Brooklyn Heights Blog

Comment from jason
Time: May 23, 2007, 10:44 pm

How is this even possible that they are still open? Who would bypass the sign and go in and eat? I’m shocked.

Comment from Teddy
Time: May 23, 2007, 11:57 pm

Maybe they’re European tourists who don’t know what the sign means ?

Comment from Arthur_G
Time: May 24, 2007, 12:41 am

They should make it like CA where they have to post the ratings in the window. It’s not like here where you actually have to go on the web to find them. What an effort.

Comment from jason
Time: May 24, 2007, 9:10 am

I am just floored that they are actually open today with people eating there. Are there that many European tourists? How does the DOH not know that they are open?

Comment from The Sandman
Time: May 24, 2007, 10:47 am

Great location, though!

Comment from CS
Time: May 24, 2007, 10:53 am

that’s gross, didn’t realize the place was so dirty!!! Just had a burger there the other night.

Comment from BklynJace
Time: May 24, 2007, 11:19 am

I don’t much like Heights Cafe, but since the West Village rat debacle the DOH has been going insane handing out terrifying notices for all kinds of picky things. Unless the violations were truly off the charts, I wouldn’t sweat it for a place I liked. YMMV, of course.

Comment from Mike
Time: May 24, 2007, 11:40 am

You’re safe with the draft beer. I think.

Comment from BH Resident
Time: May 24, 2007, 11:49 am

People in the community better get ready for some change and maybe try to stop it. I can’t write who I work for, and I only write this because I’m not happy about what it might do to the neighborhhod.
A national burger fast-food chain is looking to lease retail space on Montague between Henry and Hicks Street.
More chain-food crap.

Comment from Here too long
Time: May 24, 2007, 12:15 pm

Hey, BH Resident … guess you weren’t around when the current Banana Republic was a Burger King!

Comment from hkjh
Time: May 24, 2007, 12:18 pm

… and it wasn’t even a NICE Burger King!

Comment from Claude Scales
Time: May 24, 2007, 12:22 pm

Five Guys is a chain, no?

Comment from Andrew
Time: May 24, 2007, 12:47 pm

Five Guys is a chain (albeit not a national one.)

Is chain-food crap really any worse than the awful to indeible food offered by Happy Days, Grand Canyon, Lichee Nut, Andy’s, La Traviata or City Market Cafe (which is a local chain)? From a culinary perspective, even McDonald’s would be an order of magnitude better than Happy Days. And an In and Out Burger would be, bar none, the best restaurant on Montague St.

Comment from fm
Time: May 24, 2007, 1:05 pm

Chipotle is owned by McDonalds, and is cleaner and better than Happpy Days and many other places on Montague will ever be.Montague jumped the shark foodwise awhile ago, many people bypass it for Atlantic or Henry or Smith street, its mostly set up for feeding the people who work there during the day, or go to school.

Comment from Noone of Consequence
Time: May 24, 2007, 1:06 pm

FATBURGER!!!

Comment from steve
Time: May 24, 2007, 1:22 pm

I always wonder why we don’t have a high quality Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood, one with very tasty, authentic dishes, and a stylish interior? And I don’t mean to suggest that a P.F. Chang’s would be the answer.

Comment from nabeguy
Time: May 24, 2007, 1:52 pm

Montague Street has seen it’s fair share of Chinese restaurants of various ilks, so people may be a bit burned out, even if it is a bit more high end. As for a BK or McD’s between Henry& Hicks, it sounds too far off the beaten trail of Court Street to be feasible. As previous posters noted, the BK that preceded the Banana Republic didn’t last, so I can’t imagine why moving further west would help.

Comment from hkjh
Time: May 24, 2007, 1:57 pm

The only space I can think of available btw Henry and Hicks is the old Tapestry place. The landlord was getting 24k a month from her (Tapestry). Who else can afford that other than a McDonalds type place?

Comment from the departed
Time: May 24, 2007, 2:05 pm

Bennigans!

