Neighborhood: August 2006 Archives

"Yesterday I saw a sign in a window on the corner of Smith and Dean for Chop Chop. It bills itself as a gourmet grocery and prepared foods store. The web site chopchop.com is even more mysterious -- do you know anything about it?"
To paraphrase for those who don't want to click on the mysterious website, Chop Chop promises to bring back the days when New Yorkers wanted something and it just showed up. I obviously missed those days ;)

Caught this pooch a few weeks back at Abilene on Court Street.

Normally I'd blame the oppressive August heat for not wanting to think or write the last week of the month. But, happily for the weather, it's kind of pleasant out there. That leaves me with few excuses other than that, per usual, 95 percent of New York City is on vacation and I'm not.

Anybody who's not on vacation have anything new to report? Openings? Closings? Random musings?

Sometimes I Feel Like I'm the Only One Trying to Gentrify This Neighborhood

"When I moved into this neighborhood, I fell in love right away. Not with the actual neighborhood, but with its potential: It's affordable, there are nice row houses all around just waiting to be filled up by my friends, there's lot of open space to be exploited, and plenty of parking. Plus, this area has got a great authentic feel and, with a little work, it could be even more authentic. Perfect, right? " ...

To read more, check out America's finest news source, The Onion.

While perusing the Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill Courier, I  came across this horrifying crime written by the witty voice behind the Police Blotter:

"A 63-year-old woman had her wallet lifted from her purse as she was immersed in a grueling game of dominos at the Wyckoff Gardens Senior Center, 272 Wyckoff Street. Police were told that when the woman, a resident of Hoyt Street, started the game at 4 p.m. on July 27, she placed her purse on the seat behind her. But, sometime during the game, a thief snaked her hand into the woman's purse, taking her wallet and debit card, officials said."

Would that all the Police Blotter blurbs were so lighthearted.

Dennis and I have this dream: It's opening a restaurant where everything is served on a stick. (I won't reveal all of our grand plans, but if anybody wants to fund this little project please let me know.) Like any good business prospect, ours involves extensive research and that research led us to Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pie-ery in Red Hook. Steve's done some of the work for us and devised a way  transform his lovely Key lime pies into mini Key lime pie covered in chocolate and skewered on a stick. I want to emphasize that this is a real live crust-and-all Key lime pie under the chocolate. Also, it's really sweet, and should probably be shared with a friend. I have to give Steve credit for his ingenuity, but I found that the chocolate, crust and pie filling combination is a touch too sweet. Still, it's worth a bike/bus ride over there to see for yourself. Plus, as everybody knows, food on a stick is just more fun.

We took a bike ride over the weekend that involved scouring Red Hook's nooks and crannies. One nook we got a peek at was the Waterfront Museum Barge. Though it's not normally open on the weekends, a couple had an appointment to see the space for an event, so a man who I'm pretty sure was museum president David Sharpes let us onto the boat, too.

In addition to seeing the barge and getting some background on its history and recent restoration, we heard an impassioned argument for saving the dry dock where Ikea plans to build its parking lot. The shortened version of the argument says that it is one of three functional dry docks in the New York Harbor (dry docks lift ships out of the water so they can be repaired) and, as such, it could be an important part of continuing the shipping industry in this region--this in addition to it being a significant piece of history. Though no one has said it exactly, I'm sure part of the trouble is the indignity of something of this magnitude and importance being paved into a parking lot.

To further imprint the importance of saving the structure, today, while waiting for my slice to warm at Vinny's on Court Street (love their slices!), I picked up the Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill Courier, and what's on the paper's page one and page two? Ikea and the Red Hook graving dock that the museum and Save the Graving Dock wants to protect. If you want to do your part in attempting to change Ikea's plans, contact either organization, and they'll point you in the right direction.

And do go down and check out the barge. Even if it's not open, the public gardens on the waterfront are absolutely gorgeous, and it's uber-close to Fairway. An added bonus: The day we were there, the fence on the water had a slight electrical charge, meaning one could touch it, get a shock, but then pass the shock onto one's companion. Almost as much fun as when I discovered that if you lick batteries your tongue tingles!

Anybody know what happened last night at what appeared to be the building next to Hanley's? Good to know that when fire trucks respond in the neighborhood, they respond in force--we counted 4!

Friends of ours are jumping on the baby bandwagon and well on their way to becoming proud parents (less than five months to go). Trouble is, they can't find a day care in the neighborhood that watches infants, or children under 2 years old. I suggested that they post on the Urbanbaby message board, but I thought maybe a reader (do our readers have children?) might know.

The lovely photo comes from photographer Kirk Anderson's website. He has a whole series of potato pictures for sale.

Sometimes one of my favorite things in the neighborhood disappears, and I don't notice, and this makes me feel bad. Such is the case with Tabouleh at 136 Smith Street, which according to a correspondent closed a few months ago and is now a retail store (why did I not notice?). Tabouleh offered a really fab falafel, schwarma or gyro in a no-nonsense environment for cheap. While I like Zaytoons, it's more of a restaurant, less of a falafel take-out joint, and please do not say that you like Pita Grill. For a rehash on my thoughts of that friendly but misguided joint, go here.