Thursday, August 11th, 2011
Jesse sends this update for tonight’s monthly Squirrelly event at Sycamore, on Cortelyou Road in Ditmas Park:
Calling all queers in Ditmas Park, Kensington, Midwood, Flatbush, and everywhere in between: come out to Squirrelly, the monthly party at Sycamore Flower Shop + Bar. Join your neighbors for drink specials and dancing to disco, freestyle, glam, funk, house, and more. Free, from 9pm to 1am. Hope to see you there!
Sycamore
1118 Cortelyou Road between Stratford and Westminster
347-240-5850
- Mary
Posted in Art & Music, Food & Drink |
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011
Photo: credit of a Gothamist reader
A reader passed along this photo of an NYPD squad car parked at the Dunkin Donuts near Coney Island Ave and 18th Ave in Brooklyn, and notes that if he did the same thing, “I’d be liable for (and deserve) a couple hundred bucks in tickets.” Yet this reader clearly knows little about Acute Pastry Palsy, or APP, an affliction that effects untold masses of Americans, as evidenced by the 6,700 Dunkin Donuts Outpatient Clinics across the country.
There is more on this hard-hitting report at Gothamist
- Sarah
Posted in Crime, Food & Drink |
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
King Cones, pre-opened:
- Sarah
Posted in Food & Drink |
Friday, July 29th, 2011
This Observer story about the “Portlandification” of Brooklyn is right up there with that Brooklyn is the New Paris article in terms of articles that may cause injury from excessive eye-rolling.
“‘Hey, there’s a group of guys in Brooklyn or a group of young people in Brooklyn who—’” Mr. Smith said. “You can sort of feel the eye-roll of the editor, like, yeah, there’s a bunch of people in Brooklyn who, you name it, are constructing a huge skyscraper out of used coffee cups! They’re learning how to butcher pigs in their own kitchen!’”
We do have neighbors who raise chickens in their backyard, but it’s probably not as hip if they’re Orthodox families. Based on the delicious smell of the hallway in my building, I’ll go out on a limb and assume pickling isn’t a hot new trend, either.
- Sarah
Posted in Food & Drink |
Thursday, July 28th, 2011
Ramadan starts on Monday. According to the Bed-Stuy Patch, the police are getting ready, but so too are the neighbors. Each country seems to have its own Ramadan iftar traditions, in which dates are a mainstay: Kalustyan’s (in Manhattan) orders 5,000 pounds of dates for the Ramadan month.
Back in Bangladesh, when Aziz Osmani moved from an island village to a high school in nearby Chittagong, he had his first taste of Rooh Afza, something of an invented Ramadan tradition in the subcontinent—it’s a scarlet syrup first concocted by an Indian beverage company in 1907, consisting of rosewater, mint, cilantro, watermelon, carrot and other ingredients in a top-secret ratio. ….“When combined with chilled milk, it’s a wonderful start to iftar,” or the meal at dusk breaking the fast, says Osmani.
Shaikh, a Manhattan corporate lawyer, quoted in the same survey of NYC Ramadan food and traditions that appears in Edible Manhattan says, “This year, I’ll probably just break fast with coffee and a piece of chocolate at my desk.”
Any other foods or Ramadan rituals Kensington locals relish? Or NYC modifications? Once I saw a week’s parade of lambs being led to slaughter in Kairouan, Tunisia. What a trip if that were to happen here. It would certainly keep the 66th Precinct busy!
- Jole
Tags: 66th Precinct, culture, Ramadan
Posted in Community Event, Food & Drink, Holidays |
Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
If you’re looking for a different sort of curry in the area, Sake Sushi makes Japanese curry! Japanese curry is hard to find in a lot of places, and its history is a reminder of the relationship between food and culture. From wikipedia:
Curry was introduced to Japan during the Meiji era (1868–1912) by the British, at a time when India was under the administration of the British. The dish became popular and available for purchase in supermarkets and restaurants in the late 1960s. It has been adapted since its introduction to Japan, and is so widely consumed that it can be called a national dish.
$9 gets you a ton of curry – yes, that is a quart.
On a plate. The red curry sauce isn’t as spicy as AM Thai’s, but it’s not bland, either.
- Sarah
Tags: Sake Japanese
Posted in Food & Drink |
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
Here is a list of cheap, diverse, and delicious foods from around NYC, as recommended by food bloggers.
Fare from our area includes:
Sley Delis’s Paletas:
La Newyorkina may have popularized Mexican popsicles as part of NYC’s ever-growing food fair scene, but Sley Deli’s paletas have been stocked in shops all over the city for years. Go to the source, an unassuming bodega in Borough Park, and ogle the rainbow of more than 30 flavors stacked in the freezer case. Choose from tropical fruits like guava or passion fruit, creamy arroz con leche, cookies and cream (it’s not Latino 24/7 here) or spicy-tart tamarind spiked with chile.
