Anyone know anything about the “Henry Custom Tailor” in the St. George building?

Got my first sandwich from Busy Chef this week and was unimpressed. Like the idea of the place, but seeing all that food sitting there all day in their sad little plastic containers is so unappealing to me.

Appetizers:
Goat Cheese Brulee Salad
Country Style Pate
Tomato and Basil Soup Special
-Not a morsel of food was left on our plates. However, it would have been nice to have more figs, brioche toast, and gerkins with such a large serving of pate.

Entrees:
Steak Frites (medium rare to medium)
Marche Burger (medium)
Moules Frites
*Again, we enjoyed everything and ate everything except for the giant serving of fries that came with the Mussels. The fries are very thin and are hard to eat by hand though. (Not sure if that’s the traditional way of making frites?)

Dessert:
-2 Creme Brulees
-Hawaiian Chocolate Cake
-2 French Roast Coffees
-1 Valhrona Hot Chocolate
*The Creme Brulees were good but were brought out in such a hurry that the brulee hadn’t yet completely hardened. The cake was good also.

The service was great. The owner was our waitress last night (not sure if this is a regular occurence or if someone was out sick). She was very friendly, offered great beer suggestions, and kept a close eye on every table.

We will definitely come back soon and friends. But maybe we’ll try going earlier so it’s not so crowded. Crowd or no crowd, it was a delight!

If you’re looking for an interesting new restaurant option, I highly recommend Hibino on Henry Street between Atlantic and Pacific. It’s not technically in the Heights, of course, but still more convenient for us than the Smith Street restaurants. They have decent sushi and a nice selection of unusual sakes and beers. What is especially interesting is their homestyle Japanese cooking, including small appetizers called obanzai.

SPM, my bet is Oven and Busy Chef don’t make into 2008. I haven’t tried Oven. It seems overpriced, and I am suspicious of any restaurant that is affiliated with TBC or any of its prior incarnations.

Celebrity Sightings: Actress Emily Watson, husband and their daughter have been living in the nabe for a few weeks – haven’t seen her around for a few days (I was seeing her evry day and I hope she didn’t think I was a stalker!) so I guess she’s finished filming. Really nice, very low key person and a phenomenal actress (“Breaking the Waves,” “Miss Potter” among many others.)

Le Petit Marche: Had a lovely Sunday dinner of cucumber soup and mussels – delicious and perfect for a summer night. Only complaint is that they didn’t have the wine I would have liked. Service was very friendly and prompt. Owner said it’s been pretty dead on the summer weekends so you can easily score a table.

Five Guys: Burger was delicious and I got lots on it. Portion of fries was enormous – easily could feed 2-3 depending on appetite. A bit of a wait and it wasn’t crowded so I can only imagine it must be even slower when they’re busy.

Oven and Busy Chef look empty – anyone doing a countdown on closure yet? Also, it would probably help them (and Blue Pig) if that scaffolding came down. Isn’t it illegal to have that structure there for so long?

Details about me:
(I feel a bit weird writing this, but you all know how hard it is to find a good place to live here, and would appreciate some kind assistance)

I am a nice person, tidy and considerate. Am a 48 year-old straight woman. Work at Columbia University doing high-level administrative work. Go to bed on weeknights by 11:00. Don’t have any pets. Am looking for a long-term situation. Work hard, have a busy life, enjoy myself (within appropriate levels) and want to come home to a place that feels like home. I like to cook and know how to cleanup after myself.

Have two grown kids who live on the west coast. Daughter done with her Master’s in Microbiology and is teaching – my son is almost done with Undergrad in Engineering. I am really proud of them and am including this part to express how I’ve done what I could to be the best mom to them and arrived here last year by myself, ready to do things I’ve always dreamed of, which is just what I’m doing.

One thing I knew when I got here and still know is that I am a New Yorker. Love living here. Grew up in the East Bay looking at San Francisco lights and Brooklyn is very much like that. I am a photographer (used to teach, and exhibited a lot) and now am learning to draw. Am part of a Cobble Hill drawing group. Go to museums, listen to music, like movies and baseball too.

If you are aware of any possibilities, please let me know.
Thank you.

I noticed that the last time we talked about food was more than 20 days ago, and the people are responding very well to that (no less than 20 posts all the time)

We should talk about food a little bit more!!!

Salute e Buon Appettito

Gianluca Martorelli