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bellastraniera
a.k.a. Marcy Swingle - obsessed with food and fashion.View my photography website.
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Tag Archives: Brooklyn
On the Stump for Coffee
Here it is. Coffee. A seemingly innocuous substance, yet Stumptown, a fair trade coffee brand based in Portland, Oregon, caused a fervor – and a backlash – as soon as it landed in New York this summer, the likes of which we haven’t seen since mid-90s Starbucks encroachment. A NY Press article questioning the boho spirit of the brand – true or poser? – incited a series of inordinately belligerent comments on Eater.
In the past few months, when I tell people I write about food, a couple New Yorkers immediately asked: Have you tried Stumptown coffee? Not what do you think about Bruni’s demotion of Union Square Cafe to two stars or what’s the best pizza place, but have you tried Stumptown coffee? Really, you haven’t? At this point, after proclaiming the merits of this miraculous beverage, they usually change the subject awkwardly, suddenly unsure that I would ever have anything useful to say about food. (more…)
Prime Meats
What’s the magic formula for opening a restaurant in this economy? Old-timey décor and bartenders in handlebar mustaches and suspenders? Gourmet burgers on the menu? The people behind several successful inexpensive-but-charming restaurants at the helm?
Prime Meats, the new German-inflected Brooklyn restaurant by Frankie’s Spuntino owners Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli, has doubled down on previous winning elements to come up with a seemingly foolproof recipe for success. And so far, everyone’s loving it: the wait for a table on an August weekday night was almost an hour. In the roomy bar area, the ceilings are pressed tin, Victorian brass lamps hang over the bar, and a vintage butcher shop mirror with “Prime Meats” etched on it reflects the grown-up, very Brooklyn crowd. (About three out of five men in the place had beards, including owner Frank Falcinelli, who was sitting in the corner.) Seeing this kind of steampunk setting yet again made us wonder if Freeman’s Taavo Somer and Milk & Honey’s Sasha Petraske are wringing their hands somewhere, wondering what they hath wrought. (more…)
I Had a Farm, a Farm in Brooklyn
In New York City, where outdoor space – make that any space – is at a premium, would you give over your entire backyard to a farming initiative? That’s what several Brooklynites have already done, as chronicled in Serious Eats’ new video Brooklyn’s Cool New Backyard Farms. Stacey Murphy, founder of BK Farmyards, consults with homeowners about what they can grow, then designs and installs planting beds, irrigation, and the actual vegetables. For everything you can’t eat, BK Farmyards will credit you and sell “to your neighbors,” as their website explains. They already have a total of three and a half acres under cultivation.
In case you’re wondering where your next really, really locally-sourced restaurant meal comes from, this video may just provide the answer.
Anella
One of the saddest things about losing a restaurant can be losing a favorite dish. Such was the case when Le Zinc closed several years ago: Although the airy, art-poster interior was mercifully preserved by the next tenant, Kurt Gutenbrunner of Blaue Gans, the outstanding French pork country terrine vamoosed with the beloved bistro.
Happily, that terrine has landed at new Anella in Greenpoint, which Marie Fromage led us to this past weekend. All this time the secrets to the dish have lived on in the mind of Michael Sullivan, chef of Anella and former co-chef of Le Zinc with David Waltuck (Chanterelle, Macao), who recreates the terrine, peppery ground pork laced with a delicate liqueur like Pernod, a dense spread that turns fluffy as soon as you apply it to toast. (more…)
Best NYC Outdoor Dining: An Opinionated Guide
Someday, someday, New Yorkers can hope to dine outdoors, right? When summer weather finally sticks around, arm yourself with this neighborhood-by-neighborhood guide to over 30 of the best places to eat outdoors in the city. Not all of these places are new and cool, and food is not always the main draw. But from sidewalk to garden to rooftop dining, they all offer great atmosphere and spur-of-the-moment accessibility, so you can catch the nice weather while it lasts.