Sley Deli
4217 Fort Hamilton Pkwy, between 42nd and 43rd Sts
Brooklyn, NY 11219
(718) 435-5343
Yunnan Flavor Snack:
Yunnan Flavor Snack is one of the only Chinese restaurants in the city serving Yunnan (a southwestern Chinese province) cuisine, which is characteristically spicy, herbal, and noodle-heavy. This shop looks like a total hovel from the outside, but don’t be fooled. Try the dumpling noodle soup, a red-hot, delicious mess of chili oil, pork broth, and thinly wrapped dumplings that resemble mini-brains.
Yunnan Flavor Snack
774 49th St., between 7th and 8th Aves
Brooklyn, NY 11220
(718) 633-3090
- Sarah
Posted in Food & Drink |
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
620 Caton Ave, a pizza place, has made the following claim:
Their iced coffee is actually excellent – it doesn’t contain ice cubes! The cookies, made by local baker Oh, For Pete’s Cake!, are also delicious, and the pizza is good standard Brooklyn fare.
Who do you think has the best coffee in Kensington?
- Sarah
Posted in Food & Drink |
Monday, July 11th, 2011
The chef, Joe Brancaccio, at ease in his sidewalk garden/porch.
- Jole
Tags: Brancaccio's
Posted in Food & Drink, Neighbor Profiles |
Sunday, July 10th, 2011
It looks like Connie’s Cafe has some awesome stuff on their horizon! Jazz nights start this Thursday:
They’re getting a mural on the East 5th St side of the restaurant wall, as well:
- Sarah
Tags: Connie's Cafe, live music
Posted in Food & Drink |
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
Good news! A few Kensington restaurants have joined the 21st century, and accept orders via seamlessweb. Unfortunately, 2/3rds of the listings are slightly borked, but it’s a start.
Has anyone ordered from a local restaurant using seamlessweb? Was it seamless?
- Sarah
Tags: restaurants
Posted in Food & Drink |
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
This Saturday, July 9 will be a busy one for Fort Hamilton Parkway:
* The GrowNYC Youthmarket begins the season at 9am on Fort Hamilton between East 4th and 5h Streets, in front of the library.
* The new coffee shop Steeplechase, on Fort Hamilton between East 2nd and 3rd Streets, is scheduled to open.
- Mary
Tags: coffee, Youthmarket
Posted in Food & Drink, Greenmarket & CSA |
Saturday, June 25th, 2011
This Sunday’s all-day Street Fair and performances made the June 24 NYTimes Diner’s Journal list of week-end events. It also was mentioned in yesterday’s Eating in Translation.
- Jole
Tags: Bangladeshi Mela, street fair
Posted in Art & Music, Community Event, Food & Drink, News |
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
It seems that NYC Icy has gone the way of the Dodgers, which means that our mango-basil cravings will be unfulfilled unless we take the long train ride to their new location.
Unless, of course, you make it yourself. You do not need an ice cream maker to make sorbet, although the finished product will be smoother if you use one. Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with NYC Icy, except as a customer. This is my recipe for mango basil sorbet, not theirs.
You will need:
Ingredients:
-2 ripe mangoes
-At least 2 T fresh basil
-1/4 – 1/2 cup of sugar and water, depending on taste
-2.5 tsp (or more) of the alcohol of your choice – I used tequila
(more…)
- Sarah
Tags: NYC Icy
Posted in Food & Drink |
Monday, June 20th, 2011
Saw this listing for a head chef on craigslist. Based on this description, anybody have a guess of what restaurant this is? It sounds good!
We are a very clean and healthy small café, serving neighborhood customers. Very family/ kid friendly. No fryers. Mainly food is cooked on the grill. We serve popular breakfast items, lunch: salads, soups and sandwiches, gourmet dinners, fresh squeezed juices, lots of organic items.
- Mary
Tags: restaurants
Posted in Food & Drink |
Monday, June 20th, 2011
The 6th Annual Bangladeshi Street Fair, or Mela, happens next Sunday, June 26. Speeches start at 11—including Councilmember Brad Lander and Borough President Marty Markowitz—and the music should start around 2. No Baby Nasnin this time, but Mila, I’m told, looking at you from the lower left, is excellent. Once again the festival’s organizers are the Church McDonald Bangladeshi Business Association, Mr Abdur Rob Chowdhury, President.
