When opening a new bar, coming away with a positive experience from a community board meeting presided over by a group hawkishly vigilant of both new liquor licenses and rapidly-vanishing parking spaces is no small feat, especially if in addition to drinks you’re trying to serve up a new pedestrian plaza.
However, sitting down with Etan Fraiman, who recently opened bar/restaurant Battery Harris on the once-desolate corner of Frost & Meeker along with partner David Shapiro, makes it sound like the easiest thing in the world – all you need is a little help from the DOT and a willingness to see your business in the greater context of the streetscape.
The owners of Battery Harris were actually tipped off to the DOT’s Pedestrian Plaza Program by the community board itself, and had nothing but praise for the city agency that not so long ago was referred to by many as “the department of No” for their conservative attitude towards innovation in street design. Continue reading →
• A new cheese plate, which is a collaboration with Eastern District, features cheese made with vegetarian rennet.
• There are not one, not two but three types of arancini! Pesto, Salame Gentile and Porcini & Cremini.
• There are two new salads, two new pizzas and new pasta options. The pizza sauce is now made with the best San Marzano tomatoes.
• For dessert: a chocolate red wine cake from an old Roman recipe!
The new Brunch Menu includes many new options including two vegan options. The low starting prix fixe of $12 includes fresh squeezed OJ and a cup of Blue Bottle coffee.
The vast majority of Adelina’s menu is either vegan or vegetarian and many veggie options can be made vegan.
Adelina’s also has weekly events!
“Spaghett-it-on” Mondays, from 5-8pm features Roman style pasta marinara with a Genesee beer for $7!
Tuesday Record Night has been amazing. Each Tuesday a different Greenpointer spins on a single record player bringing their own style to the evening.
If you need to amazing kitchen items, don’t miss this super sale at Brooklyn Kitchen (100 Frost St) to taking place Friday June 14th thru Monday June 17th. Kitchenware, brands like Le Creuset, Bodum, Hikuichi, and Staub will be marked down 40%, plus there will be 10% off the entire Homebrew department. More info.
I was honored to be asked to judge a Cupcake Bake-Off fundraiser for NAG a few weeks back and I actually delayed my vacation a day in order to attend. Cupcakes in mass quantity totally beat vacations. It’s instant brain happiness.
From Left: Carmen, Hanna, Jen G (me), Diana
This is the second major “celebrity” judge opportunity I’ve had – the last one was the Halloween Dog Parade Costume Contest. I admit it’s starting to get to my head. The other judges were Ovenly’s head baker Hannah Duke, Carmen Rodriguez of Brooklyn Cupcake, and Councilmember Diana Reyna.
The Cupcake Bake-Off was held in The Brooklyn Kitchen’s awesome event space and as the contestants filed in with their goodies, I was drooling. The colors, shapes, sizes – cupcake overload! Continue reading →
There’s a simple phrase that means a lot to many people: E.B.T. Available. For people at Down to Earth Farmers Markets, it means that there is an Electronic Benefits Terminal available to process Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for the purchase of fresh, local food.
As of Sunday, June 9th, McGolrick Park’s Down to Earth Farmers Market will have E.B.T. available. (Cooper Park’s Down to Earth Farmers Market in East Williamsburg already does!)
“It takes a little behind the scenes effort to implement the electronic benefit terminals, such as filing paperwork with the state and training the market managers, but it’s work we are happy to complete,” said Frankie Rowland of Down to Earth Markets. “Our vendors also jump in to help out with some of the cost and administration of running the program. It’s a community effort to broaden the local food community!”
Also, beginning in July, the NYC Department of Health offers a $2 coupon for every $5 of SNAP benefits spent at one of our EBT markets. Please visit the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene at nyc.gov to learn more about this program.
And the farmers market continues to expand! At McGolrick Park, we now have FOUR local farms with amazing produce: Alex’s Tomato Farm, Great Road Farm, Garden of Eve, and Brooklyn Grange. They are all small-scale farms bringing seasonal fruits and vegetables, grown with care for the environment.
In addition to the growers, we now have fresh fish from American Pride Seafood, homemade tempeh from Grown in Brooklyn, pasture-raised poultry and meats from Stone & Thistle, and expert charcuterie from Brooklyn Cured. This market also has Horman’s Best Pickles (and we all know Nick named his company RIGHT), incredible breads from Orwashers, the best seasonal pies ever from Pie & Lady & Son, and locally-roasted nuts, nut butters, granola, and more from Tierra Farm.
AND have you visited the newest market vendor: La Newyorkina? She makes Mexican-style ice pops and frozen treats that are the perfect respite from the summer heat.
Want to help us get a compost drop-off site up and running at the McGolrick market? Stop by and talk to the market manager, Ellie, this Sunday. She’s taking down names of volunteers to create a compost program. The shifts would be only two hours long, every few weeks. (The more volunteers, the more weeks between the shifts.) We’ve been working with the wonderful ladies at BIG! Compost in Astoria to make this possibility. BIG! Compost will train all volunteers in one easy session. We hope to get this going as soon as this month. Join us.
