Old Nino's get reviewed: Francesco's

Francesco's, the old Nino's, on the corner of Henry and Union Streets, is a bit of a mystery. Nino's was well-run and beloved until the owner had to flee for unforeseen circumstances and wound up wearing a Sicilian necktie. I've been hesitant to go back in, but Eat Brooklyn Food wasn't.

"The plain slice is passable, that generic New York slice that would be at home on any corner in Manhattan, but you’d be foolish to skip the lard bread slice - order a pie if you have the time and audience. The pie resembles those Elio’s-like cafeteria slices you loved in Grade school because you didn’t know any better, but there’s a sleek thinness that avoids the Sicilian style label the pie’s shape demands. The drawback, what keeps it from serious discussion, is apparent on grabbing your first slice, as that first piece separates reluctantly from its whole. The pie is blanketed by a down quilt of industrial strength, bargain basement mozzarella, a chore to contend with even straight out of the oven. But the canvas is the attraction, like its obese cousin at L&B Spumoni; cheese is entirely beside the point."

You had me at obese.

Prime Meats: Ironically reviewed

Bloomberg has an extensive review/critique of Prime Meats which is ironic in it's irony. Every one knows that the hipster and yuppie invasions of older neighborhoods bring with them a heavy sense of irony. Well, the irony contained in the fact that Prime Meats got a good review which was ironically critical of it's clientele is, well, ironic.

"If that’s all old school, Prime Meats balances things out with some laid-back cool. No reservations. The wait was 90 minutes on the first Friday of Lent -- curious as this is the famously Roman Catholic Carroll Gardens neighborhood; the steakhouse is adjacent to the church where Al Capone was married. Wonder if he abstained from meat."

"Sometimes the hip slacker factor goes overboard. Lines formed at the single bathroom. A window crank doubled as a toilet paper spindle. And Prime Meats, like Luger and certain parts of the Siberian Tundra, doesn’t take major credit cards. You’ll spend 10 minutes waiting for the server to write out your check by hand. The management, who also run Frankies next door and in Manhattan, tell me a credit-card system is coming in the spring. 

A sign asks patrons to leave strollers outside. That’s bold for a family-friendly neighborhood. Prime Meats is crammed with pretty girls and their plaid-clad, bearded boyfriends, along with a bartender who complains about Robert Moses (a pastime in these parts) and the patrons who drink his expert libations. Try an unusually sour Rye Manhattan constructed with citrus Buddha’s Hand bitters made in-house."

"I asked my companion, a svelte hipster from Fort Greene, if she recognized the woman with Momofuku chef David Chang. 

“She’s the creative director at Vogue,” she replied nonchalantly. “I modeled for her when I was a teenager. She said I was too skinny.”"

Image from the Daily News.

Springtime Walking Tours of Carroll Gardens Announced!

Lost City blogger, Brooks of Sheffield, will be starting up his Springtime Walking Tours with a tour of Carroll Gardens at the end of the month.  Whether you've lived here six months, six years, or sixty years, I'm willing to bet that Brooks can shed light on some good neighborhood truth and particulars.

Click here for all of the information.    

Are the MTA service cut projections using faulty logic?

Benjamin Kabak at Second Avenue Sagas recently penned a good summary of the situation surrounding the latest round of MTA service cuts. But, of course, this blog is about Carroll Gardens, so we care about how they will affect us, right?

"I’ve looked at the B71 elimination and determined that, by and large, walking to Carroll Gardens from Park Slope will serve me better than taking bus routes along Bergen or 9th Sts. would. The revenue loss along these bus routes could be quite significant."

Although the distance used in this example is very small, Mr. Kabak does have a good point in that a) Bergen and 9th Streets, as the East-West travel routes, are relatively far apart, and b) the existence of the Gowanus Canal and industrial area in between the two neighborhoods creates a psychological barrier to walking for some.

More Kentile

Brooklyn Bridge Park to have a lotta grub

Brooklyn Bridge Park (or, more accurately, the expansion of Brooklyn Bridge Park) is slowly making progress. One of the fun things about the construction of this park is that the progress is so visible. Whether in a car on the BQE, walking along the Promenade, on the Brooklyn Bridge, in a Water Taxi or from Furman Street, there are many good vantage points from which to see what is going on in the (eventual) park.

The City (and sort of the State) are now looking for restaurants and food vendors who will sell delectables to the park users. From the New York Post:

"The Pier 1 concessions will include two locations for mobile food carts, a 130-square foot location inside the Pier 1 gatehouse at the park’s main entrance at the intersection of Old Fulton Street, and a 2,500-square foot elevated outdoor plaza that could serve beer and wine as well as great food.

