Disco globes and vintage car pulleys dangling from the ceiling. A fire-engine-red wood-burning oven capped by a wooden, wagon-wheel-like formation. Handcrafted tables that form a heart shape when pushed together. It’s clear from these quirky design details what River Styx — the newest restaurant from the team behind Brooklyn’s Roebling Tea Room, which opened last night on a quiet, riverside street in Greenpoint — is not: another neighborhood eatery that takes itself too seriously.
“I just want people to have fun at dinner. Really, it’s all I care about,” the chef Dennis Spina explains of his inventive menu, which is categorized simply by small plates and entrees. While Spina’s cooking is graced by unconventional twists, everything somehow remains comforting and satisfying. The Big Chef, a small plate that’s one of Spina’s favorite creations, is composed of slivers of capicola, an Italian pork cold cut, and creamy béchamel, wrapped in fresh pizza dough and baked in the oven. The result is warm, chewy, salty and gooey. In the Squid Suave — which got its eccentric name after a menu typo changed “sauce” to “suave” and customers praised the dish — tender pieces of flash-fried squid get a punch of lip-smacking heat from a special blend of Clamato, Frank’s RedHot sauce and butter. A flat bread, which Spina refers to as his “house naan,” is supple and pleasantly oily, getting a tangy and nutty boost from buttermilk and spelt. Paired with puréed fava beans, curried cream and raw honey, it just might be the restaurant’s aesthetic plate, with sherbetlike colors and delicate flavors that make it soothing on the eyes and the palate. Even the house chicken surprises. After marinating in a juice of house-made pickled jalapeños, the chicken quarters are fired in the oven and generously slathered with burro rosso, a boldly colored red sauce of butter, paprika and tomato paste. The meat is tender, the skin airy and crisp, and the sauce subtle enough that you’ll chase every last bit of it.
Staying true to the house philosophy, the cocktails are also deceptively simple and balanced. Developed by Dmitri Bartlett, the drink menu is filled with unexpected surprises. The Sinking Body is made of just four ingredients — vodka, grapefruit, cinnamon and simple syrup — but tastes far more complicated. While tequila is the key spirit in the Discipline, its unlikely pairing with amaretto and serrano peppers slices that are lit on fire — you blow them out — makes the cocktail nutty and spicy. “In the end, it’s about having a good time,” Spina says. “We’re all having fun.”
A massive new nightclub planning to open near popular desitnations Brooklyn Bowl, the Wythe Hotel and Output Club wants to bring electronic dance parties that will last as late as 6 a.m. to the Williamsburg waterfront.
Verboten (German for “forbidden”) — a popular dance party company that throws techno and house DJ events around the city — is applying for a liquor license for its soon-to-open nightclub on North 11th Street that will hold more than 700 people, company representative Jen Schiffer said at a public meeting this week.
“It attracts a discerning crowd of music fans, Europeans, hipsters, freaks, party girls and industry types,” the company’s website explains of its “techno programming.”
Brooklyn’s own Holy Ghost! filmed the video for their new single Dumb Disco Ideas on the rooftop of The End in Greenpoint. The track will be on their forthcoming album Dynamics (no release date yet). Enjoy the skyline and the vibes Read the rest of this entry »
After a drawn out intro by Bob’s Burgers voice John Roberts, Gavin Mcinnes investigates the use of the word ‘Marshmallow‘ to describe hipsters. As the police officer states it is ‘because they’re soft and white.’ Oh well I guess it had been too long since we’d seen Hipster Grifter make an appearance on the internet. Watch below:
In what was a rather unusual billing for ‘heavy and loud’ venue Saint Vitus, Marissa Nadler and Dutch Jim Jarmusch collaborator Jozef van Wissem graced the blackened Greenpoint stage with a night of fragile bliss. Video edits of both performances are posted below.
Daft Punk has done pretty much the only thing that could make Monday a great day. Stream Random Access Memories in its entirety via their artist page on iTunes HERE
“Americans are so over Hipsters” declared a new poll out today from top political firm Public Policy Polling. The firm, which normally conducts research for clients such as the Democratic Governor’s Association and a slew of federal and state elected officials, found that only 16% of Americans have a positive opinion of hipsters, 42% of Americans dislike hipsters and a whopping 43% of Americans just aren’t sure what to make of the trend.
The tenth installment of Pat Noecker’s drone project ASSEMBLE was performed at Knockdown Center in Maspeth, Queens last Saturday. This is a complete recording of the early show. Alexandra Drewchin JR., Bonnie Baxter, James Corrigan, Jeanann Dara, David First, Kate Henderson, Laura Ortman, Michael Durek, Camilla Ha, Daniel Schlett, Sto Len, Ted McGrath, Jason Poranski, Sadaf H. and Adam Holquist simultaneously played the notes of A and E, while RAFT orchestrated musical changes and pauses to them by text message. ASSEMBLE collaborator and video artist Matthew Caron, with Peter Shapiro, Eric Drasin, Reid Bingham, Sofy Yuditskaya and Matt Romain of Fast Food Music Video handled the kaleidoscopic visuals throughout the night.
On Friday, May 10, NYU’s annual Strawberry Fest took over LaGuardia Place in Manhattan with all sorts of shenanigans, all and foremost a stellar billing of live bands which included Merchandise and Mission of Burma. Short video edits of their performances are posted below.
Now that it’s beautiful out, the time has come to get spring fever and buy plants to slowly kill by neglect or overwatering during the summer. Lucky for you, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm is having a soil and plant sale this Sunday May 12th and next Sunday from 11-5pm at 44 Eagle Street. Transplants and soil from McEnroe Farm. The farm is also open for your viewing pleasure.
