The Downtown Brooklyn Thread

i've said it before & i will say it again: fuck a dumont, their burger sucks and has only gotten worse.

what do you dislike about it specifically? (just curious!)

i had 67 burger last night. was really good, but i still prefer the mullane's burger/fries.

anyone tried pipitone's pizza right near there? plain slices are good. very different crust from not ray's. much fluffier. sometimes i want the crispy tho. ::shrugs::

oh sorry, what i specifically dislike about the dumont burger is its marinated flavor and tendency to being gray & oddly textured no matter how you order it. also, it is small and expensive. the environment at the dumont restaurats is also pretty crappy imho--too many tables crammed too close together, too many "pretty" people.

they do have bomb ass mac n cheese but it's also too expensive and can be approximated pretty easily at home

ian, you like the Donovan's burger? have we talked about this?

i still plan to go to Donovan's. you've mentioned it, and my burger friends & i have planned to go, but it keeps falling through.

had a burger from Paul's today, still totally delicious. I've found myself craving the Molly's burger; must go back.

I like Pauls, only been once or twice. Donovan's has to be medium-rare, otherwise it's nothing special. I love Donovan's because I live around the corner and go there by myself on weekday afternoons for lunch.

<3 burger friends

ian, how many burgers per week do you have?

http://www.makefive.com/images/200906/1d965ed9c4bd9be1.jpg

I would've had one Monday if the reflux hadnt been acting up.

i eat enough burgers, but not TOO many burgers.

prospect heights: where can i order some fries at this time of night?

Not that impressed with Zaytouns. Bedouin Tent and Waterfalls are both better and closer to me.

My favorite burger is at Sparrow.

the sparrow in astoria? they serve food now? cool

Yes, they have great food. Somehow I have become addicted to their burger, and any other burger pales in comparison.

xpost

We used to get takeout from Zaytoons all the time (love their chicken shwarma pizza), but it seems like they've been getting more business than they can handle. They've messed up our orders a few times now.

zaytoons merguez sandwich has made me sick a few times, but it's the only middle eastern delivery nearby so i still order from there. zataar breads. mmm.

the one by me is fine (there's a few, right?). chicken shawarma pizza = boss

we make zataar bread at home now. just had a bunch last night!

does anyone know of a good place to go shopping for art prints?

orig. zaytoons is on smith st. Then there's one in Fort Green and one in Prospect Heights?

I always feel like all those places came from one source...Black Iris or whatever the one on Dekalb is called, Beduin Tent, Olive Vine, Moustache Pitza...they're all very similar in their menus. They all have their pros and cons, though the Olive Vine on 6th ave in Park Slope was one of the worst meals I've ever had. Beduin Tent's merguez sandwich is KILLER.

Zaytoons used to be the best...chicken kebab platter, chicken schwarma platter, the pitzas, I'd always get cucumber yogurt and hummus and extra feta and pile it all on the pitza.

But the last few times I've been to Zaytoons over the last year or two it definitely went downhill, but I still get nostalgic for it. It was my delivery standby for 3 years living on Court St. and 3 years on Wyckoff. Sometimes I'd get the chicken kebab and it would be undercooked though, which was nasty.

Now, I'd rather drive down to Bay Ridge for Tanoreen.

There really aren't many places like this in my part of Queens. There's a nice lebanese market in Sunnyside that we visit sometimes. I've been meaning to explore the egyptian part of Astoria for middle-eastern eats. I've only been to Kebab Cafe several times. I know there's some corner place that's supposed to have the best Merguez sandwich in the city.

there's no way black iris and bedouin tent aren't owned by the same ppl

my parents say tanoreen is phenomenal

yea ppl love bedouin tent's merguez sammich

old Mooney's Pub on Flatbush is reopening as Sharlene's (one of Commonwealth bartenders) as soon as this week, it appears

good news, near my place! plethora of new bars in the 'hood.
today i will pick up another growler from the beer distributor.

The best thing about Waterfalls is the "Mom's Specials" menu -- a bunch of awesome dishes I haven't seen in other lebanese/syrian places.

Bedouin tent also has this awesome weekend special dish -- it's sort of like a chicken pita pie with salad on it. Something with a "Z"

Anyone know what was up last night with the helicopters and sirens? It sounded like there was a chopper hovering nearby for almost an hour. (We're at Sackett and Smith.) Manhunt?!

a car drove into teh gowanus

look out teh gowanus nooooo

now they have AIDS or some shit.

Firefighter Richard Staiti smelled trouble - and it was wafting from the dangerously polluted waters of the Gowanus Canal.

The FDNY veteran needed a hepatitis shot and an hour-long shower after pulling a drunken driver from a sinking Volvo in the stinking Brooklyn canal Saturday, authorities said

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/05/10/2009-05-10_fireman_jumps_into_gowanus_to_save_driver.html

ewww

there used to be an urban myth that every single person who ever fell into the gowanus ended up dead eventually.

I guess everyone ends up dead, eventually, but the point was that they'd all gotten some horrible disease from the Gowanus.

Also note the Gowanus is much cleaner now then it was 10 years ago.

I'm gonna go take a dip in Newtown Creek.

saw someone kayaking in the gowanus once

A girl at my law school told me she was disappointed when she showed up at an event at the Gowanus Yacht Club and realized it wasn't actually a yacht club.

So was I.

every day im disappointed by that

we should litigate

tho actually ive never been there since i was hipped to the fact that it wasnt a yacht club in advance

I'm becoming very fond of Rice in Dumbo. I was skeptical of the unlikely mix of cuisines at first, but the food is all really good and cheap and the atmosphere is nice for a place as cheap as it is.

I sort of understand...but it's also gruel that you could make in large batches yourself. i know this isn't the pleasure of eating out, but at the same time...anyone that can cook a little bit might feel a little weird about paying for simple slop?

Rice in Ft. Greene is one of my favorites. wonderful food, nice variety of flavors/options. good for takeout, and i love the atmosphere there.

there's a lot of places that make things you could make at home in large batches...

(that's not exactly the point of restaurants... and it's not really "simple slop")

well, like i say. sort of is. if you have pulses, spices, basic veges, takes 10 mins.

SOME of the dishes, this applies to. but you can't really make special rices like that at home very easily.

also it's just a silly reason not to eat somewhere. some of my favorite meals out, i could easily make at home. that's just not really the function of going out.

i mean, just because it's a stew of sorts doesn't make it slop. a lot of cultures rely heavily on rice dishes and stews, and i wouldn't call that slop.

Yeah, I don't want to get pedantic: some meals you eat out with friends cos it's fun, or easy or whatever, but - just saying - that for some people (maybe not you - fine) the idea of paying for a restaurant's costs (overheads, staff etc) when they make *somewhat simple* slop is...dim.

xp[ost. that would be fine. but other cultures don't position rice as the center and create dishes around it. rice is an accompaniment, and one that is less often used than you'd think with the dishes they present.

i just feel like if i didn't pay for things i could easily make myself, i'd never eat out.

well i can't speak for other cultures, but rice is kind of the centerpiece of the lebanese culture -- it's not realllly an accompaniment. and i grew up with a lot of similar dishes, so i guess i just don't feel comfortable with the idea of calling that kind of thing slop.

but i get what you're saying -- i mean that's why i hesitate ordering simple pasta dishes or like, chicken.

I don't think paying $7 for ratattouille or banana curry is more ridiculous than paying $35 for a steak or grilled fish.

right!

I'm a big booster of cheap slop cuisine though, and I usually find the marginal added value in all but the best expensive restaurants to be too small compared to what you pay.

rice is horrible - def on my permanent shit list - will not set foot in that place