This Just In: Checkers Moving Into Busy Chef’s Court
Local blog Flappy Days reports that the Checkers burger chain will be moving into the former Busy Chef Space at 111 Court Street:
Flappy Days: As I was walking to work this morning, the door was open and two men were looking over plans, so I asked them what was coming in. Ladies and gentlemen, your new neighbor is:
They also mentioned they’d be serving vegan burgers, although I don’t see those listed on the corporate site.
The Busy Chef Empire crumbled last summer over allegations of credit card fraud and identity theft.  Last month, the store and its affiliates were evicted from their Henry Street location.
BHB is currently seeking confirmation on this story.
Update: Jim Nellis at Checkers tells BHB via email:
Yes, I’m pleased to confirm a Checker’s Restaurant is scheduled to open at this location. Current plans call for a June opening and more details will be available as we get closer to the opening. Looking forward to becoming a part of the Brooklyn Heights community. Thanks for your interest.
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Posted : April 6th, 2009 at 10:01 am by Homer Fink under Food, Real Estate.
Tags:111 court street 11201, 11201, busted chef, busy chef, checkers, henry street
Comments: 41
Comments
Comment from Claude Scales
Time: April 6, 2009, 10:25 am
Pity. I was rooting for something of local origin.
Comment from yo
Time: April 6, 2009, 10:50 am
can’t wait to use the drive thru!!!
Comment from Matt
Time: April 6, 2009, 11:09 am
Please tell me this is a joke.
Comment from Matt
Time: April 6, 2009, 11:10 am
Maybe the construction workers were having a laugh?
Comment from HDEB
Time: April 6, 2009, 11:20 am
And the blue pig space is going to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Comment from bornhere
Time: April 6, 2009, 11:40 am
gte - I second your Great Wall endorsement. Looks, 0; Taste, 9.
Comment from EAC
Time: April 6, 2009, 12:08 pm
UGH, gross! This has to be a joke. What a waste of space! I’d rather get yet another expensive yogurt place.
Comment from In the Heights
Time: April 6, 2009, 12:57 pm
Is Great Wall really good? We are dying for good Chinese in the Heights and have never tried it because it really looks bad, but we are over Andy’s. Too goopy and gross.
Comment from Adam
Time: April 6, 2009, 1:02 pm
ew.
Comment from Peter
Time: April 6, 2009, 1:34 pm
Great Wall is indeed solid … I thought it was my little neighborhood secret, but I guess the word is out. Everything about the Great Wall is AWFUL except the food, which is very good for the price. The owners are rude, the place is a dive, but the food rarely disappoints.
Comment from Bee Heights
Time: April 6, 2009, 1:51 pm
Are you all serious about Great Wall? I was over Andy’s so I went to Lychee Nut then I burnt out on Lychee so I went to Fortune House. It’s been pretty solid. My wife and I joke about Great Wall all the time. Tell me what the good things are at Great Wall? I am dying for some thing good in the hood!!
Comment from Matt
Time: April 6, 2009, 2:11 pm
Enough with the Great Wall, already. There is not nearly sufficient outrage here about Checkers coming in to further blight our neighborhood!!!!
Comment from AEB
Time: April 6, 2009, 2:12 pm
Yes, please, Peter, what should one have from GW?
I’m a Fortune House habitué–if one orders carefully, the food one gets rates a B. On good days. Which is better than no Chinese at all, especially after a long workday when one doesn’t care to cook.
Comment from Bee Heights
Time: April 6, 2009, 2:22 pm
No offense Matt but nobody from BH really goes to Court Street unless forced by gunpoint so I care more about Great Wall. They can put whatever they want on Court Street it’s awash with crap anyway!
Comment from nabeguy
Time: April 6, 2009, 3:16 pm
Try ordering the Sweet and Sour Chicken combo from GW and then order it from FH. FH serves a gelatinous mess, while GW deep fries the breaded chicken to puffy perfection and keeps the pinapple dipping sauce separate. Also, the jumbo fried shrimp at GW are great, again, crispy not greasy, Oh, and the dumplings with the ginger/soy sauce are tops. Yeah, the owners at GW are akin to the soup nazi (moo-shu Mongolians?), so don’t go there for atmosphere.
Comment from AEB
Time: April 6, 2009, 4:06 pm
Thanks, nabe, for your recommendations. Will definitely try them…
Comment from Anonmyous
Time: April 6, 2009, 4:55 pm
Whats happening at the Henry Street location? I saw workers there the other day.
Comment from anon
Time: April 6, 2009, 5:08 pm
The Chinese restaurant on Pacific and Court is far better than Great Wall IMO. We used to go to both but now it is almost exclusively the place across the street from Trader Joe’s!
Comment from nabeguy
Time: April 6, 2009, 7:23 pm
Pacific & Court? IMLAO (in my lazy ass opinion), too far to go for us North Enders. Do they deliver?
Comment from jiker
Time: April 6, 2009, 7:49 pm
ewwwww yuck! just what we need another disgusting fast food franchise.
Comment from GWfan
Time: April 6, 2009, 9:38 pm
Let’s not get too carried away about Great Wall, but yes, it’s easily the best Chinese food in Brooklyn. Which isn’t saying that much. It’s probably a stupid rumor, but the Times is apparently doing a feature on the place. One of those “Who Knew?” stories.
Comment from Erin
Time: April 6, 2009, 9:43 pm
Well if the rumor about Checkers having a veggie burger is true, that would immediately put them ahead of Five Guys in my book!
