Monday, October 08, 2007

Edible Brooklyn

This past Saturday 4 friends and I went on a little walking tour of Brooklyn, eating as we went. We started in DUMBO (district under Manhattan bridge overpass) at Almondine bakery for croissants, pretzel bread, and baguettes. We then strolled across the street to Jacques Torres' chocolate shop. In spite of the extra warm weather some of us got hot chocolate. The other two got ice cream sandwiches. It was agreed that the banana chocolate ice cream was fabulous.

Years ago, when I moved back to New York DUMBO was kind of a wasteland. Nothing but old warehouses and junk. Now it is completely gentrified. There are restaurants, boutiques, art galleries, and gorgeous apartments. And no wonder. It's an amazing landscape, made of odd angles and textures. One gallery we visited would make a fantastic living space though you would need to fill it with soft, round furniture to offset the concrete and steel. An old garage space is now home to From the Source, a store that sells hand made wooden furniture.
I couldn't walk out with the beautiful high backed chairs that I loved so instead I bought a duck. A wooden duck. Not the kind you usually see, originally meant to be a decoy for hunters. This is a dignified duck, standing tall, made of bamboo and teak.

Our plan was to have lunch at Grimaldi's pizza. However, when we arrived the line was even longer than I had feared. 40 minutes, just for take-out. I have no idea how long the wait for a table for 5 would have been. But in the naked city one must be prepared to improvise so we moved on, down through Brooklyn Heights to Atlantic Avenue. We stopped in Sahadi's for olives and cheese then went on to Brawta, a Caribbean restaurant. It was very tasty. I had pan fried porgy that was crisp and delicious.

From there we went south, through Carroll Gardens, past the Gowanus Canal and into Park Slope. There we ended our day at the Cocoa Bar. They sell chocolates, coffee, and wine. A marvelous combination.

We decided that we should meet every month to go eating. I'll let you know where else we go.

1 comment:

karen said...

That sounds like a fabulous day! I miss Brooklyn food - always something wonderful.