Always get the sprinkles. Image: Author’s personal collection of Davey’s Ice Cream photographs
Going into ice cream actually started as a joke for David Yoo. After beginning a career in fashion and advertising, he decided in 2012 that it was time for a change. A few jokes later, he came to the realization that “ice cream is like blank canvas” ready for creative interpretations, and getting into the ice cream business might allow for the real hands-on creative hijinks he was searching for. So he enrolled in the Penn State Ice Cream Short Course, Class of 2013; gave his job a six-month notice; and by Friday, September 13th, Davey’s Ice Cream was open in the East Village. Late last summer, Davey’s brought their ice cream across the river to Bedford Avenue. Continue reading →
About eight years ago, Greenpointers began seeing the butter-yellow Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream trucks popping up on our streets, often with one of the owners, Laura O’Neill and brothers Pete & Ben Van Leeuwen, inside. It didn’t take long—they were approached by a Whole Foods rep literally on their first day of business back in June 2008—for the Greenpoint locals to become the next big thing in ice cream. But of course, every “next big thing” in food needs a brick-and-mortar shop, and with their hearts already in the neighborhood, the team opened up their very first ice cream shop on Manhattan & Bedford in early spring 2010. 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.
OddFellows Ice Cream Co. in Williamsburg. All images via oddfellowsnyc.com
As co-founder Mohan Kumar tells it, OddFellows in Williamsburg has an origin as sweet as its ice cream.
“When Holiday was pregnant Sam [Mason] brought over ice cream, and she loved it. At the time I was looking to get out of what I was doing in real estate finance and do something more entrepreneurial, more creative,” Kumar shared. “A couple days later, she said, ‘Why don’t you talk to Sam about opening an ice cream shop?’ I said, ‘That’s a great idea.’ I approached Sam about that over a beer, I had half a business plan already written out, and that’s how it started.”Continue reading →
Curt James (foreground) and Josh Krebs in “Cymbeline” at The Brick
Cymbeline is tonally ambiguous, dramaturgically elusive. This is no weakness of Shakespeare’s so-called tragedy, but it stands out in being one that ends in reunions and discoveries instead of wars and death while featuring beheaded characters and disguised lovers. It’s no wonder, then, that critics have long debated whether Cymbeline is drama, romance, comedy, or something in between. Perhaps Shakespeare was pushing genres out and contemporary storytelling, with its mix of laughter and catharsis, forward. Regardless of category, Stay Awake! Theatre’s production of Cymbeline at The Brick (575 Metropolitan Ave.) in Williamsburg is firm in its footing thanks to its minimalist approach and rather strong performances. Continue reading →
It’s a swampass summer Saturday in the city, and everyone else got out of bed at the crack of dawn to make it to Rockaway or the Hamptons, but you ain’t got nowhere to go. You might need to recharge with an exotic staycation at Black Flamingo. If you’ve never cruised by its off-the-main-drag corner in Williamsburg (168 Borinquen Pl.), Black Flamingo is one drink, dinner and disco destination that’s not yet been overexposed via Instagram. The cocktails satiate tropical tastebuds without being too sweet, the Mexican-slanted vegetarian offerings are tasty and hearty, and the Friday and Saturday night basement parties have become something of a dance lover’s dirty underground legend.
Hailing originally from Texas, Trey Ditto cut his teeth working for the Associated Press in Dallas and quickly moved into the political sphere, advising legislators and elected officials on their communications strategies. Ultimately this lead him to Washington D.C. where he worked for various political leaders and landed with a position as the deputy press secretary for U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, handling local and national media and external relations on K-12 and higher education issues. Continue reading →
If you have lived in North Brooklyn for any amount of time and have never seen the Giglio—you don’t know what you are missing. This celebration of Italian culture is one of the most awesome pieces of street theater you will ever witness.Continue reading →
Smog (aka Bill Callahan) rolls in to Brooklyn town late June for a residency at unflinchingly popular Baby’s All Right on Broadway.
Bill recently played New York in April, supporting the famous Iggy Pop on tour, with a drop-down at the United Palace Theater, uptown.
A prolific singer and songwriter, Callahan, active in the lo-fi New York scene for well over 20 years and only in the last few recording under his new name, has, perhaps, as Pitchfork has pointed out, maintained a kind of mystical aura, thanks not only to the minimalism of his music, writing, and interview repartee, but also because-up until recently-not many people had heard his own recordings. Callahan’s songs have been taken up by noted artists such as Gil Scott-Heron, Flaming Lips and Cat Power.
In a recent profile, The Washington Post described Callahan alongside three other major singer-songwriters as, “asserting their gravity in the North American mystery zone where cosmopolitan sophistication and folk mysticism overlap”.
Come see for yourself when Callahan plays Baby’s All Right this month.
Bill Callahan June 26 through June 28
Shows at 6PM and 9PM each night.
Baby’s All Right, Williamsburg Tickets
It was big news earlier this year when our neighborhood whole-animal butcher, The Meat Hook, left their space in the back of the Brooklyn Kitchen and moved a little further into Williamsburg. The new Graham Avenue space, which opened on February 26th, is bigger, brighter and allows for a bit more interaction between their fabulous butchers and us customers. I stopped by recently to get some groceries and catch up with owner Brent Young. Continue reading →
It’s a swampass summer Saturday in the city, and everyone else got out of bed at the crack of dawn to make it to Rockaway or the Hamptons, but you ain’t got nowhere to go. You might need to recharge with an exotic staycation at 
Smog (aka 
