Category Archives: park slope

Park Slope Chicken

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I saw this chicken walking on the sidewalk  near 6th Ave and 1 St.  Being the city-boy that I am, I was a little taken aback.  Then I heard a few more clucks, and I looked over a the fence into the nearby back patio and saw a few more chicken happily pecking away.

I know it looks like a big pigeon, but trust me, it was a big gray chicken!

My question is, what’s the etiquette? If it were a cat, I would have ignored it.  A dog, maybe knock on the door.  But a chicken?Should I let them know their bird flew the coop?  Or is it just an urban free range chicken?

Are you even allowed to have a chicken in New York City? Apparently hens are (but not roosters, because I guess roosters crowing at the rising sun would be more annoying than the garbage trucks, whinos, or car alarms that usually wake me at dawn.)

Just another reason I wish I had some outdoor space with our apartment, forget bar-b-cue or dining al fresco, FRESH EGGS! (although I’m not sure I’d want the eggs from a hen pasture raised in 1st St and 6th Ave. sidewalk.)

Prospect Park West Bike Lane Underway (and Why the Opponents of It are Wrong!)

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Hooray! They are finally building the bike lane on Prospect Park West.  I’m not sure why  something that will make streets safer, and reduce pollution is controversial, but apparently the Brooklyn Paper and Marty Markowitz are doing their best to make it appear controversial.

The dedicated bike lane will take away one lane of traffic from Prospect Park West. This will slow down speeding traffic and give bike riders a safe place to ride on a major road.

The opponents have a few misguided arguments:

“It will slow down traffic!”
They are correct, taking out a lane will slow down traffic, but that’s the point! Traffic needs to slow down.  PPW is like a drag race! Try taking a dawdling 2 year old across PPW, hoping you’ll make it across in time before the cars speeding from the Grand Army Plaza starting line make it to your light.

“There’s already a bike lane in the park!”
There is a meandering road in the park (filled cars at rush hour.) It is great for a nice scenic ride, but terrible for commuting.

“We will lose parking spaces!”
True, a few parking spots will be taken by the bike path entrance ramps, but the coincidental elimination of the B69 bus will make up most of those lost spots.

When I wrote Marty Markowitz about this issue, and his resistance to the PPW bike lane, he did respond promptly, but he really doesn’t get it. Here is what he said:

“Like our DOT Commissioner, whose professionalism I respect, I too support cycling in this city and have not only supported bike lanes like the ones on 9th Street in Park Slope and Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, but have also been a major proponent of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, a 14-mile on-and-off street bike lane that connects Greenpoint to Sunset Park. Without my office’s support and advocacy the Greenway would not be happening. What I am opposed to is bike lanes on Prospect Park West, which will both take away needed parking for residents and park-goers and interrupt access of pedestrians to the park during peak usage in summer and on weekends. There are better options to explore that would meet everyone’s needs—such as adding traffic lights to calm traffic, and adding another bike lane to the park itself. By the way, as borough president I advocate for bikers, and also for those who do not live near public transportation, those who cannot bike for various reasons, and yes, those families and residents who chose to own a car in this borough.”

Like a true politician, Marty practically breaks his arm patting himself on the back regarding Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. (And I’m not even going to mention how crazy it sounds when tries to make car owners seem like an oppressed minority?!?) Although the real disconnect is that Marty and other opponents think the bike lanes are for recreational cyclists. But the new push for bike lanes like the one on PPW is that they are not being made for cyclists on their weekend tool around the park.  They are creating an environment for bicycle commuting and transportation. These bike lanes are trying to get New Yorkers to use alternatives to cars to get around, like they seem to ba able to do it in the rest of the world.

Take a look at the rush hour commute in Utrecht Holland-

Fornino vs I Trulli

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I’ve heard good things about the new restaurant in Park Slope, Fornino, where their Williamsburg location supposedly has the best pizza. But as it is with anything in the Slope there has been a bit of a kerfuffle, there is no children’s menu! They have since added one, but I’d hardly call the owner’s attitude welcoming of kids, “I’m not looking to turn this into a romper room,”Michael Ayoub says adding, “children should act accordingly,” (he then bit the head of an Elmo doll, so I’m told.)