Comment from nabeguy
Time: May 24, 2007, 2:14 pm

24K a month??!!?? Are you sure? That’s gotta be in the neighborhood of $250 per square foot for that space, which is unheard outside of midtown Manhattan. And if it’s true, well, you can all stop wondering why Montague Street has such a terrible selection of stores.

Comment from joe
Time: May 24, 2007, 2:15 pm

Before the DOH incident I wouldn’t have eaten there. Food is very mediocre and overpriced. I much rather eat at Teresa’s ( and I frequently do) which though mediocre is at least cheap.

Now if DOH shuts down Pete’s I would be quite sorry.

Comment from CS
Time: May 24, 2007, 2:25 pm

It’s McDonald’s and they are looking to buy/lease any space from long-standing businesses.

Comment from Danno
Time: May 24, 2007, 3:03 pm

FYI, McD’s doesn’t own Chipotle anymore; it sold its (partial) interest last year.

Comment from spm
Time: May 24, 2007, 3:12 pm

Tapestry is actually asking $20,000/month. The woman owns the entire building so I guess she can ask what she wants. Before Tapestry, Slade’s was there - a restaurant - which was also mediocre food-wise - I did order in once from there and found a cockroach in my mashed potatoes - that was my last meal at Slade’s.

I’ve heard good things about Five Guys but it’s true, no interesting restaurants seem to stay open - I did like Centrico (?) which was the hipper,more creative restaurant of the Heights Cafe owners but that didn’t last and sadly is a Sleepy’s.

Comment from nabeguy
Time: May 24, 2007, 3:57 pm

I own a building in the Village and am only asking $13,250 for a commercial space thats at least twice as large as the one that Tapestry occupies. Like I said, you can kiss goodbye any hope of ever getting a new business in with any sense of novelty as long as the landlords are going to be that greedy! It’s the chain-ing of the Cue!

Comment from Billy Reno
Time: May 24, 2007, 6:41 pm

Mental hygiene?! Shouldn’t they close the dirty bookstores if they’re worried about that? Why can’t the Tapestry space be occupied by a bank? We need more of those. Did you see a Sovereign Bank is opening on Atlantic and Court across the street from a Sovereign bank? I was pulling for a Trader Joe’s!

Comment from Billy Reno
Time: May 24, 2007, 6:41 pm

Mental hygiene?! Shouldn’t they close the dirty bookstores if they’re worried about that? Why can’t the Tapestry space be occupied by a bank? We need more of those. Did you see a Sovereign Bank is opening on Atlantic and Court across the street from a Sovereign bank? I was pulling for a Trader Joe’s!

Comment from emcee
Time: May 24, 2007, 8:05 pm

For what is supposed to be one of NYC best neighborhoods, the restaurant scene is embarassing. Truly a disgrace. I hate to say it but it probably has to get worse before it’ll get better. All we can do is try to speed up the process - stop eating at these crappy places. Go to smith street, you’ll be much happier to make a short trip for a tastey meal than to perpetuate the mediocrity around here.

Comment from Teddy
Time: May 24, 2007, 11:22 pm

If a Trader Joe’s did open on Atlantic & Court, foot/vehicle traffic would be even worse than now. Besides we have to support our local Key Food. Anyway the traffic would be worse.

Comment from joe
Time: May 25, 2007, 12:35 am

I have to admit I would love a Trader Joe’s to come to that location but I heard its going to be a Urban Outfitters. Even with a Trader Joe’s, I’d still support the local key food as much as I do now since TJ has stuff I can’t get from Key Food.

I think the landlords are partially to blame for ruining BH. The space above AT Loft has been sitting empty for a few years now and despite what the sign says, the landlord is unwilling to divide the space. Its obvious when Jennifer Convertible loses its lease that the landlord is planning to lease the 2nd floor and ground floor to a bank, pharmacy or realty firm. With landlords like these, the neighborhood is not going to get anymore interesting any time soon. Whatever people might say about Mr. Walentas, at least the senior Walentas is careful about how many banks fill his storefronts but I guess that is the difference between someone owning several buildings and a landlord owning one or two buildings.

