Recently in Park Slope Category

Root Hill Café

4^th Avenue and Carroll Street, Park Slope

There's no lack of spots to grab a cup of coffee in the Slope these days. Some are good, some are just OK, but one new spot really comes through on that eternal search for a really good cup of coffee. I'm talking about Root Hill Café on Fourth Avenue and Carroll Street. You know, the spot that used to house the grimy Family Car Service?

The owners of Root Hill have totally transformed the formerly blah space, incorporating small architectural elements (inside and out) like modern minimalist furniture alongside rustic elements like exposed brick and large plank wood floors. Plus, this coffee shop has a Clover—a non-Starbucks one at that. [For those not familiar, the Clover machine is an amazing little contraption that is actually a single cup brewer in a commercial capacity] Naturally, the coffee is kick-ass, and the bohemian employees are charming and feel like good friends after only a few visits.

Root Hill Café recently introduced a full breakfast menu to compliment its Blue Sky muffins and pastries from a 9th Street Patisserie, and I can't stop ordering those homemade cookies. If you need a reason to check it out, consider that the shop has seen some rough times lately--a recent flood wiped out their food and ruined their beautiful wood floor (reconditioned from a barn upstate)—so they could use a little support.

--Read more from blogger Kristen Haas at www.adventuresofagal.com

Seems like every time I walk down Smith Street something changes. Flirt is no more on Smith Street, which is sad because it was one of my favorite neighborhood boutiques. The location in Park Slope is still active, however, so now I'll just have to schlep myself over to 5th Avenue. In better news, Refinery (a long-time neighborhood stalwart for great purses) is looking quite spiffy in its new space just a few doors down.

We've had a last minute line-up change. Tal will not be DJing Suspiria tonight (4/11). In his place, I will be making my first public DJ appearance in over 10 years. Check out my last mix "Dionysus And The Pleiades," for a sample.

Our last party was such a blast we've decided we must continue! Come on out this Friday (4/11) to Club Deity at 368 Atlantic Ave (between Hoyt & Bond). Adam Smith, Tal, Giant Pander, and Ladycréme will be bringing you all the best techno, electro, house and disco tunes from current to classics. The fun starts at 11PM and goes to whenever, with no cover required.

If you're near downtown Brooklyn and looking to get your groove on, but don't want to train or cab-it to Manhattan, then you must check out Suspiria.

After months of waiting, and untold journeys to Sweet Melissa Patisserie for sugar fixes, The Sweet Melissa Baking Book hit my kitchen the other week. I immediately cracked the spine at the index to search for my favorite  treat ... and there it was: "madeleines, chestnut honey, 62-63." If you have never had a Sweet Melissa madeleine, then you need to get up immediately, scrounge $1.25 in change, and proceed straight to the bakery. Forget Proust, from  henceforth when you think of madeleines, the name you'll murmur will be Melissa.

Madeleines are cookies that are also cake. This should be an adequate explanation for the necessity of their existence and of the dire urgency for eating one at the absolute earliest. Could pages 62-63 do justice to these sublime little shells of baked goodness? With my boyfriend's birthday just coming up, I decided to forego the cupcakes (so 2007) and try out her recipe.

After a $30 stop at A Cook's Companion for madeleine molds, a ten minute wait at Sahadi's for hazelnuts (also called filberts, FYI), a tense deconstruction of 6 eggs (ok, actually 8 but that is only because I am terrible at separating egg whites), and two hours of refrigeration, the madeleines were ready to bake. Fifteen minutes later 24 perfect chestnut honey madeleines lay cooling on the kitchen counter. Moist, sweet, and perfect for dusting with sugar. Though my version was not quite as good as the one Melissa makes in her bakery, I place the blame squarely on my shoulders. Her recipe was clear and easy, and the cookie/cakes were believably baked by a pro.

To get your own copy of the book (and maybe one or two madeleines) swing by her book party at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, 2 April at the Park Slope location.

I went shopping in Park Slope on Saturday as I hadn't been over there in forever and wanted to check out a different shopping scene. Walking 5th Avenue, I was reminded that a lot of stores in Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill/Boerum Hill also exist in Park Slope: Soula, Flirt, Lucia. And today, I found out that Flight 001, new to Smith Street, will be opened a store on 5th Avenue in November. Brownstone Brooklyn can now travel with ease. (Now how about bringing a Bierkraft to our side of the neighborhood?)

New Flight 001 location:
58 Fifth Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718.789.1001

A reader sent me to a link to this thread on Room Eight, about a horsecar for Prospect Park. While the idea is fun, it seems like a horse cart would just be a quaint jaunt instead of a truly helpful bit of mass transit (a trolley, I'd be up for--and how about that trolley through Red Hook, eh?). Still, it's kind of fun to imagine an Anheuser Busch cart filled with a bunch of kids in the park.

Seems like there's a lot to do this weekend. This event, a cocktail demonstration and farmer's market tasting, happens on Sunday at Flatbush Farm in Park Slope from 4pm to 6pm in the bar(n). It's $40 per person with limited seating so reserve now if you're interested. Cocktails will include

• Rye with blackberries (or raspberries), mint and homemade ginger beer,
• Gin with peaches and homemade thyme syrup, and
• Aged Rum with honeydew melon and non-local lime juice.

Chef Stephen Browning will be whipping up assorted tapas including heirloom tomatoes, deviled eggs, olives, corn fritters, house-cured pickles, watermelon, pulled pork mini buns, as well as assorted toasts with house-smoked salmon, goat cheese & spicy peppers, radishes with butter, and white anchovies. The tasting is in conjunction with Slow Food NYC and Panforte Productions. Bon appetite.

PJ Hanley's got its barbecue out starting Sundays, and I just got an email that Flatbush Farm is holding not one but two barbecue celebrations this Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 6pm. Not only will there be "savory meats" but also clams, veggies, corn bread and veggie chili. Flatbush Farm, of course, just happens to be right near the Botanic Gardens, which is holding its Sakura Matsuri Cherry Blossom Fest this weekend. Two birds with one stone, I say.

This week's installment brings more than just the week's top five F train picks. An ode to Bonnie's Grill in Park Slope (Best Chicken Wings Ever?) in very bad haiku form:

Meaty, juicy, hot
greaseless with a crunch
falling off the bone

And below, this week's Subway Reads:

Winter Solstice
by Rosamunde Pilcher

The History of Islam
by Akbar Shah Najeebabadi

The Echo Maker: A Novel
by Richard Powers

The Other Daughter
by Lisa Gardner

The Lovely Bones
by Alice Sebold