Bon Appetit: A Scene Grows in Brooklyn

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Image: Bon Appetit

In its May issue, Bon Appetit travels to “N.Y.’s Foodie Mecca”, Williamsburg. The article calls Williamsburg a “legitimate culinary hotbed”, and cites as evidence a pretty nice cross section of the neighborhoods dining experience. On the new side, there are write ups of Diner, Marlow & Sons, Bonita, Fette Sau, Egg and Dressler (briefly); on the old side, there are Bamonte’s, Peter Luger and Raymunds. For drinks, there is Spuyten Duyvil, and for shopping there is Marlow & Daughters and Bedford Cheese Shop (and non-food establishments Spoonbill & Sugartown, Brooklyn Industries and Earwax.

They left plenty of places out, but what they included makes a pretty strong case for culinary hotbed status.

Soul-Deadeningly Ugly on Havemeyer

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165 Havemeyer Street


A lot of ugly buildings have been built during the past few years, and Williamsburg certainly has more than its share. But few buildings transcend ugliness in the way that 165 Havemeyer Street does. This soul-sucking beauty comes to us from the atelier of Philip Toscano Architects*.

For the record, the building will have 9 apartments and stores on the ground floor. The DOB permit doesn’t specifically say that there is a hellmouth below the cellar, but I have my suspicions.

*2009, and still no website.

Walter Foods

In the processing of reviewing (and very much liking) Walter Foods, the New Yorker remembers Oznot’s Dish and Planet Thailand (presumably the original on Bedford Avenue, not the ersatz disaster on Berry, which lately looks like it should just be put out of its misery).

Machetes

The new weapon of choice. One kid was arrested last week brandishing a machete in a bodega on South 4th.

The Williamsburg Murals

Fascinating – in 1988, a group of abstract murals were discovered in the basement of the Williamsburg Houses. The murals, which “are thought to be the first and among the most important abstract wall paintings in the United States”) according to this Times article), had been painted over numerous times and were being used as bulletin boards. In 1990, the murals were rescued and restored and put on display at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. BMA has just moved the murals to a new location on the first floor of the museum.

The murals themselves were painted as part of a WPA project by Ilya Bolotowsky, Paul Kelpe, Albert Swinden and Balcomb Greene – all of whom were founding members of American Abstract Artists. Williamsburg Houses is (are?) a New York City Landmark.

Bulletin boards!