But there is a crackdown on street furniture and a lot of other things that make streets more livable and enjoyable – which is the real story.
Businesses have been getting threatening letters and summonses from the city for things like having benches and planters on the street (North 6th Street), etc. (and, yes, even for operating sidewalk cafes before noon on Sunday).
P.S. – kudos to Brownstoner for doing some actual level-headed reporting on the overblown war metaphors.
Seriously, don’t we have bigger issues to tackle around here?
You wouldn’t know from reading Crain’s, but CB1 supports about 9 out of every 10 liquor license applications that come before it. (Proving Woody Allen right, the huge majority of rejected applications are for bars and restaurants that don’t even bother showing up.)
That’s some crackdown.
Amanda Kludt at Eater:
It’ll be just the place to go when there are too many black cars idling outside of Sea Thai.
Unlike Bloomberg, Zagat has been to actual new restaurants in the outer boroughs. They are impressed enough with Williamsburg’s latest crop (Allswell, Brooklyn Star, Cafe de la Esquina, Forcella, Isa, Mable’s, Maison Premiere, Masten Lake, Meatball Shop and Pillar & Plough) that they’ve anointed it restaurant neighborhood of the year.
(It’s nice to see that the Northside sharing in the good eats action – the Southside has been kicking its ass in that category for years now.)
Bloomberg puts Roberta’s on list of 10-best NY restaurants for 2011:
8. Roberta’s: Not new, really, but this was the year Manhattan discovered an Italian-American gem…
Oh, so not really. At least they’re honest in their provincialism.
GQ validates our lifestyle choices by calling out Brooklyn as the coolest city on earth for its food. Even Alan Richman is on board – proclaiming the chef’s table at Brooklyn Fare to be the “most exciting restaurant in New York“.
Meanwhile, Fucked in Park Slope is not entirely impressed (and most of their comments are pretty apt).
For its fourth anniversary, Santorini Grill on Grand Street is instituting a pay-what-you-want policy. Santorini’s food is great (as Gothamist notes), the portions are huge, and the staff and owners are very nice. It was a bargain before, even more so now.
Sam Sifton:
Like the real-life St. Anselm, the restaurant makes an ontological argument. If we can conceive of an affordable steakhouse on the same block as the Metro Line cab stand and the Brooklyn home of the Knitting Factory, then surely such a thing must exist. And here it is now: St. Anselm is Keens for the millennial set, a Bar Americain for the riders of fixed-gear bikes.
The L Magazine presents its list of best restaurants in Brooklyn. Plenty to choose from, and to agree or disagree with (I’ll have to try Maison Premiere again – first time around I was very underwhelmed by their oysters, in particular their ability to properly shuck them).
Presumably, the L’s readership is hip enough to know where all of these great restaurants are – the article omits addresses.