How sad is it that the most interesting store to hit Montague in what feels like a decade is the housing organization thrift store.

Comment from Arthur_G
Time: May 25, 2007, 1:56 am

i sure hope another sushi or asian fusion place opens up on smith.

that being said, there’s a lot of flight out of the Heights and (vomit) BoCoCa to Lower Manhattan. I think that after the 30 somethings fled the dotcom rents to Kings County, landlords saw the potential for raising rents when the leases came up. But lo and behold, the 20-somethings are 30-something, with kids, buying homes and condos and why would anyone want to pay $1800 for a one-bedroom in Cobble (yawn) hill when the same will get you in a studio on the UES (yawn) or the East Village, where there are trains and places to eat after 10 p.m.

just my zwei pfennig

Comment from Arthur_G
Time: May 25, 2007, 1:58 am

i meant the 20-somethings fleeing….

Comment from Danno
Time: May 25, 2007, 10:43 am

Be very afraid of that new Sovereign Bank. The bank has already announced that it’s either sold the parking lot west of the old Independence building to developers or will develop it itself. With a branch across the street, I bet the big old building is all but finished as a bank — and maybe as anything else.

And in a probably vain attempt to bring the thread back to its nominal subject, Heights Cafe was indeed open for dinner last night — a day after it was closed. The food was not noticeably different, but service was even slooooooower than usual. Probably some reconfiguration of the kitchen.

Comment from Billy Reno
Time: May 25, 2007, 11:01 am

joe,
There’s an Urban Outfitters coming in? Oh goody! I can continue dressing like Ashton Kutcher into my 50s! And don’t worry Teddy, I’m all about Key Food on Atlantic for my staples and my fix of rude cashiers right out of juvie.

Comment from jtg
Time: May 25, 2007, 3:08 pm

The Sovereign opening in the Court House at Atlantic and Court is just a replacement for the one across the street. Walentes will be developing the old South Brooklyn Savings Bank building into condo/retail. The court house space is nowhere near big enough for a TJs, but the bank space is. Development it is a good thing Danno, not sure what you’re afraid of.

Comment from EJ
Time: May 25, 2007, 3:59 pm

It is my understanding that the bank itself will be completely retail, with condos being built from scratch in the parking lot.

Comment from Teddy
Time: May 26, 2007, 3:36 pm

Well, now that I think about it, a TJ may not be that bad. I’m tired of Key Food.

Comment from S
Time: June 2, 2007, 2:11 pm

Billyreno… First of all I have never had a problem with any of the cashiers from the Key Foods on Alantic Ave. Secondly why do assume that the cashiers are right out of Juvie? Sounds like a racial bias. Maybe if you saw these people as individuals rather than some kind of backward stereotype you’d get treated a little better. Also, have some sympathy. Those cashiers work long hours and I’m sure the pay is not fantastic - give them a break.

Comment from Ready To Order? Guide
Time: June 19, 2007, 7:01 pm

This is the report that you can actually find at this link:

http://167.153.150.32/RI/web/detail.do?method=detail&restaurantId=40401556&inspectionDate=20070524

I’m not defending every single restaurant in the neighborhood but I really don’t like to see bad reviews when they come from people that don’t go deep and see why that happened.
If they reopened the restaurant and they fixed the problem, considering that they had only 12 points at the end of the process, I think we all need to think about reconsidering the all 38 messages above and keep supporting the few restaurants that can afford, thanks to you, to be there instead of having only big fast food chain like it is actually happenig right now.

HEIGHTS CAFE
84 MONTAGUE STREET, BROOKLYN 11201
718-625-5555

Current violation points: 12

Inspection Date: 05/24/2007

Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.

1.) Non-food contact surface improperly constructed. Unacceptable material used. Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained.
2.) Cooked or prepared food is cross-contaminated.