Brooklyn is getting a little bit of Jersey in February. The basketball team the New Jersey Nets started moving it’s business operations to Brooklyn, New York a little over a year ago with the legal team setting up shop in the new MetroTech building. The business end will be moving in February.
The new offices are only one subway stop away from the new Barclay center. This new enormous sports center was once eyed as the spot for a new Brooklyn Dodgers location in the 1950s. However, this building, which was begun in March of 2010, is now going to be a state of the art, modern, and hopefully profitable location for the newly named Brooklyn Nets.
It’s been a long, hard road for those involved in the franchise. Several potential lawsuits and a nomadic existence have plagued the team. They started in the ABA in Teaneck, NJ before moving to Long Island. In 1977, they were admitted to the NBA and moved back to New Jersey. From that time on they lead a troubled existence losing four seasons in a row and being sued by their landlord, The Prudential Center. They’re finally getting a (hopefully) permanent home in Brooklyn, New York.
The Union Bar, which is appropriately located on Union Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn, is my new favorite spot. I recently went to hear my friends’ band, The Big Takeover, play a gig there, and we all had the most marvelous time.
Both the upstairs and downstairs of the bar are refreshingly spacious. A very sizeable crowd came out to dance a few hours away as they played, and the experience was shockingly not claustrophobic. The bar serves food and drinks; I haven’t eaten there yet, but I would certainly recommend its beer on tap. On Fridays, after the live music ends, there is a karaoke competition.
The crowning glory of the Union Bar is, without a doubt, the full size indoor Bocce court. We did not have a chance to play (waiting list was way too long), but it is yet another reason to return to the bar. The official bocce season recently ended, but you can still go to the bar and form your own unofficial team for the evening. During the season, the bar hosts league tournaments!
The Union Bar literally offers something for everyone; from the types of music it hosts and plays to the activities it offers. For more information on The Union Bar, visit www.UnionHallNY.com.
Get ready, Brooklyn: We’ve got our very own Jersey Shore coming our way. Lifetime has picked up 12 episodes of Brighton Beach, a Jersey Shore-ish, about the Russian-American community in South Brooklyn, to be aired next year. This show won’t focus on a select group of youngin’s; rather, it’ll be about the whole community. Fear not, though! The central point of focus will be a local nightclub, so you know there will be plenty of dancing, booze and bad decisions.
I’d personally like to see a showdown between the cast Jersey Shore and of this show. (No casting announcements have been made thus far, but I can already feel it — a battle royale à la Real World/Road Rules Challenge seems inevitable — inevitably amazing.
I have a love/hate relationship with Beauty Bar in Bushwick. I love it because it’s two blocks from my apartment, perfect for meeting someone when I don’t have the energy to wander far, and because I like the concept: you sit in genuine bright orange vintage beauty salon chairs (from Marlene’s Beauty Shoppe in Lancaster PA, in case you were wondering) while staring at cute retro stripy walls and ceiling lamps. And you can get a dirty martini and manicure for 10 bucks and cheap drinks ($3 to $5 beers) while listening to a different DJ every night. But I hate it because the sound system is way too loud. I was there last night and it was The Lord of the Rings night – bad for me because I’m not a fan – and as usual the volume was pumped right up and I couldn’t hear the person I was talking to. Beauty Bar opened in May 2009 and with its pretty décor it has potential, and serves as a much-needed bar on the Myrtle Av stretch of Broadway. They just need to turn the music down.
Beauty Bar Brooklyn, 921 Broadway Avenue at Melrose Street, Bushwick. JMZ train to Myrtle Av-Broadway station.
Film director Spike Lee and Absolut Vodka have teamed up to bring you Limited Edition Absolut Brooklyn. A blend of red apple and ginger, this new vodka goes well with a light-colored soda, like Ginger Ale, Sprite, or 7-Up. Creating “city flavors” has been a habit of Absolut since 2007. Currently New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Boston vodkas are available.
The bottle, which features a summer-colored “stoop,” was designed by Lee, who is also filiming a love story in honor of the borough. The film is just one aspect of his much larger “Stoop Life” movement. (See the trailer to his new film below)
Absolut has also pledged $50,000 in sales to Habitat for Humanity, to assist with their rebuilding of affordable housing in Bed-Stuy. A bottle of ABSOLUT BROOKLYN can be had for just $24.99 at most local liquor spots.