McGolrick Park Market: every Sunday, 11 am to 4 pm, at the corner of Nassau Avenue and Russell Street.
Thank you for supporting your local farmers market!
Start your summer off properly with BBQ and Cocktails at The Richardson!
This Sunday, June 9th, from 2-6PM, The Richarson (451 Graham Ave) is partnering with Whistle Pig Distillery, offering tastes of their great spirits.
Chef Ryall Hyatt has created an inspired Lamb and Beef Kofta to pair with the Rye. The Kofta (think of it as a spiced, skewered meatball) will be grilled then served with a Rye-infused honey sauce and a sprinkle of fresh herbs.
For only $10 you can try them both, or, order a la carte for $6 each.
A lot of the 100s of emails we receive at Greenpointers are things like infographics, which are viral marketing images. When they come from places called “Top Management Degrees,” like a good Sicilian, I’m extremely untrusting. I usually take a peek and learn a thing or two, but most of the time I get about a 1/4 of the way down (because they are long) and then lose interest.
Rianna, the sweet robot student who sent this to me addressed me with “Dear Matt,” but this infographic was actually engaging until the end.
And since we throw around the terms, “local sustainable, fair trade, organic” like they are going out of style – I figured I’d share. Please let me know in the comments whether you learned anything or think this was a complete waste of time and bandwidth. (Remember I am not a robot and do have feelings.) Click continue reading to see the entire (9 million pixel long) graphic for the whole story.
Had I know sooner I would have shared The Skint’s Vegan Cook-Off “Hors d’Oeuvres” Edition with you, even though it is all the way in Gowanus. Unfortunately it is SOLD OUT. I guess there are a lot of vegan enthusiasts out there.
I was asked at the last minute to compete and the first thing I thought of were Jon’s Baja Style Oyster Mushroom Tacos. It’s going to be a crazy day, frying the you know what out of enough beer battered oyster mushrooms to feed 250 guests, then coming back to Greenpoint for our Sunday Supper #6, but of course we will do it in the name of eating!
This recipe is one of those vegan recipes you can put in front of any carnivore with no need to specify. Not because it tastes like meat, but because it is gosh darn delicious!
A vegetarian friend told us about Vegucated, a documentary that made him turn vegan. We put off watching the documentary, knowing that it would motivate us to make the switch, too. After we finally watched it, Jon and I looked at each other and said, “We have to, right?” I won’t go into detail, but I will tell you that if you are an animal lover, then even cheese is not really that cool. Animal cruelty aside, don’t even talk about global warming if you eat meat. The amount of energy it takes to make meat, from the water and petroleum based fertilizers to grow the animal feed through processing the final “product” is astounding. Why can’t we just live in ignorant bliss?
So now we are vegans! (That was a sarcastic exclamation point.) Well we are vegan-ish; we are not perfect. It’s been difficult to retrain our brains but we are surviving and Jon is really a vegan whiz chef. The idea to make these Baja Style Oyster Mushroom Tacos just popped into his head. As a tough fish taco critic, I think these are a lot better than fish tacos. And that isn’t the vegan talking.
Baja Style Oyster Mushroom Tacos
• Make a beer batter with some flour and beer, salt and pepper. The batter should be the consistency of thick pancake batter and not too watery. Coat oyster mushrooms in the batter and deep fry in vegetable oil. Season with salt and pepper.
• Top with chipotle mayo, which can be easily made by mixing some mayonaise or veganaise with canned chipotle peppers or chipotle sauce in adobo.
• Top with corn salsa, made with chopped red onions, red peppers, corn, tomato, cilantro and lime.
• Top with fresh shredded red cabbage.
• Serve on your choice of corn or flour tortilla.
It’s June and we are heading outdoors for Sunday Supper #6, which will take place on June 2, 2013 from 7-9pm at Domestic Construction (218 India St).
We are very excited to have one of our all time favorite people Yana Guilbuena as our chef, preparing a Filipino Feast as part of her own SALO dining series.
Everything will be served on banana leaves! (No stupid plates or forks!)
Plus Brooklyn Gin is generously providing the cocktails.
And we couldn’t think of a better outdoor space for an early summer dinner than Domestic Construction!
You won’t get a meal like this anywhere!
Menu:
• Ensaladang Lato – Seaweed Salad
• Chicharon Bulaklak – Deep Fried P ork Rinds
• Inihaw na Pusit – Grilled Stuffed Squid
• Sinangag – Garlic Fried Rice
• Saba at Langka Turon – Banana and Jackfruit Spring Rolls
When opening a new bar, coming away with a positive experience from a community board meeting presided over by a group hawkishly vigilant of both new liquor licenses and rapidly-vanishing parking spaces is no small feat, especially if in addition to drinks you’re trying to serve up a new pedestrian plaza.
There’s a simple phrase that means a lot to many people: E.B.T. Available. For people at Down to Earth Farmers Markets, it means that there is an Electronic Benefits Terminal available to process Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for the purchase of fresh, local food.
