“NEW FRIED CHICKEN JOINT ON MY BLOCK” read the text message accompanying a selfie of my friend in front of a pretty-in-pink menu posted in the window of 14 Bedford Avenue. Since that mid-December text, the opening of the new Five Leaves neighbor, Pretty Southern, was on my radar. A few weeks ago, also accompanied by my informant and two of our friends whose culinary opinions we highly value, I dug into that eagerly anticipated “healthful take on fried chicken and celebrated southern comfort fare.” Continue reading →
Bourbon Springs is serving some of the best bourbon cocktails in New York
If you haven’t been to vibrant Graham Avenue on the border of Williamsburg and Greenpoint yet, I present to you the perfect reason to explore this part of town. Named after a communal trout fishing lodge that her grandfather founded in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Emily Casey’s Bourbon Springs somehow captures the familiarity of a little restaurant in the south, but with the all the culinary chops necessary to survive New York’s competitive restaurant scene. The Cajun-inspired menu is sure to satisfy and the bar happens to make some of the best craft cocktails in the city. The interior is pleasant and charming; small enough to feel welcoming yet with table spacing optimized for conversation. Bourbon Springs also enjoys a quaint backyard complete with picnic tables surrounded by planters overflowing with herbs, tomatoes, and blueberries. On Sunday evenings, they offer seasonal all-you-can-eat seafood boils, currently featuring crab and shrimp.
Disclaimer: I grew up in Queens on my Nonna’s red sauce, so I am no judge of barbecue. That being said, I was honored to be invited to the Family & Friends Dinner at BrisketTown (359 Bedford Ave) in Williamsburg last night for a preview and I loved every minute of it.
Finally I would try Daniel Delaney’s cooking after many failings on my part to attend his awesome foodie parties. In June, I bailed on a hot dog movie night because I got caught with some illness (that hurt), then I missed his Rooftop Craw Fish Boil because we just needed to get out of town during one of those nasty heat waves. I signed up for a BrisketLab at Little Field and realized at 11pm that night that I forgot, and the worst offense – we made it into his apartment for his Fourth of July party with a 12 pack and a Banana Cream Pie, saw a crowd of people, had an anti-social “we can’t talk to anyone” moment, brought the beer and pie home and ate it all like two fat weirdos while listening to firecrackers on Sutton St.
What a friend I am! (Sounds like something a rotten family member would do.)
When I arrived at the door, flying solo with a bottle of whisky for Daniel and a bottle of wine for me (it’s BYOB), Daniel walked out, looking cool as a cucumber with his white apron on and a confident smile. He got this. Continue reading →
For over two years now Milk and Roses, (1110 Manhattan Ave) in Greenpoint has been the go to place for the perfect cappuccino and croissant. Now Milk has the pleasure to announce an entire new side, with the able hand of Chef Chance Jones. Jones has created an authentic southern Italian menu, featuring cheese and cured meat platters, insalate, braised meats and pasta.
Milk is especially excited about Agnello in Agro, a braised leg of lamb with cacao, egg, lemon and a warm carrot puree. Another chilly day favorite are the braised short ribs served over polenta, rucola and lemon. The pastas include Cacio e Pepe and Genovese, served daily, plus a featured different special pasta every night.
But do not worry – they still have your favorites for lunch and brunch!
Keep Milk and Roses in mind when booking your next special event, wedding or film shoot. The handsome interior also functions as a full-service event space!
Want Brisket? BrisketTown is opening at 359 Bedford Ave on October 31st, 2012 and the Greenpoint design brothers Evan and Oliver Haslegrave (Paulie Gee, Manhattan Inn, Donna) are designing the space to be modeled after a Texas Meat Market. So basically it will look as awesome as the brisket tastes.
I ran into Daniel Delaney, BrisketMan while he was on his way to start demolishing the soon to be restaurant. He showed me the layout and as usual we talked a lot of shit. Dude knows exactly what he wants. The design on his phone looks amazing. There may even be beer to go, but this is just between us.
To get your brisket you have to pre-order. But wait – there will be more than Brisket: “We’re going to slowly develop other proteins with the same iterative mentality we had when approaching our labs.”
It’s so great to see Daniel, who I first met at a crazy pie bake-off a few years back at The Diamond Bar, realizing his carnivorous dream via a genius marketing plan that totally fucked with New Yorkers taste buds, which crave food that is not even in existence yet!
48 hours ago Daniel Delaney’s paypal had a balance of $0. Since then he has sold 2500lb of brisket at $25/lb. Do the math. It’s a lot of money to make in 2 days for someone when asked, “What do you do?” jokingly answered, “Nothing.”
The Smoker
But Daniel, who started VendrTV, has been up to something called Brisketlab. After driving an 18ft smoker from Texas to Brooklyn, he devised a genius marketing plan with a “strong viral backbone” and essentially brisket mind-fucked everyone.
“I didn’t disclose a lot of information… and the way that the copy was written, it was very lavish: ‘I’m forming an underground smoked meat guild. I’m recruiting tallow loving carnivores.’ It was very colorful. But also very ambiguous. That combination drove a lot of interest. Folks had a sense they had to shit or get off the pot. They had to act quickly.”
I shat. Daniel used the fundraising platform Launch Rock. When I logged in there were 800lbs, the next day when the likes of Brooklyn Based and The Brooklyn Kitchen were tweeting all over it, only 7lbs were left, then none. As we ate biscuits at Marlow & Sons, Daniel received email after email from disappointed brisket lovers, “Is it too late?” For now, it is.
Don’t worry, Daniel isn’t stopping at 2500lbs and plans to open a restaurant in Brooklyn, so there will be plenty brisket for everyone. In the meantime he has corralled a drooling bunch of “brisketeers” who will be the first to taste and critique his brisket skills in 100lb increments at over 25 pop-up events over the summer, which he envisions “underneath bridges and on rooftops and on a boat.”