After you ride a crowded subway and traverse a crowded sidewalk, stand at a crowded bar and wave your hands (amongst the crowd) for a dry martini, it’d be nice to have some elbow room, don’t you think? That’s why we love Berry Park, a neat-o bar in Williamsburg’s least insufferable quartile (i.e., the one close to Greenpoint).
Essentially, Berry Park is what you get when you close your eyes and imagine the opposite of a New York bar — plentiful seating, clean bathrooms, affordable prices, and room to smoke. (Or, um, enjoy some fresh air.) BP features a pleasant and affordable menu of apps, sandwiches and entrees, with weekend brunches from noon to 4 p.m. The bar — or should we say bars? there are two — has 16 beers on tap and everything else you might expect.
berry park
But the highlight, of course, is the rooftop “beer garden” — presented in quotes because said spacious arena lacks the degenerate vibe we associate with the term. That being said, if we could strip all of our preconceived notions of beer gardens away, and recognize the term as simply a garden with beer, perhaps said label is appropriate.
Check out Berry Park at 4 Berry Street at N. 14th Street in W-Burg. 718.782.2829.
I’ll say this for those Absolut Brooklyn bottles — they’re pretty. Besides for that, though, Absolut’s newest city-inspired vodka might be more trouble than its worth.
To publicize the new brew, Absolut attempted a two-pronged approach. First, the company teamed up with director Spike Lee, a Brooklyn native, who designed the bottle and produced a neat-o spoken word video with local artist Lemon Andersen, featuring such linguistic innovations as “sloped parks” and “brightest beach.” Check out the trailer below, or watch the whole thing here.
Second, Absolut embraced the BK blogosphere, sponsoring Brooklyn Blogfest 2010 and treating a handful of bloggers to flip cameras and early-release Absolut Brooklyns in exchange for coverage. This business relationship angered certain bloggers on principle, while others were annoyed that not all of the sponsored parties admitted said sponsorship on their blogs, a violation of the FTC’s new regulations.
Absolut has been creating these nifty city bottles since 2007. Brooklyn was fourth on the list after New Orleans, Los Angeles and Boston — a position I take as a personal slight — but our borough is probably the first time these limited edition vodkas have caused such a fuss. And perhaps that is their most Brooklyn quality of all.
In an interesting form of protest, Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn’s Borough Prez, is threatening to — gasp — appear in a bathing suit in public unless Mayor Bloomberg reverses his decision to close the Gowanus “Double-D” public pool. Markowitz won’t be alone in his exhibitionism, as various city council members and other pro-poolers will be likewise suited.
The “Double-D” pool will take $200,000 to open, apparently. Is it worth it?
We’re just looking forward to all feeling better about our bathing-suit bods — seeing Markowitz in trunks is probably just as therapeutic as eating ice cream and watching The Biggest Loser.
Looking for a better way to cool down? We recommend Blue Marble, a purely Brooklyn ice-creamery with locations in Boerum Hill, Prospect Heights, and (newly) Cobble Hill. Plus, they added soft serve to their menu, at lease in some locations.
I’ve been spending a lot of time canoodling in Crown Heights these days — and despite the convenient Subway access and frequent drug busts, there was a time when I doubted I would ever be able to find a real restaurant (with waiters and everything) within walking distance.
Then I met Chavella’s.
Now, Chavella’s is actually in Prospect Heights, but still well within walking distance of my main squeeze’s CH pad. Anyway.
Chavella’s offers surprisingly authentic Mexican cuisine — the menu is full of spicy, succulent dishes, without a burrito in sight. Plus, it’s super-affordable: choose an inclusive brunch for $11.25, or à la carte options in the $3–$8 range. The drink menu is scant but satisfying, offering beer, sangria, red and white wine, and margaritas at times. (The Cinco de Mayo jalapeño margarita was a once in a lifetime experience — i.e., I wouldn’t try it again. It was delicious, but in a humbling, tongue-numbing sort of way.)
I recommend the tacos, which are $3 apiece, allowing for guilt-free experimenting, as well as the chiles rellenos con queso — the cheese-stuffed peppers that my Crown Heights amigo so enjoyed. But before you get to that stuff, be sure to order the guacamole app. It comes in an innocent looking animal-shaped bowl, but don’t be fooled — it will absolutely ruin guac for you anywhere else.
Brooklyn is getting a little bit of Jersey in February. The basketball team the New Jersey Nets started moving it’s business operations to Brooklyn, New York a little over a year ago with the legal team setting up shop in the new MetroTech building. The business end will be moving in February.
