The Downtown Brooklyn Thread

Yeeeah those are weird blocks. You'd think they're right in the middle of the next big thing, but they remain almost completely deserted except for that fancy fucking converted warehouse green roof architecture magazine building with the green certification on Dean St.

And yes, I'm just jealous.

wow the comments are worse than the story.

yeah otm. congrats to the Post for a perfect score of 100% racism.

anything to get further away from what Vanderbilt is turning into

I dunno Vanderbilt's got a long way to go before it's Bedford Avenue. it's not that raucous even on the weekends

on the other hand maybe I shouldn't defend it since apparently it's a good place to get stabbed to death

i wish that better bars were opening than "branded saloon" which seemed sort of lame and fratty

though i dunno the neighborhood is kinda fratty for some reason

unrelated but they were gonna open a pawn shop on franklin but it looks like that plan was abandoned

perhaps vanderbilt is not the next bedford ave but the next 81st st

No, you're right! Wasn't thinking about raucousness, precisely, more like being shocked by the number of truly airheaded, over-protected, precious little snowflakes with hyper-affected accents and that sorority girl "up-talk" thing at the ends of sentences (boys and girls both) doing their "grocery shopping" in the organic foodz bodega or w/e and being completely oblivious to anyone around them, and thinking I needed to live further east*. And that was on Franklin! Vanderbilt otoh is a lot older and has its own money instead of its parents', I guess, but I couldn't say I enjoyed drinking anywhere on that strip.

*Or maybe further south, because they might be Pratt spillover.

xp I don't know what 81st St is known for?

being fratty

I kind of assume Vbilt is like Park Slope at this point, honestly. I'm surprised at this stabbing thing mostly for THAT reason.

it's pretty much like Park Slope. I don't really drink on Vanderbilt tbh. Soda Bar is ok. most of the restaurants are pretty good though.

i dunno the neighborhood is kinda fratty for some reason

don't know if I'd call it fratty but none of the bars are particularly hip or even a-dive-with-personality. ok Plan B is pretty fratty.

I miss Freddy's

yeah i mean i guess thats partly what i mean. starlite closed too, tho thats a lot closer to me than you. i did most of my drinking this summer on my roof.

oh and hot bird has been ok, at least in terms of having an outside space. though it was getting crowded by the end of the summer.

Minor Arcana was fine last weekend but I think all the crowd were friends of one of the three DJs, so not a typical night.

Woodwork seems cool if I could ever get in the fucking door. SO crowded!

xpost - I peeked in the door of there when I walked by the other day but couldn't get a feel for what it was like

peeked in Minor Arcana I mean. that wasn't really an xpost I guess

have you guys been to Brooklyn Beer and Soda. wholesale beer place at Dean and ... Washington? it's pretty great

It didn't feel like anything tbh. It's a blue-painted box inside with some cool/okay DIY-ish light fixtures and one bathroom.

Dean and Washington WHAT?? Is that the place that moved from somewhere further west? There used to be a place with every imported beer ever, and kegs of same, on...Sterling and Rogers? Or something in that area.

minor arcana is a bizarre space. i have some friends who live next door and they never go--its so small and (at least last time i was there) theres no where to go

and yeah anytime im walking out there i try to stop by bbs and try a new beer. cool store imo. next to "church of god victory"

oh and woodwork IS cool, on weeknights and during the day ime, and roughly neighborhood prices + pretty good food, but it gets pretty nuts on weekends. i dont really get it to be honest--are there any bars around here that dont get crazy on weekend nights? franklin park is the same way.

Yeah Minor Arcana rly gives the feeling of being like a dead-ended trap of some kind. Still, if it's really uncomfortable, maybe that will keep people away longer.

Speaking of being spare and unwelcoming, did anything intersting ever happen to that bar on Washington, The Manhattans, or whatever it was briefly called?

only if you consider it interesting to be open for several weeks and then close unceremoniously. I think the place was a flop.

Bah. The best bars are the ones no one goes to.

I never went. It was probably fine. I just found the whole hype campaign and amount of press it got super dumb

Siberia reincarnated. More laid back, quiet and lounge like than the original Siberia, but give it time and soon it will be a trashed den of sin covered in broken glass and vomit, and I mean that in a good way.