So famished park patrons will have options other than the swanky, yet expensive River Café next to Pier 1 or Grimaldi’s pizzeria across the street, which is as famous for its long lines as it is for its brick oven pizza.

Interested respondents must submit proposals for one or more of these sites by April 1. The Pier 1 concessions are expected to be running by mid-summer 2010.

Food concessionaires are also being sought for the Pier 6 portion of the park, also slated to open this spring.

One request for proposal will be for a sit-down restaurant with almost 2,000 square feet of interior space, plus outdoor dining space on both the adjoining terrace and the rooftop. The other RFP will be for a 170-square foot space in Pier 6’s Gatehouse at the park’s southern entry off Atlantic Avenue."

Lets hope they include some nutritional thresholds for who the select! 
Image source: New York Times

Tan Tax hits em where it hurts: the skin

Of all of the initiatives President Obama has started, this is probably the best: a 10% tax on tanning. Now, this is one of the most non-essential things we, as a society, have come up with. Surely no one will have a problem with this, right? I mean, "The Situation" has already been interviewed in the neighborhood, we don't want to see any (more) Snookis roaming the streets, do we?

"“It’s just amazing how arbitrary it can be,” complains Robert Alimena, owner of The Tanning Room in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. “This is going to drive business completely the other way.”

“It’s just a bad idea. It encapsulates everything that’s wrong with Washington,” says John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, which apparently exists."

You stay classy, tanners everywhere. From the New York Post.

Atlantic Avenue BID gets off the ground

As a small business owner, I am aware of the pitfalls that can come with not being properly promoted, with all that it takes to get noticed, and what location means. It seems that local business owners on Atlantic Avenue have noticed as well, and have also noticed what success other Business Improvement Districts have had around the city. From the Brooklyn Eagle:

"“The city likes BIDs because they’re established by legislation and their boards are established by legislation.”

Sponsored by the AABID Steering Committee, the Feb. 23 event attracted about 100 business and property owners and residents to the Belarusian Church in Boerum Hill.

The Steering Committee, comprised of all volunteers who are also business or property owners along the avenue, began working on the BID formation process in 2008, according to Ariana MacPherson, project manager, in her overview

MacPherson outlined the major benefits, including improved local control specific to the Atlantic Avenue community; marketing and promotion for the businesses; capital improvements and beautification projects; and services that would be supplemental to what the city provides, such as sidewalk sweeping."

It's not that shops on Atlantic Avenue aren't thriving, rather it's that the businesses want to have their voices heard and want to pool communal resources together for communal services to benefit all of them.

Some Love for Jake Walk

Now the new owners of a sliding door on Sackett Street that evokes the old days when there was actually some manufacturing that took place in their neighborhood, Jake Walk has always gotten positive press. Now, some food loving bloggers are calling it their new favorite bar. It is a nice place to go for a drink before getting some actual food, but they do also serve a limited menu there as well. Between Courses:

"All dark wood and dim lighting, the JakeWalk has the feel of an old-school bar without the sour booze smell and lack of food options. A small space with a wrap-around bar and two rows of charmingly rickety tables, the JakeWalk offers up creative cocktails, great wine, and solid tap beers. It also has an enticing menu - one whole side of which is devoted just to cheeses and charcuterie (heaven!). We selected from among nearly 30 cheeses and a diverse selection of sausages. The food was delivered on a wooden cutting board; each cheese happily paired with a bit of fruit preserves. Favorites included the Seal Bay Triple Cream cow's milk and the hot, addictive chorizo coins."

World's Oldest Profession: Gowanus Style

A little noticed comment in Community Board 6's list of issues for a new charter school in the Gowanus/Boerum Hill neighborhood was: prostitutes. To be more accurate, it was reported that Gowanus was home to "roving bands of hookers and drug dealers"; sounds like my kind of town! Is it still true? From the Brooklyn Ink:

"...locals claim that streetwalkers still make their presence known. A receptionist at a nearby Holiday Inn Express would not confirm whether she’d seen any hookers or drug dealers on the block, but did say that she advises guests to “walk the other way”, to Third Avenue, when leaving the hotel rather than turning right toward the empty lot next door.

“After a certain hour, when all the businesses close up, it’s pretty much free business for prostitutes,” said Marlon Joseph, a supervisor at Petroleum Tanks, directly opposite an empty lot on Butler Street.

