Sticking around Brooklyn to ring in 2010? Then check out the New Year’s Eve festivities starting at 11pm at Grand Army Plaza tonight. There will be fireworks, free hot refreshments and musical entertainment. The best locations for viewing the midnight fireworks include anywhere in Grand Army Plaza, inside the Park on the West Drive, and along Prospect Park West between Grand Army Plaza and 9th Street.
Duck meatloaf at Buttermilk Channel.
The New York Times Dining section named the eleven most memorable dishes of the year, and two of them (that’s 18%!) can be found within blocks of each other on Court Street: the duck meatloaf at Buttermilk Channel (524 Court Street) and the Prime Manhattan at Prime Meats (465 Court Street). Sure, the latter is a cocktail, but Times counts it as one of their eleven most memorable dishes of the 2009.
THE DUCK MEATLOAF AT BUTTERMILK CHANNEL Buttermilk Channel roared onto the Brooklyn dining scene late last year with family-friendly service, an excellent wine list and a great deal of comforting food. Popovers and fried chicken don’t make year-end roundups, though. Rich, raisin-studded, thyme-infused duck meatloaf does. Doug Crowell, the restaurant’s owner, is pairing the meat with puréed parsnips zipped on orange and star anise. You could do that at home, too, or try it alongside the pommes aligot.
THE PRIME MANHATTAN AT PRIME MEATS There are a lot of people here who appear to have dressed for a Vancouver trapping expedition, attended a gallery show in Bushwick, and then had the idea to mush over to Carroll Gardens for absinthe. But this restaurant from the brilliant team behind the Frankies empire, while not even yet completely open, has wonderful food and a truly inspired drinks menu arranged by Damon Boelte. His Manhattan, built out of 100-proof Rittenhouse rye, Dolin sweet vermouth and bitters made at the restaurant out of buddha’s hand, a lemony citrus fruit, is a glass of refinement afforded only artists and dreamers: a direct portal into an imaginary 19th-century New York City.
The DUB Pies outlet on Columbia Street has closed. Reports say that the delicious pies will continue to be made at the DUB’s production facility and sold at area bars and at The Pie Shop on Prospect Park West. [via Bocoaland]
Food Bank NYC is hosting their second annual food drive in the neighborhood, going through January 6th. Please bring unopened food (in its original package, with the expiration date on it) to the drop off box at the front gate of 323 President Street (between Smith and Hoyt Streets), and help bring some nourishment to those who need it during the holidays.
Adam Suerte photo
CHB pal/ Brooklyn Tattoo owner Adam Suerte caught a photo of this ATM near his shop that has been ironically “modified” by a graffiti writer. Anyone who has been charged $5 bucks by one of these machines to get to their own money would mostly likely agree with the artist’s statement. Suerte adds that a few ATMs along Smith have been given this treatment.
The following is a complaint that was published in the New York Times on Christmas Day. Do you feel the same way? (Added onto that could be a gripe about cars simply not leaving enough space for another car to park. Sure, parking is not as bad as is Park Slope or Brooklyn Heights, but do your neighbor a solid and check to make sure that you haven’t put the kibosh on a spot besides the ones you took.)
Cobble Hill is a neighborhood of old brownstones and narrow streets. It also has a hospital and nursing home whose employees often wait in their cars and save spaces for friends on the next shift – an annoying but not illegal practice.
What must be illegal, though, is cramming one’s car into too small a space. Having witnessed this one too many times, I could not stay silent when I saw the beneficiary of a saved space try to fit an enormous S.U.V. into a spot appropriate for a Smart Car. I forced a smile and suggested that perhaps his car did not fit. In fact I urged him to get out of his tank and take a look at the havoc he had wreaked on the bumpers of two cars!
He simply left his vehicle (partly parked on the sidewalk) wedged between the two dented cars and went to work. No doubt returning eight hours later to sit in his S.U.V. and save a space for his friend – you know, the one driving the 18-wheeler.
MELISSA GLASS, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
Hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday, and best wishes for a relaxing few days leading up to the New Year. Sticking around the nabe? Leaving the city? What are your plans?
Chief of Department Salvatore J. Cassano has been named New York City’s 32nd Fire Commissioner. A U.S. Army veteran with combat experience in Vietnam, Cassano lives in Staten Island but was born in Carroll Gardens.
Fire Fighting News: “He has a lifetime of unmatched experience and will be an outstanding commissioner for the FDNY,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said during a press conference at City Hall.
Chief Cassano added: “My goal as Fire Commissioner is to build upon the successes of the last eight years and to make the Department stronger and better than ever before.”
The Chief has served the FDNY as a firefighter, lieutenant, captain, battalion chief, deputy chief, deputy assistant chief and assistant chief. He has been cited for bravery five times for rescuing victims from burning buildings.
Due to the snowstorm, Union Market’s opening has been pushed back until tomorrow, Tuesday, December 22.
Photo from Eater NY.
There’s been lots of buzz surrounding Mile End, the Monreal-style deli set to open in Boerum Hill, ever since news of its opening first broke this summer. Brooklyn Paper has a preview of the deli with lots of talk of smoked meat, but no mention of poutine (!!). What’s that all about?! Mile End still won’t be open for another few weeks, so let’s hope the poutine situation is remedied before then.
Brooklyn Paper: Montreal’s version also spends hours in a smoker, a lengthy spin that further breaks down the connective tissue and melts the fat into an ooze that keeps everything juicy. Bernamoff hand-cuts the resulting mound of meat and serves it high (but not too high) on rye with his homemade stout mustard.
It’s arguably the best take on Brooklyn’s old standard since that Downtown stalwart Jack’s on Court Street closed decades ago.
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