Everything’s coming up pad thai (and burgers, of course!) in this week’s roundup of tasty gossip. Plus, the biggest market news this side of the Brooklyn Flea.
Hip in a box: More details have emerged about the marketplace that will be built out of recycled shipping containers near the former Albee Square mall in Downtown. Besides the usual lineup of indie vendors (Cuzin’s Duzin, Maharlika, Roberta’s, Robicelli’s), the new DeKalb Market will feature a showcase farm, where passerby can learn all there is to know about the life cycle of their rhubarb! The food fun begins in early summer.
I scream you scream: We all scream for self-pasteurized ice cream! Ample Hills Creamery, once a popular Park Slope pushcart, is opening a brick and mortar store on Vanderbilt and St. Marks avenues in a few weeks time. The kicker? All of the fun and funky flavors (salted crack caramel, stout ’n’ pretzels), will be made from a house-pasteurized starter mix of eggs, milk, cream, and sugar. Dig the stationary bike-powered hand-crank mixer!
One busy Mann: Brooklyn restaurateur, Ted Mann, will add two new joints to his impressive roster come summer, reports Brooklyn Based. After opening Cubana Social in Williamsburg and No Name Bar in Greenpoint, the Bay Ridge native is setting up shop a little closer to home with Gold Coast, an old-timey deli slated to go up on 86th Street and Third Avenue. Wonder if they’ll name a sandwich after his biological dad, Ted Nugent? Also on the docket — a massive 13,000-square-foot beer garden on 19th Street and Seventh Avenue in the South Slope, according to Brownstoner. Prost!
We ‘like’ this: Hubbub ensued when word went out that Di Fara pizza might actually be taking orders via Facebook. Serious Eats posted an FB transcript, in which someone from Di Fara wrote, “I do not mind at all allowing orders to be placed via Facebook. The only issue is that I only check in to Facebook a certain time of day and if it’s not placed within that window of time, I may miss it.” Site administrator Margy De Marco Mieles later amended the statement, warning that Di Fara’s was incapable of consistently using Facebook as a resource for doing business. Best to suck it up and wait in line.
Burp on tap: Our friends at Park Slope Patch broke the biggest food story of the year this week: Root Hill Cafe on Fourth Avenue now has kombucha on tap. And of course the two flavors are from Kombucha Brooklyn, the local maker of the most important beverage since coffee.
Burger bonanza: The corporate meat patty business is set to take over the world — or at least Park Slope. Residents that shun the beefy allure of Five Guys, Cheeburger Cheeburger, Brooklyn Flipster, Corner Burger or Bare Burger can soon try their tummies at 67 Burger on Flatbush Avenue. Choose your meat then choose your style; “The Southwestern” comes with spicy chipotle mayo, roasted peppers, scallions and jack cheese. Arteries, beware!
Case of mistaken identity: Despite a liquor license in the window for “Tessa and Luco,” the old Marius Café spot in Carroll Gardens in about to become Bar Bruno. Carroll Gardens Patch got the early skinny from owner Richard Ampudia, who promises a Mexican- influenced “neighborhood cafe where you know the waiter’s name and you get a good meal.” Set to open in mid-April, the eatery will offer a full bar, backyard seating, and take-out and delivery service.
Movin’ on down, from the east side: Here’s another feather for Brooklyn’s culinary cap; Jamison Blankenship and David Koon, the chef de cuisine and executive sous chef of Manhattan powerhouse, Morimoto, are Prospect Heights-bound! According to early reports from Eater, the pair have left their star-spangled posts to open an outer-borough ramen shop. It’s only a matter of time before Daniel Boulud realizes BK is where it’s at.
A farewell to schwarma: If you can’t take the heat, stay away from the gyro spit. Bay Ridge’s Kebab Factory is all boarded up and covered with signs heralding the coming of Mocha Mocha Coffee. Not a bad use for the space, considering a decent cup of joe is a lot harder to come by in the nabe than a righteous doner kebab. The commuter-happy location, right by the entrance to the 86th Street subway on Fourth Avenue, is equally prime for a morning caffeine fix.
If at first you don’t succeed: Bread and Butter may have only lasted a year at 46 Henry St. in Brooklyn Heights, but a new restaurant, Seasons, is ready to try its luck in the location, according to the Brooklyn Heights blog. Expected to open on March 21, the resto sports a contemporary American menu, although we hope Chef Tuhin Dutta plans on bringing a little Indian fare to the party.
Thai, Thai again: It was already kind of funny that Ghang, a Thai restaurant on Smith Street, had an identical outpost just one block over on Court Street. Maybe it wasn’t so funny, since the Smith spot has closed, according to our friends at Pardon Me for Asking. Its replacement? Another Thai restaurant, of course! HophAp is keeping the Tom Yum soup and drunken noodles flowing.
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/34/11/24_foodgossip_2011_3_18_bk.html