Of the hookers and drug dealers on the block at night, Joseph said, “I guess that’s their time to party, when we all go home for the day.”

An attendant at a gas station on the corner of Third Avenue, a block away from the intended location of the school, said during the daytime the area is safe, but after midnight it is “crawling with hookers.”"

Another Hardware Store Relocates

Sid's, the anchor hardware store for many in downtown Brooklyn for what seems like forever, is moving into the neighborhood. Always family owned, Sid's is moving to Hamilton Ave and 14th Street (the corner of Hamilton Place). They should do well in their new location, as it is on a major thoroughfare, on a heavily used corner, and many people intending to go to Lowe's may use Sid's as an alternative to having their money travel out of Brooklyn. From the Brooklyn Paper:

"The hardware store that stuck with Downtown through the best of times and the worst of times (and these times, which are somewhere in the middle), has finally gotten sick of Downtown.

“Look, the rents are too high, there’s no parking, and this dead scene isn’t a place to run a business,” said Rich Popper, a store manager. “The other day, I had one guy go around the block for 20 minutes so he could pick up a couple cans of paint.”

It will reopen “in the next couple weeks” on Hamilton Avenue near 14th Street, he added. For now, contractors can still place orders, but the walk-in business is finished."

As the Atlantic Yards Report correctly points out, Sid's isn't just bailing on Downtown, they're bailing on any hope that Ratner's folly will bring them new business.

Superfund Happening!

From the New York Times:

"The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it was designating the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn a contaminated Superfund site, paving the way for a cleanup of decades-old pollution there. 

The decision comes as a blow to the Bloomberg administration, which had proposed a cleanup that would avoid such a designation. The city argued that the federal designation could set off legal battles with polluters, defer completion of the cleanup and torpedo construction by developers deterred by the stigma of a Superfund label. 

The E.P.A., which first proposed that the canal be designated a Superfund site last April at the urging of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, made its decision after reviewing comments from the public, city officials and others."

News Flash: Red Hook still Rough

As if we didn't already know it, despite Ikea, lobster rolls, water taxis and key lime pies, Red Hook remains very real. Over the past week weeks, the 76th Precinct has received reports of a trio of armed robbers who have brandished weapons in an effort to get their victims to hand over cash. From Courier-Life:

"“Three in a row is a pretty serious thing,” said John McGettrick, the co-chair of the civic group. And the actual number of robberies might actually be higher, he said. “Sometimes there is an unfortunate tendency not to report a crime that’s committed against you,” McGettrick said, adding that he has heard anecdotally that there was more than three recent robberies.

“Young people using guns to engage in criminal activity — that’s a bad combination,” he continued, “and that has heightened the level of concern.”

Corey said he understood the fear, and reacted quickly to the situation.

After the first incident, the precinct deployed extra cops to the area, a tactic that proved successful when cops nabbed a member of the trio the next day.“The additional resources resulted in the arrest Monday evening,” the top cop said."

"Clean Gowanus Now!" vs the EPA

We've seen why the group "Clean Gowanus Now!" may not be exactly what they claim to be in their press release. Now, courtesy of Courier Life, we've got some quotes from group members, to go up against word that a Superfund designation may come tomorrow morning or Thursday at the latest. Who will win?
-
"“The EPA has been spinning everything from day one,” said David Von Spreckelsen, a senior vice president at Toll Brothers, the national homebuilder planning a multi-million residential development along the banks of the canal, and a member of the coalition Clean Gowanus Now! “They are trying to hide the impact that this will have on the neighborhood, so I would tend not to believe them,” he said.""

VERSUS

"“If you asked me to put money on it, I think they will announce on Thursday,” said the person, who was not authorized to speak on behalf of the agency about the controversial designation, and requested anonymity.

But a decision may come even sooner than that.

The EPA will be making an announcement to reporters on Tuesday at 10 a.m., “related to the Gowanus Canal.” No additional information was provided by the agency, nor was an official confirmation provided."
-
“It is astonishing that the EPA has either not read, or does not understand the new FHA regulations, which plainly and clearly state that there is a new, much higher standard and risk evaluation for making loans at Superfund sites,” said Ethan Geto, a spokesperson for the coalition."

VERSUS

"While the employee received no official word about the designation — which has been vehemently opposed by the mayor, along with developers and landowners who say it will stifle development along the polluted waterway for decades — the person said that signs are pointing to an imminent declaration.

“In my heart of hearts, I think it will happen this week,” the EPA employee said."
-
“HUD’s approval process does require lenders consider a wide variety of environmental conditions, only one of which is proximity to a Superfund site,” she said. But in fact, several of these listed environmental conditions already exist for development locations near the Gowanus Canal, even in the absence of a Superfund designation."

