Brooklyn Heights Blog

There’s a new podcast in town. Brooklyn Heights resident and former NPR producer Dan Pashman and his co-host Mark Garrison (Williamsburg) are taking a fun and unconventional approach to food in their new program “The Sporkful.”  “It’s a podcast about food,” says Pashman, “but not so much about cooking, recipes or restaurants.” So what is it all about?

According to their website, Pashman and Garrison are obsessive about food. During the program they “discuss and debate the most ridiculous food-related minutiae, always seeking ways to eat more, eat better, and eat more better.”  Tune in on any given week and you could hear them discuss chicken parm subs vs. calzones, the importance of surface area-to-volume ratio in ice cubes, or what exactly makes the perfect potato chip.  It’s Car Talk meets the Food Network, but as Pashman is quick to point out, it’s not just for foodies, it’s for eaters. Read more »

This Friday and Saturday, February 12 and 13, the Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street (corner of Clinton) will host the annual “Red Show” Affordable Valentine’s Day Crafts Fair.

NY Creates in association with the Brooklyn Historical Society will hold a Valentine’s Day Weekend Crafts Fair at BHS. Come pick up handmade jewelry, clothing, pottery, soaps, sweets and other treats for your Valentine at the fair. The fair will take place on the ground floor entrance of BHS. Another sweet treat: All visitors to BHS receive free admission to the museum during the Fair.

In conjunction with the Fair, there will be a red velvet cake taste off, starting at noon on Friday, with judges including Brooklyn Beep Marty Markowitz and BHS President Deborah Schwartz digging in to determine who makes the Borough’s best version of this Valentine classic. Come early to be sure to get your share of succulent cake. The Fair will be open during the Museum’s normal hours: Friday, 12:00 noon to 5:30 pm; and Saturday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

BHB photo by C. Scales

Originally scheduled to open in December, then delayed to January, the Pier 1 portion of Brooklyn Bridge Park (see photo above), though evidently good to go, will not welcome the public until, according to the latest promise, sometime this spring.

The Brooklyn Paper: The long-awaited first permanent section of Brooklyn Bridge Park has been delayed — again! — and will now open “in the spring,” Borough President Markowitz revealed in his “State of the Borough” address on Wednesday night.

The waterfront development’s Pier 1 recreation area at the foot of Old Fulton Street — the fruit of decades of planning and controversy — was originally scheduled to open in late 2009, but was pushed back until January.

According to the report, no one has given an explanation for the delay.

Internet “sensation” Bob Trucken Hat recently shot this strange video at Siggys on Henry Street.  The series is a hobby of film exec Marcus Vannini.

Next Tuesday, February 9, City Coucil Member Steven Levin will lead a discussion about the recent underground explosions that rocked the neighborhood around Joralemon Street and Willow Place on January 18. All are invited to this meeting, which is sponsored by the Willowtown Association and begins at 6:30 p.m. at the A.T. White Community Center, 26 Willow Place.

Update: According to reader bklyn20, representatives of the MTA, National Grid, Con Ed, and the City’s Department of Transportation will all be present at the meeting.

Last night, a CB2 committee approved a cabaret license for Dumbo’s River Cafe without much of a battle in a 6-1 vote.

The swank eatery, which earned its first Michelin Star this year, was revealed by the Post this week to only pay $5,536 a month in rent, while the restaurant’s tasting menu is $125 a person.

Owner Michael “Buzzy” O’Keeffe, who also operates Pershing Square and Water Grill, has a lease from the city through 2025. A lawyer for the restaurant said last night that the cabaret license, which allows patrons to dance, was intended to bring a “supper club” ambiance to the restaurant, allowing late diners to dance after the final dinners were served for the night. Read more »

Ivaylo Ivanov, whose arsenal of guns and homemade bombs was discovered in the apartment he was sharing on Remsen Street two years ago, and who later admitted to spray-painting swastikas on synagogues and scattering hate literature around the neighborhood, today entered a guilty plea and will be sentenced to prison.

YourNabe.com: The man responsible for smearing swastikas across Brooklyn Heights and hoarding a secret cache of guns and explosives in his apartment won’t be coming back to the neighborhood any time soon.

Prosecutors announced Thursday that Ivaylo Ivanov, 39, pled guilty to multiple weapons possession and hate crime charges with the understanding that he would be sentenced to 18 years in prison.

We recently posted on Ivanov’s activities while in pre-trial detention at Rikers.

The New Tenants trailer from Det Danske Filminstitut on Vimeo.

Reader Bob posted this comment on Open Thread Wednesday:

Congrats to BH resident Joachim Back on his Academy Award nomination for his short live action film The New Tenants. Joachim wrote, directed and produced and his wife Mette was an Executive Producer. They had a screening recently at the Brooklyn Hts Cinema.

If you know any Academy members, tell them to vote for Joachim’s film!

BHB adds its congratulations and best wishes.

Following a contentious meeting and several compromises, a CB2 committee unanimously approved a liquor license for a forthcoming cafe at 71 Pineapple St.

Angry neighbors showed up to battle over the serving of alcohol in the cafe’s backyard space, which they said was unfit for a residential neighborhood. That fight, however, turned out to be a non-issue tonight when the owners were informed by the Community Board that a separate application would need to be filed to approve the serving of alcohol outside. Read more »

Tickets on sale NOW for new additional tour added 3/7/10 at 11am. Buy tickets here!

The  first “official” Homer Fink’s Hidden Brooklyn Heights Walking Tour will take place on Saturday March 6, 2010 at 1pm.  Tickets are  SOLD OUT .

We’ve taken our cue from Radiohead for this installment - pay what you want for your ticket.   Tickets are on sale now at Eventbrite.