Fette Sau in Williamsburg, which earned 24 out of 30, offers the city’s best place “for pigging out” on barbecue, according to Zagat. “That’s nice, very cool,” said owner Joe Carroll, who opened the restaurant a year and half ago. The barbecue is so good, Carroll tells customers not to use a lot of sauce on his tasty meat – including such unusual offerings as pork belly, pig’s tail, lamb shank and tongue. The city’s best burger – served on a brioche bun with house-made pickles – was found nearby at DuMont, which also earned a 24 rating. “[That's] nice but not surprising,” said James Garvey, manager of DuMont, which opened in Williamsburg seven years ago. “We’ve worked really hard.”
One way to let it be known that you’re new in town, is to welcome everyone else to your universe. It’s kinda like Mr. Rogers taking his magical trolley into that crazy world on the other side of the wall, and saying, “Welcome to my neighborhood, puppets!”. That’s what Williamsburg’s newest clothing shop Summer Friday chose to do, by papering telephone polls around the area with the above sign. They’re offering “contemporary clothing for gentlemen & gentlewomen”, and are located at 560 Lorimer St., just by the Metro Ave. stop. On behalf of the residents of Williamsburg, thanks Summer Friday, it’s great to be here!
via Racked
Walter Foods — image c/o NY Mag
There are a couple of new restaurants opening up in the hood. Getting the most buzz is the raw bar Walter Foods on 253 Grand Street. Here’s what NY Mag says:
Finally, the raw bar the kids in Williamsburg have long demanded! Balthazar bartender Danny Minch and Barrio Chino owner Dylan Dodd have opened Walter Foods at 253 Grand Street. Justin Ernsberger, formerly of Clinton Street Baking Company and Aqua Grill, brings his love of sea creatures to the menu — lobster appears in five dishes. This is good news for anyone on the L train looking to score some clam chowder this fall; if you’re not, there’s a burger and fried chicken and some steaks for you. Given Minch’s former life as a bartender, it’s no surprise that the cocktail menu is more robust, if not a little old-timey: See Sling, Singapore for details.
More info on Walter Foods here.
Also, for those of you who miss the Brick Over Gallery (we sure do), its former owner just opened a new joint called Kenny’s Trattoria. Here’s what the owner has to say:
Kenny’s Trattoria is an Italian restaurant with a menu offering homemade pasta dishes, including a homemade ravioli of the day, and several chicken, pork, beef and seafood dishes. Patrons of Brick Oven Gallery will recognize some of the dishes such as the Brooklyn Caviar, Brick Oven Shrimp, Orichietti and the same over sized salads.
More info on Kenny’s Trattoria here.
On another note, a new brick oven restaurant called Motorino opens on Friday. It’s on the corner of Graham & Ainslie. And speaking of brick oven pizza, we’ve been addicted to Barosa. It’s just a block away from Motorino on Graham and it’s definitely worth a visit. Stick to the basics–eggplant parmesan, pastas, the sausage pizza is heavenly–and you’ll be delighted.
Get it while its hot, at Hoodman. If anyone can make me a “I throw PBR cans at the Real World cast members” T-shirt print pattern, I’ll make you king/queen of FREEwilliamsburg for the week. Then, maybe we’ll actually print it.
Found via I Heart Cool Stuff
In the not-too-distant future we may see ‚”luxury-style” condos on top of the lot that used to host a facility for low-level radioactive waste and toxic chemicals.
Soon, Curbed will be following the construction of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s new condo complex, while we all go hide in our refrigerators like Indiana Jones.
photo via flickr user yzzordorex
Graffiti legend Dumar Brown (aka Nov) has been globetrotting and spreading the word of his new book, The World Screaming Nov, the way he knows best. Graffiti reading “World Screaming Nov”, or to some, “World Screaming Nov 11″, is just a little bit of marketing, and not to be mistaken for some grim warning of an impending attack. I found this photograph on Flickr of the message painted on a wall in Williamsburg, this one at an intersection along Kent Ave. Similar messages have also been seen throughout Brooklyn and even in Paris (via Gothamist).
The Brooklyn Paper has Brown defending himself, saying “It was just an advertisement. I didn’t have permission, but then again nobody ever asked me if it was OK that they put billboards up in my sight. I’m not a vandal.”
Photo c/o The Brooklyn Paper / Allison Bosworth
The Hasidic community in Williamsburg is a bit up in arms recently over the addition of this sexified 90210 billboard looming over the neighborhood and their stretch of the BQE. A local rabbi gave the reasoning to the Brooklyn Paper:
In Jewish law, it is forbidden to see any part of a lady that is not dressed ‚Äî and having men and women swimming together is also not permissible, even if they are fully clothed,” said Rabbi David Niederman, president of the United Jewish Organization
Nobody’s returning any phone calls. But now that the premiere’s come and gone, it’ll most likely be taken down quietly one night without noise nor fuss. Offensive? Or maybe just a bit of New York seeping east…
Balthazar alum Danny Minch is opening a Blue Ribbon-style, casual fine dining restaurant in the space across from Clem’s. Minch recruited his chef from Clinton Street Baking Company, and rumor has it that Walter Foods, named after his bulldog Walter, a neighborhood fixture, will offer a slice of birthday cake on the dessert menu each evening. Mmmmm, birthday cake.
More news (and the status of Pies n Thighs) at BrooklynBased.
And this time we’re not talking about the haircuts and post-punk reemergence. From Metro
Crime has become a hot topic in Williamsburg — especially tales of machete-wielding kids roaming the streets.
Williamsburg’s 90th police precinct has experienced the sharpest rise in crime since last year of any neighborhood in Brooklyn, making some locals nervous. ‚”My friend said they’re attacking white hipster boys on bikes,” Neil Campbell, a tattooed South Fourth Street resident who fit that bill, said. …
‚”Gang violence in the community [has] re-emerged into something we haven’t seen since the 1980s,” said William Orellana of community group El Puente.
Last month, Richard Duran, 22, who residents say was not a gang member, was shot at the bus depot on the South Side near the Williamsburg Bridge. Some believe the shooter was a member of the PBGs, or Pretty Boy Goons. Later that night, young men with machetes — allegedly Trinitarios — slashed two people on South Third Street near Bedford Avenue.
image c/o The Brooklyn Paper / Allison Bosworth
From The Brooklyn Paper:
Justin Tranter, lead singer of the quartet, Semi Precious Weapons, rents an illegal 1,800-square-foot loft in the shadow of the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant for six years — but he and his bandmates received a 30-day eviction notice earlier this month…
‚”Things are going well for us, but we aren’t a famous band yet, so we don’t have any money,” the oft-stilettoed singer said. ‚”This city just isn’t about artists being able to live fabulously anymore.”
That may sound sad coming from Tranter, whose band was named ‚”best local rockers” by the Village Voice and have made more appearances on the Perezhilton.com blog than, well, Paris Hilton. But, unfair as this may sound, there just aren’t mega-millions to be made in recreating the sound that made David Bowie so fabulous in the 1970s.
The band can barely scrape up the $1,400 monthly rent, which is less than half the market rate for Greenpoint lofts….
‚”Everyone knows that Greenpoint is changing,” said the spandex-clad Tranter, whose band is considering moving to (gasp) New Jersey. ‚”It’s no longer for artists here. You used to be able to move here and figure it out, but it costs too much now. Now you have to have a plan, you have to have a job, and you have to have rich parents. We don’t have any of those, so we don’t know what to do.”
