ramping up inventory, but I took a few photos of the new wares at their opening party on Saturday evening, including this shot of a very environmentally friendly stuffed deer head.

Also, nice to see a certain music celebrity in attendance. Athens, represent!

The American Apparel store is open at 237 Smith Street. Don't miss your chance to get all horny and buy lots of Made in the USA clothing. Right next to the new clothing boutique, Banania at 241 Smith Street has closed and will open up under a new name in April. The brunch, according to a sign in the window, will stay the same. Opening soon a few blocks up at 139 Smith Street is Coco Roco, an outpost of the Park Slope Peruvian restaurant that many people love (I've never been).

Above: Kitties relaxing in an antique store window on Atlantic Avenue.

• The irony of the Times reporting about a crime's lack of reporting and that story only being available to Times Select readers NYTimes
• Has Brooklyn's DJ Premier never been to Chinatown for VCRs? Taiwan News
• Kicking the artists out of Williamsburg NYTimes
• Brooklyn to get its third Target Queens Ledger
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah owes its name to Gowanus Tucson Weekly

Since last week was practically a Gowanus fest anyway for ABrooklynLife, I thought I'd follow up by encouraging people to take the Public Place survey about what to do with a portion of public land surrounding a portion of the canal [see also Curbed and 423 Smith]. The space in question runs north-south from Huntington Street to 5th and 4th Streets (due to the canal's curve) and jumps east-west from Smith Street over to Hoyt and then Bond.  Even in terms of the Gowanus, this is a particularly not-so-pretty stretch of the neighborhood, and it's exciting to think that we could have part (albeit small) in determining its use. A group of NYU public planning graduate students is conducting the survey and will give recommendations for use of the land in May.

Above: Gowanus monsters at the Union Street bridge.

WNBC had a story about an errant rooster waking up the neighbors somewhere in Brooklyn, which had me remembering the toxic fowl that used to live in the wired-off area underneath the Smith-9th Street subway line (which is now the entrance to  Lowe's).  They had strange growths on their bodies, but always looked content and happy in the mud pits they called home. I assumed someone from the area was feeding them, but soon after the Lowe's went up, they disappeared. Anyone remember them or know the back story?

Brownstoner has already jumped into the Dunkin' Donuts fray by reporting that people who eat and drink at the establishment are lazy about where they throw their trash. I will make no such assertion, but I will start what I hope is a trend: calling out local businesses caught with their hands in the  Dunkin' Donuts cookie jar. The first award goes to the workers at 9-D Thai who on Saturday night had a box of the donuts out for all their customers to see. Please send your DD box and crumb sightings our way.

The amusing cartoon image is from a Fast Company story about the chain's encroachment into Starbucks territory.

I know I post quite frequently about Schnack, but it is part of my life--and a frequent part at that.  When I go to Schnack, it is not for a particularly healthy meal. Granted, you could eat healthily there if you wanted to, but that seems to defeat the purpose of the Schnack. And so I usually indulge in onion rings and french fries and have never been afraid of licking the Schnack sauce off the plate. What I find peculiar, however, is the move toward the whole wheat bun. It is the appearance (and taste) of healthiness where I did not want it.  When I make sandwiches at home, it is true, I usually use whole wheat bread. And sometimes I buy whole wheat pita for variety. However, when I have my two mini burgers, as I did last night, I can't help but thinking that there's something about wheat that's just not right.