Do the additional sponsors make it better? louder? more crowded? ATN Bangla News will be there to cover the events; Eating in Translation, the ethnic food blog, will surely list it. Don’t miss it. This is Kensington’s 21 century answer to those “oh so 20 century” Italian Street Fairs.
- Jole
Tags: Bangladeshi Mela, live Music & Dance
Posted in Art & Music, Community Event, Food & Drink, News |
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
We wrote about black mulberries last week. It appears that there are white mulberry trees, as well, though these are harder to spot since they make a less noticeable mess. Ripe white mulberries differ from unripe black mulberries in that the seeds are on the outside, and they’re much more tender. They are also much less tart than black mulberries.
There a few white mulberry trees on the north side of 18th Ave between East 8th St and Coney Island Ave, but keep an eye out – there are surely more.
- Sarah
Tags: mulberries
Posted in Food & Drink |
Sunday, June 12th, 2011
On Mothers' Day, the regulars were there having coffee on the terrasse. Gone now. No one knows why. Not the Russian blintz store next door, or the Albanian meat store, or Cafe Cemi, the other Albanian cafe on Church.
- Jole
Tags: Old Brick, restaurants
Posted in Community Event, Food & Drink, News |
Friday, June 10th, 2011
It was a tie, Brad Lander’s daughter holding out for the quesadilla. From left to right, CM Brad Lander and Ellen Honigstock, founder of Sustainable Kensington Windsor Terrace, judges; Veronica Guzman, Chef/instructor; Felicia Romain, a Teen chef. Tonight is the next Teen Chef Battle at Brooklyn Commune, 601 Greenwood Ave. Tel: (718) 686-1044. Prep starts at 6pm, Battle at 7.
- Jole
Tags: Teen Chef Battle, Youthmarket
Posted in Community Event, Food & Drink, Greenmarket & CSA, News |
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Last week, we discussed mulberry trees in the area, and the compelling reasons we should consider picking and eating them. Here is a more comprehensive discussion of how and why to obtain these berries.
Where to find fruiting mulberry trees in Kensington – map courtesy of Stefanie Gray, click through for larger size:
They make this mess, unless the berries are cleaned up first:
How to pick mulberries:
You want your berries to be as dark purple as possible – the darker, the better. If part of the berry is a cranberry color, that’s fine, as long as most of it is very dark purple. The lighter the berry is, the tarter it will be. The light pink ones are unbearable, as are the greenish white ones; avoid them at all costs, unless you are planning to make yourself hallucinate – the unripe ones contain a hallucinogenic sap, but they cause such severe gastrointestinal symptoms that even Hunter S Thompson wouldn’t touch them.
They can be picked off the tree – the riper ones will come off much easier, of course. Bring a tall friend or even a stepladder to get the ones off the top! You can also hold a large open umbrella or two upside down, and use a large stick to shake the branches – the ripe fruit just falls off.
(more…)
- Sarah
Tags: mulberries
Posted in Food & Drink, Green |
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011
At 115 Ditmas Ave, between McDonald Ave and East 2nd St. Anyone know anything about it?
- Sarah
Tags: openings
Posted in Food & Drink |
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
As you’ve heard, Council Member Brad Lander, along with GrowNYC and Family Cook Productions, is sponsoring a program for teens this summer to learn healthy cooking preparation techniques, and ultimately helm the Kensington/Windsor Terrace YouthMarket. Leading up to the opening of the YouthMarket on July 9, the kids are participating in “battles” at the Brooklyn Commune on Friday evenings, which you’re welcome to attend. And tomorrow’s special guest judge is Lander himself!
The upcoming battles all begin at 7pm:
* TOMORROW, Friday, June 3
* Friday, June 10
* Friday, June 17
* Friday, June 24
* Friday, July 8 (Teen Battle Chef graduation and sponsor thank you party)
Teen Battle Chef Battles
Brooklyn Commune
601 Greenwood Ave
(718) 686-1044
- Mary
Tags: Youthmarket
Posted in Food & Drink, Greenmarket & CSA |
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
There are a few trees like this in our neighborhood that will, in the next few weeks, dump these berries onto the sidewalk, where they will be crushed by pedestrians and rot.
These are mulberry trees, and the fruits are indeed edible, provided you wash them well; in fact, they’re somewhat of a delicacy, as they don’t last more than a few days and thus are rarely sold in grocery stores. There are several such trees in the neighborhood, and the one with the most fruit is on a lawn on 18th Ave near East 8th St. The homeowner says the berries are a nuisance to them, and welcomes the opportunity to have them removed. As someone who has harvested these in the past and lived to tell about it, I plan to take advantage of this opportunity to harvest hyperlocal fruit on both this and the following Sunday afternoons; readers are more than welcome, but please comment if you plan to come so we’ll know how many to expect!