Manhattans is the ultimate dive bar by the sole architect of revelry and filth within confined quarters - Tracy Westmoreland. This watering hole will cause you to not only be in need of a little of the old 'hair of the dog' the next day, you'll be in dire straights for the whole pound - blood, flesh, and bark. Your tenderly scarred body will be using canine pate as an ointment the next morning; however, every morsel of pain will be worth the bountiful of laughs you'll experience the night before with other pleasure seeking souls like myself looking upon Manhattans as the compass to our own personal Valhalla.

Is that the place that moved from somewhere further west?

I don't know if they moved, I only just heard about the place but my impression was they've been there a while. It's on Washington btw Bergen and Dean.

NEXT TO CHURCH OF GOD VICTORY

sorry i just like saying church of god victory

There was place somewhere in the middle of the nabe (if the nabe runs from the Parkway to Atlantic Ave, which I always think of as being the next main thoroughfare) on Prospect or St Marks or Sterling, and the coerner of either Bedford or Rogers. They didn't have normal walls and doors, but would roll up these big car-style security gates and you could just walk in, and since the floor was cement and the building had no windows, it was always nice and cool in there...I would buy all the beer in the world if I landed there on a hot day.

got a keg there once

keggers of relatively recent yore

I live a 30 second walk from Vanderbilt and Park. Bizarre to me that people are even talking this up as a new area - it's struggled for the 4 years I've lived here. OK, different places have arrived, but they're a bunch of odd, not very appealing places that've struggled (Soda is boring as hell, Cheryls has no character, Plan B is weirdly neon fratty, Beast is good for brunch only, Woodwork is ehhh unless it's the World Cup, everyone I know ignores the Vanderbilt). So what scene? Even places like Tavern on Dean shut down cos of lack of patronage. Not exactly a scene. Meanwhile 5th Ave and Smith St still feel more interesting, and that's the way it was 4 years ago...

Tavern on Dean closed?? Bummer, man. Although they did do things like add an automatic 18% gratuity to every bill, that made it seem a little sketchier somehow.

i dont think anyones saying its a "new area"

I bet Woodwork's not that crowded at 7.30am for soccer watching. Although it will still be pretty 'ehhh' if you don't like soccer.

Also, Beast only being good for brunch is fiiiiine with me; I could MURDER one of their breakfasts right now.

vanderbilt has an ok brunch but its expensive. some weekend mornings ari and i just go to get some of their coffee and beneigts and eat at the bar

beignets

new outpost of oaxaca taco on prospect + franklin btw. better than chavellas or pequena if u like socal-style tacos

Been avoiding Beast on principle after a saturday where they were out of everything and made us hang around long after clearing our table because the machine was down (something we only found out after asking a busboy - our waitress couldn't even be bothered to refill our water glasses). But goddamn that chorizo hash was good when they actually had it.

admittedly avoiding vanderbilt restaurants on principle has been easier since moving from clinton hill to cobble hill. sorry to hear tavern on dean closed. I guess the gratuity issue was weird but it was mellow.

they had a pretty good burger iirc

rip

only place I really miss from the neighborhood is Cornelius.

went to Cornelius one time and wasn't that into it, they had a good list of bourbons but were missing the first two I tried to order and I thought the pork sliders were pretty blah. could have been just-opened jitters though, it was like the first week.

new outpost of oaxaca taco on prospect + franklin btw. better than chavellas or pequena if u like socal-style tacos

sweet. picked up their menu at Brooklyn Beer & Soda, they had it out on the counter & I was curious if it was good.

has anyone eaten here?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07michelin.html?_r=1&hpw

michelin is so weird

I haven't been there but it's nearby and I'm not totally surprised. That place gets insane foodie props all the time.

i guess i am "out of the foodie loop"

Has anyone been to Black Gold on Court St (and I think 4th pl) yet? Some sort of coffee and records and antiques dealy. They use Rook coffee, which a friend of mine swears by.

yeah, it's run by some friends of friends. it's OK; more coffee shop than record store IMO -- I feel like they're trying to get you in a coffee stupor and then milk you for a $25.00 (reasonably pristine) copy of Hall & Oats' greatest hits, tho they do have some newer stuff and some gen-u-ine colectors' items.