Comment from Alan
Time: April 6, 2009, 10:20 pm
hmm… I’ve never had anything great from Great Wall, but maybe I need to order different things. For General Tsos, I think fortune house is the best. Fortune House also has the best fried rice of anyplace in the area.
Comment from Ari
Time: April 7, 2009, 9:32 am
I concur with everyone about Great Wall. As a south end resident I thought I was doomed to Andy’s and Lichee Nut, and after four years of living here, I discovered Great Wall.
Man that place looks scary, but the food is damn good. Aside from Ollie’s in Manhattan this place has GREAT Chinese food in NYC.
And to solve Court Street’s problems, it’s rather simple: close the movie theater. You close that place, the riff raff disappears and the area will be retaken by the locals.
Comment from Monty
Time: April 7, 2009, 12:16 pm
Anyone here ever eaten at a Checkers? Any good? I’m not too snobbish to eat fast food, but only if it’s good.
Comment from yo
Time: April 7, 2009, 3:21 pm
wish it was whataburger
Comment from Sam
Time: April 7, 2009, 3:39 pm
People are getting a little carried away…I think we need to temper the enthusiasm regarding Great Wall. That being said, it is by far the best restaurant in New York City.
Comment from .
Time: April 7, 2009, 5:11 pm
Checkers isn’t THAT bad but it’ll make you sick
Comment from PJL
Time: April 7, 2009, 5:51 pm
Checkers, if I remember correctly, is better than most fast-food burgers I’ve had….
Court Street businesses seem to survive predominantly on the lunch-time crowd from the courts, offices, etc…. hence the glut of fast-food. Can’t blame the movie theater for the lack of good food, though I’m sure it doesn’t help….
Fortune House food is somehow less greasy than most Chinese food I’ve had, which makes it less regrettable. Great Wall isn’t bad–much better than it looks.
Comment from Eddy
Time: April 7, 2009, 7:24 pm
Great Wall is the best Chinese food in B’klyn Heights… Better food, larger portions, lower prices and faster delivery than the competition…
The burgers and fries at Checkers are not nearly as good as Five Guys….
Comment from nabeguy
Time: April 7, 2009, 8:09 pm
OK, having been one of the drivers of the Great Wall bandwagon, I now have to offer a major caveat…if the husband of the couple that runs the place is at the counter or answers the phone, don’t bother. While neither of them seems capable of social interaction beyond barking “whas yo order” the split second you enter the joint, the wife definitely displays her chops when it comes to the deep fryer. As for the husband, I’m left to wonder how you burn a dumpling, but he seems to relish in his ability to do it. Like the Great Wall itself, there are two sides to every situation.
Comment from Adam
Time: April 7, 2009, 8:55 pm
checkers is terrible. unless you think a fast food burger is good, of course. the meat is the lowest quality, and i know of two different checkers in northern nj that have closed at least once due to health code violations.
Comment from Monty
Time: April 7, 2009, 9:02 pm
@GWFan, did you know that Brooklyn has a Chinatown? It’s on 8th ave in Sunset Park. I actually ate some Great Wall after reading this thread and I think it was pretty good, best in the heights, but nothing fantastic.
Comment from nabeguy
Time: April 7, 2009, 9:12 pm
All I can say about Checkers is, thanks Abe. I hope your new rents will afford you some lasik surgery so you’ll be a bit less myopic in the future.
Comment from modsquad
Time: April 8, 2009, 4:46 pm
Anybody who rates Chinese restaurants by sweet and sour chicken is suspect in my book.
Comment from my2cents
Time: April 13, 2009, 1:49 am
Wow. I really need to try Great Wall again. I had been a solid fortune house customer. Checkers? Why bother when 5 guys is so close and one of the best burgers in the city?
Comment from R
Time: April 13, 2009, 9:54 am
I really wish Five Guys would do a veggie burger. When I go with folks I get their “veggie” (just toppings and cheese) and then run home to heat up a veggie patty to put inside the burger. The result is very yummy but I wish I didn’t have to make my own veg burger…
I haven’t eaten in a Checkers since I was a kid, but I have some vague memories of liking their fries - I think they were like battered and seasoned. The adult in me who now likes fresh fries over frozen probably wouldn’t like them nearly as much. But yeah - I think this location is enough outside of true “heights” that it won’t tarnish the nabe like some worry. Give those kids from the theater somewhere else to hang so they won’t be bored enough to mug folks…or something.
and lol@yo’s comment re the drive thru - I can’t recall ever seeing a Checkers that even had inside seating, nevermind one without a drive thru.
Comment from Jason Lam
Time: April 16, 2009, 12:49 pm
Checkers is awesome! 99cent spicy chicken sandwich! I wish for an In-N-Out and a Waffle House one day in NYC.
Comment from Jason Lam
Time: April 16, 2009, 1:04 pm
What is all this talk about this Great Wall being the best Chinese food in Brooklyn/NYC? This is fast food American Chinese, right? I looked on Menupages and someone is raving about the garlic sauce being homemade. Who uses commercial or even pre-made sauce? What are you guys talking about?
Pingback from Brooklyn Heights Blog » Checkers Readies Court Street Store
Time: May 28, 2009, 1:44 pm
[...] chain is hard at work preparing its new Downtown Brooklyn location.  The outlet will occupy the former Busy Chef space at 111 Court Street. [via McBrooklyn] Related [...]
Comment from Publius
Time: April 6, 2009, 10:15 am
Great, just what Court Street needs, another crappy burger chain.