Posted in food
Tagged Bobo, Brooklyn, Fette Sau, Frederick's Downtown, Gemma, Meatpacking District, Morandi, New York, restaurants, Vutera
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Street Chic: David Byrne Concert in Prospect Park
What happens when David Byrne throws a free concert in Prospect Park to open the season of Celebrate Brooklyn, a summer of music, dance, spoken word, and film at the band shell? Approximately ten thousand people show up to see an amazing show. The concert, which was free because, as Byrne joked, “Given the cost of concert tickets these days, the poor hedge fund guys and investment bankers can no longer afford them. So made sense to do a free show, as the tour has been going incredibly well and we can afford it.”
Not only was there valet parking for bicycles, Byrne himself biked to the concert. (He lives in DUMBO.) Because of huge monitors and speakers set up in the surrounding fields, even fans squeezed out of the band shell could see the show.
The wait was suspenseful, but fortunately, we had people watching to entertain us in the meantime. Here are some of the best outfits on the scene – and some good clues to what to wear at outdoor shows this summer. Plus! A brief video of Byrne shimmying to vintage tunes “Crosseyed and Painless” and “Once in a Lifetime.”
This Weekend in Food: Bite of BoCoCa and Hapa Kitchen BBQ at Brooklyn Yard
Don’t just read about all the gourmet fare coming out of Brooklyn, taste it yourself this Saturday, with two – count ‘em, two – food fests that promise to deliver great food at even better prices.
Lunch: Bite of BoCoCa
More than 20 Court Street and Smith Street restaurants, gourmet stores, and bakeries are taking over the Transit Garden at Smith Street and 2nd Place this Saturday from 1pm-6pm for Bite of BoCoCa. Your $10 for five tastings or $20 for 12 tastings will benefit the South Brooklyn Local Development Corporation (SBLDC), which keeps up the pretty gardens in the nabe. (more…)
Julie Powell: Food Bloggers Are Clannish, Slightly Evil People
Last night the Young Lions of the New York Public Library hosted a panel, “Eating at Home,” featuring Amanda Hesser, Rocco DiSpirito, Marion Nestle, and Julie Powell, author of Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment, the basis of an upcoming film starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. The most revelatory part of the evening? Though she was perhaps the first food blogger to get a book out of her blog postings, and certainly the first to get a movie starring Amy Adams as herself, Julie Powell does not consider herself a food blogger and feels “deeply ambivalent” about the whole food blogging phenomenon. “Food bloggers are clannish, slightly evil people sometimes.” Et tu, Julie?
The Young Lions Committee often features excellent panels like this (I’ve also seen Mario Batali, Anthony Bourdain, and Bill Buford face off on stage there), so if you want to see excellent speakers first hand, please join and help them out: The New York Public Library just lost $57 million in funding.
More highlights from the talk, after the jump.
Vutera
With all the secret, annoying, members-only nightspots opening recently, it’s a relief to find a place that’s hidden without being trendy or pretentious. Welcome to Vutera, the little spot in Williamsburg that opened beneath Rose Live Music. Owners Carlo and Gina Vutera managed to carve a romantic, candlelit space out of an unsuspecting basement beneath the bar, and the result is a very appealing mix of rustic decor and sophisticated food.
D. and I started with the chilled asparagus soup with herbed goat cheese ($7) and the Spanish mackerel escabeche ($10). Vutera’s escabeche was surprisingly breaded and lightly fried before being chilled and marinated – which actually added a slight edge of toasty flavor to the final product. Though the name of the restaurant says “Italian,” it was hard to pin a nationality on this dish. (more…)
New Brooklyn Bars: Sharlene’s and High Dive
Where some see a recession, others see an opportunity: At Sample last night, D. and I heard about the opening of not one but two – count ‘em, two – new bars by the owners of Commonwealth. Soft-opening tonight is Sharlene’s in Prospect Heights, in the old Mooney‘s spot on Flatbush. Sharlene, a bartender at Commonwealth, is opening her own spot with the Commonwealth owners as partners. They spent six months renovating the place and waiting for a liquor license. Mooney’s was once known as the neighborhood dive bar that served underage Brooklyn kids – now some of the same people (grown up, of course) will be working here as bartenders. Should be interesting to see what the face lift brings about.
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