They make excellent pies, jams, muffins, and infuse well in vodkas, especially if you add vanilla bean and almonds.
- Sarah
Tags: mulberries
Posted in Food & Drink, Green |
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
You could eat your way down Coney Island Avenue’s “Little Pakistan,” starting at Avenue H and wandering down all the way to Parkside Ave, though you might explode after the first stop. Thankfully, Courier Life’s Dan MacLeod did it for you, getting a tour that included Bukhari, Gourmet Sweets, and Pakiza from Asghar Choudhri, president of the Pakistani American Federation of New York.
I’ve never craved samosas for breakfast as much as I did this morning when I read this about Bukhari:
“The samosas are very good and tasty,” he said of the vegetable-, potato-, or meat-filled specialty….
The samosa was amazing: lightly fried shell stuffed with savory mashed potato and pea with cumin seed.
What do you think? Any place they missed that you’d include on your Little Pakistan food tour?
- Mary
Tags: restaurants
Posted in Food & Drink |
Sunday, May 29th, 2011
Monday bust out of the neighborhood. Do the Trinidadian “wine” through the African Bazaar behind Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Tomorrow is the last day to check out the array of socca, dancehall, reggae, and other Caribbean music; eat Caribbean and soul food—including curried goat and Jerk chicken with pepper sauce; and pick up some African jewelry, print fabrics: the inspiration for this year’s hot patterns, sandals and dresses. It’s all there for the asking starting at noon. (Better to arrive late, when all the stands have their rice and peas up and ready.)
At 3 the final performance of this years’ DanceAfrica 3-day series features an encounter of African, Cuban and American rhythms. At 4:30 and 9:15 there is a showing of Beyond the Ocean, a film from the Ivory Coast. The films and the dance festival are usually well worth a visit.
And starting Thursday, June 2, at noon, at the BAM R&B Festival at MetroTech, catch George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic do his futuristic bow wow for free!!!! Other highlights include pianist Geri Allen and Timeline playing on June 16th and New Orleans music from Treme with a Neville Brother and some Indians on June 23. Here’s the full schedule. Shows run through August 4.
- Jole
Tags: festival
Posted in Art & Music, Food & Drink |
Saturday, May 28th, 2011
Congrats to our gardening neighbor Frank Meuschke, whom you may have heard on the radio yesterday. He appeared on WNYC’s segment “Last Chance Foods” to discuss the super spring treat that is pea shoots (or rather, pea greens, which he explains is the more appropriate term). You can listen to the piece, and get a recipe, at the WNYC Culture site.
- Mary
Tags: gardening, local blog
Posted in Food & Drink |
Friday, May 27th, 2011
First Youthmarket Teen Chef Battle starts tonight at Brooklyn Commune. Prep at 6, battle at 7. Brooklyn Commune’s address is 601 Greenwood Ave. (between Prospect Ave. & 7 St.), Tel: (718) 686–1044.
Above,Team A, from left to right: Chemi Chemi, International High School; Edward Lawson, Urban Academy High School, Manhattan; Felicia Romain, Second School of Journalism, Park Slope
Team B, right: Albertha Ladina and Kevin Foley, classmates at Brooklyn Tech; Olivia Morgan, Ft. Hamilton High School at 86th Street.
Chefs Veronica Guzman and Laura Duffy.
- Jole
Posted in Community Event, Food & Drink, Greenmarket & CSA, News |
Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
We asked, you sent them! We couldn’t decide between both entries we got, so here are both. Suggestions for the next food challenge ingredient are also welcome!
Neighbor Cathy sent this in for Beet, Clementine and Pomegranate Salad
(more…)
- Sarah
Tags: food challenges
Posted in Food & Drink |
Friday, May 20th, 2011
Sunday, May 22 from 11 to 5, food trucks are rallying to feed you at Grand Army Plaza. Some of the more familiar names are Red Hook Lobster Pound and Rickshaw Dumpling Truck. But they are not all. Coolhaus, Joyride, Kelvin Natural Slush Co. Milk Truck, Mud truck, Souvlaki GR, The Eddie’s Pizza Truck, The Frying Dutchmen, and The Treats Truck will also be there. Read more.
- Jole
Tags: Food, fun
Posted in Food & Drink |
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
One of the best in-season treats is corn. The nice weather this week brought out Kanis (sp?) Fatimah, who grills and seasons corn on the cob right on CIA and Foster Ave.
- Sarah
Tags: street vendors
Posted in Food & Drink |