VERSUS

"The EPA typically designates Superfund sites in March and September, and EPA Region 2 Administrator Judith Enck recently said that a decision would come early this month.

Superfund sites compel entities responsible for polluting a site to pay for its clean-up. The agency has said that the cleaning the canal, once a vital cog in the Industrial Revolution, would span 10-12 years."
-
I guess we'll have to wait until the official announcement is made. But it sure looks like that was a short lived opposition!

"Clean Gowanus Now": An Oxymoron

A group calling itself "Clean Gowanus Now" has apparently formed, with the intention of opposing the proposed Superfund Designation of the Gowanus Canal. They put out a press release which hit the wires last night, which is filled with all types of goodies, misstatements and lies. Lets break it down:

"The Clean Gowanus Now! Coalition has discovered that new federal regulations will block the construction, and possibly the renovation, of thousands of homes within 3,000 feet of Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal if the Canal is designated a “Superfund” site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."

Wrong. There are no "new" federal regulations relevant to Superfund, and nothing IN the Superfund program will block construction, renovation, lending or anything.

"The survey refutes recent statements by EPA representatives that Superfund designation won’t impact lending to homeowners in the area."

Again, lending is not stopped by Superfund designation, only FHA-backed loans in the immediate area. Notice how the press release does not mention anything about number of FHA-backed (condo) loans in the study area? I wonder why...

"These lenders have financed projects that require a significant amount of environmental remediation in industrial neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Long Island City, but they uniformly responded that it would be nearly impossible to secure financing for a development project adjacent to the Gowanus if it is designated a Superfund site."

So, what this says is that if you want condos (whose lower purchase prices generally make them more eligible for FHA-backed loans) like we've seen go up in Long Island City and Williamsburg on the shores of the Gowanus, you should oppose Superfund designation. Hmmmm....

"The coalition’s members include the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce; the Partnership for New York City; the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation; the Business Council of New York State; Africa-Israel, U.S.A.; Bayside Fuel Oil Depot Corporation; Brooklyn Bridge Realty, Ltd.; Friedknit Creations; Foro Marble, Inc.; The Jewish Press; Jobco, Inc.; L&M Development Partners; Magnifico Enterprises; Monadnock Construction, Inc.; Nevins Canal Corporation/Nevins Street Realty; Regal Home Collections; The Ribellino Family; Debbie & Buddy Scotto; Selectively Evolving Environments, Inc.; the Tinneny Family; Toll Brothers, Inc.; and Union Place, Inc."

So, the coalition is made up of those who stand to financially benefit from not having Superfund designation in place, and others influenced by the Mayors office? Again, shocked!

"Importantly, backing away from the impending Superfund designation and allowing the City to proceed with its alternative plan bears zero risk from an environmental perspective." 

Except of course for delaying the eventual (thorough EPA) clean up process.

"Toll Brothers, which has spent millions to go through ULURP and design their residential project..."

And this matters why?

"Further, the EPA/Superfund scope of work does not tackle the combined sewer overflows (CSOs) that today are the number one source of pollution of the Gowanus Canal. The EPA has stated that their cleanup of the Gowanus will consist of dredging sediments at the bottom of the Canal, but at 300 million gallons of raw sewage annually (NYC DEP's statistic), CSOs are the main current contributor to pollution in the Canal (and the pollution that is most visible, smelly and disturbing to area residents). CSOs will be alleviated only through the City’s planned infrastructure upgrades..."

Wrong. Are they actually arguing that FHA-backed mortgages are needed for the City to implement their planned infrastructure upgrades? Is the City's credit that bad?

"In contrast, the City already has obtained a commitment from National Grid, a likely Superfund target, to work with the City to fully fund Phase I of the cleanup, which is estimated to cost between $10 and $20 million. National Grid has indicated that it is prepared – under a City-led effort – to voluntarily put up tens of millions more as its share of the cleanup."

If I were National Grid, I would be throwing money at the City as well! Anything would be better than paying for the actual pollution cause by their site, which is what the Feds would do.

Conclusion:

Not a strong showing by the Superfund opposition. I doubt that anyone has said that the EPA's Super Fun Superfund program is perfect, but the City's plan is half-baked at best, and at worst, done solely so that condo builders can build more condos. The fact that their argument boils down to "if we don't do a good enough job, they can just Superfund anyway" only makes their opposition all the more laughable.

You're probably here from Curbed.