Cacao Market opened this week on Guernsey street and is the newest venture by Maribel Lieberman, the Honduras-born owner of Soho’s chocolate boutique MarieBelle New York.
The new Greenpoint store is housed beneath the existing MarieBelle chocolate factory, which has been quietly churning out sweet treats since 2004. When the downstairs space recently became available it seemed the perfect opportunity to open a Brooklyn outlet. Continue reading →
Now that it’s light in the evenings and actually fairly pleasant out, it’s finally time to contemplate doing fun things again. Just to ease you back into the swing of things, here’s info on three local dinner events that are worth staying out for over the next couple of weeks:
Done and dusted with your tax return? Pre-emptively spend your rebate on this five-course dinner at Dirck the Norseman (who celebrated their 1st Birthday yesterday…happy beer-day Dirck!). The evening starts with a brewery tour to help you work up an appetite, then diners sit down to enjoy five robust courses (menu above) each paired with a different delicious brew from Greenpoint Beer and Ale Co. The meat-heavy menu isn’t so great for veggies, but beer-loving carnivores will be in seventh heaven!
Libby VanderPloeg’s ‘Recipes Gone Wild’ at last year’s Foodieodicals event
Foodie book lover? Bookish food lover? If this sounds like you then take note! The fourth annual Food Book Fair is taking place at Wythe Hotel this weekend and it’s probably right up your alley. The fabulous three day event is packed with literary events, panel discussions, delicious meals, and flavorful gatherings that the discerning foodie will not want to miss.
The weekend also plays host to the magnificent Foodieodicalsfestival, which shines a spotlight on some of the best independent food magazines from around the globe. The Saturday afternoon fair also puts a strong emphasis on local publications and includes stalls from Bakeri Zine, Edible Brooklyn, Diner Journal and Put a Egg on It. Tickets are only $5 and the amount of edible freebies we got at last year’s event more than covered the entrance price.
Food Book Fair runs Friday 10th-Sunday 12th April at the Wythe Hotel and you can see a complete schedule of events here. Tickets for specific events can be booked here.
Spring may be off to a patchy start, but ice cream season is here regardless and local producers Van Leeuwen are on a roll right now. February saw the opening of a new store in the West Village, closely followed by the relocation of their Greenpoint outlet to a newer, bigger premises on Manhattan Avenue. Now, plans are underway for a flagship store on Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg, due to open mid-May.
The all-natural Greenpoint ice cream company was started in 2008 by Laura O’Neill and Ben and Pete Van Leeuwen, who set out to make ice cream using the finest possible ingredients. After initially selling their wares locally from two buttermilk-yellow ice cream trucks, rapid success soon saw them opening their own brick-and-mortar stores around NYC, and even branching out to LA, where they currently operate two trucks and have new stores in the pipeline. Their upcoming Williamsburg flagship is a marker of just how rapidly their ice cream empire has grown. Continue reading →
This spring brings a new addition to the Greenpoint dining scene. As of today, a pop-up restaurant will be launching under the arches of Shelter Pavilion in McGolrick Park. The restaurant is named ‘Brooklyn Pasture’ and aims to have all of its produce foraged from Greenpoint and the local area.
Brooklyn Pasture chef and owner Ralf Poolis tells us that by sourcing free ingredients he hopes to keep prices ultra-low. “Local, seasonal produce is really trendy right now, but it comes at a price”, he says. “By foraging for produce we will cut our costs dramatically, meaning that diners will be able to eat a 3-course dinner with us for less than $20 a head. In some places around here you can barely buy a kale salad for that price”.
Menu items include the signature Brooklyn Pasture Squirrel Burger (squirrels will be caught overnight in humane traps in McGolrick and McCarren Parks), a savory bread-pudding (made with day-old loaf rejects from Warsaw Bakery) and salads made with edible greens from around Newtown Creek. Drinking water is sourced from the East River (and is purified before serving), and crockery has been collected from stoop give-aways and yard sales. Continue reading →
If you have plans this Saturday I strongly suggest you cancel them. Because whatever they are, they will not involve anything as rad as getting a FREE CHEESESTEAK from Delilah’s in honor of National Cheesesteak Day.
Yes, you heard correctly, the good folks at Greenpoint’s awesome steak joint Delilah’s will be giving out free cheesesteaks all day long, from 11am-10pm. This staggeringly generous offer is open to walk-ins only and restricted to one cheesesteak sandwich per person (so no creeping back in with that fake beard at dinner time).
National Cheesesteak Day actually fell yesterday on March 24th, but I really don’t think anyone’s going to complain if Delilah’s extends the celebrations ’til the weekend.
Delilah’s is at 55 McGuinness Boulevard (between Engert Ave and Newton St)
With Spring teasing us with her dainty ankle of approaching warmth, it’s easy to feel torn between our winter hobbit ways and the urge to run topless into summer’s heat. What do we wear, what do we eat, and most importantly, what do we drink during this time of transition? Between the seasons of warming whiskey and cooling margaritas, it’s wine that is the most versatile of beverages. And no better way to indulge this changing of seasons than with the cheapest and most transitional way to drink: happy hour! Welcome the spring with a crisp Rosé or hold on to winter with that full-bodied red by drinking early and affordably at some of Greenpoint’s best bars and restaurants. We’ve gathered a few of the neighborhood’s top five wine happy hours, offering 2 for 1 glasses, great food and wine combos, and even a $4 vino to get you through the change and into those short shorts. Continue reading →
Last year, a small restaurant hidden behind a bar on Manhattan Avenue was awarded a Michelin star, the first one ever to be granted in Greenpoint. The recipient of this accolade was Luksus, a relatively new restaurant headed up by chef and partner Daniel Burns, whose resume reads like a shortlist of the world’s finest eateries. After working at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck in the UK, Daniel spent three years running the pastry department at Noma, the Copenhagen restaurant frequently voted the best in the world. In 2010 he moved to NYC and opened the Momofuku test kitchen for David Chang. Having worked alongside so many iconic chefs, it’s little surprise that his first solo enterprise was an instant success.
Luksus was launched in July 2013, just months after the opening of Tørst, the artfully designed beer bar situated in front of the restaurant, of which Daniel is also a partner. Tørst is a collaboration with Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, gypsy brewer and founder of Evil Twin Brewing, who curates the beer program for the bar and also creates the beer pairing menu for Luksus
Last week Daniel and Jeppe celebrated Tørst’s two-year anniversary, and were greeted by lines around the block of ale aficionados hoping to join the party. We caught up with Daniel to hear about his Michelin star, cooking ‘Greenpoint food’ and his dreams of selling ice cream from a bicycle in McCarren park. Continue reading →
It may be March but it’s still a vile slush-pit from hell out there and is nowhere near as springy as any of us would like. However, the good folks at Le Fondare realistic with their expectations of the seasons and next week will be hosting a one-off pairing dinner sensibly titled ‘Avant le Printemps’ or (as Richard Linklater might say) ‘Before Spring’.
Chef Jake Eberle is teaming up with Greenpoint Beer & Ale Companyto present a delicious five-course rustic modern dinner where each plate is carefully paired with a different local brew. Continue reading →
Greenpoint: home to craft brewers, small-batch ice cream makers, and luxury tea ateliers. And just when we thought things couldn’t get any more up-market, along comes the cherry on the top in the form of an artisanal chocolate shop.