Gramercy Park restaurant, I Trulli, has no children’s menus and owner of, Nicola Marzovilla, doesn’t believe in them, “Children’s menus are the death of civilization.” But apparently they are welcoming to children, Mr. Marzovilla thinks children’s menus “aim too low” and wants to broaden the little ones’ pallets.

I don’t take any offense to either attitude, but mainly because Nate pretty much gave up on children’s menus at 2 and a half, not enough food! We regularly get him a full entree, and he usually eats all of it.

Although Nate can be a demanding diner, flagging down the waitress for more water or napkins, or food! So I’m looking forward to seeing if they will treat Nate like any other diner.

But the real head-scratcher is why Mr. Ayoub would open a restaurant in Park Slope if he was so opposed to catering to children? Was he opposed to tattooed hipsters at his Williamsburg location?

And for what it’s worth, I’ve had more meals disrupted by loud drunks than kids, and I’ve yet to hear any say restaurants shouldn’t serve booze.

Not Such a Mack Daddy (or Mommy)

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Stroller Shuuned at Mack’s Bar and Grill

My recent Saturday afternoons have me taking Nate to a toddler swim class at the Y, then taking care of some shopping chores, then running him ragged at the playground to induce a delightfully deep nap.   The I get to meet my wife for a peaceful lunch out while Nate snoozes in his stroller.

This afternoon I thought we’d check out the newly open Mack’s (formerly Elementi, formerly Snookys.) It was empty, 2 people at the bar and less than 5 people eating in the back. We made our way to one of 4 empty booths in the front, and a waitress informed us that the owner didn’t like strollers in the front.  We said that we didn’t want to wake our 2 year old up and we were happy to sit anywhere, and slide the stroller wherever it wold fit.  Apparently the owned didn’t like strollers in the back either.  So my wife said, “maybe we should come back when we don’t have our son?”  “That’d be great,” the waitress replied, apparently immune to my wife’s dry irony.

We left.  And won’t be back, with or without our son.

I don’t want to get into should children be allowed in bars mishegas (especially as Mack’s is CLEARLY a restaurant.) And if a restaurant doesn’t want strollers (or children for that matter) in their establishment, that is their prerogative.

Maybe we just caught a bad day, or bad waitress, but I won’t be back to Mack’s because they are STUPID! Mack’s is in Park Slope.  They may even have a children’s menu. And pretty much everything else they serve might as well be on a children’s menu. Yet they don’t want strollers? Why would you create a policy that alienates so much of neighborhood?

At 1PM Saturday Mack’s was hurting.  No brunch crowd at all, it was all but empty and was not going to fill up that afternoon. Yet they are turning away customers because they have  no stroller policy.  You could have parked 6 Bugaboo’s, 4 Phil and Ted’s and a couple of Bob “double wides” to boot, and you would not be in violation of any fire code, or hamper the egress of the eight people there. There was no downside to having a family and stroller there, except that they don’t want their fine establishment with the “stigma” of being family friendly.  (Or as we call them in Park Slope, the restaurants that stay in business.)

Plenty of restaurants have managed to strike a balance between family, Two Boots is the Slope’s go to family destination, yet still has a hoping bar scene at night.  A few people have complained about the Tea Lounge being overrun with kids in the afternoon, but the Tea Lounge can’t hear you with all the money coming out of their ears.  Barrio is seems to a very brisk business to both families (with and without strollers) and childless alike.

We have taken the nappin’ Nate to lunch at a lot places a lot nicer than Mack’s with no trouble (Belleville, Sette, Sotto Voce, Cafe Steinhof, Applewood, The Chip Shop, Franny’s, Get Fresh, 12th Street Bar and Grill, to name a few.)

There was a silver lining after our rebuke fro Mack’s, we noticed that the Korean restaurant Moim had recently started opening for brunch.  They were accommodating to us and our sleeping child, the service was excellent, and our Bi Bim Bop, and Bul-Go-Ki cheese steak were delicious!

Of course there have been occasion when a restaurant has been too crowded to squeeze a stroller in, and we were always fine with that, we aren’t looking to make a statement, just for a restaurant to make sense.

Did Karl Marx Really Like Organic Lacinato Kale?

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“He who does not work, neither shall he eat” – Vladimir Lenin

Let me preface this by saying that I believe in sustainable agriculture. I love Michael Pollan and Alice Waters. I am a foodie progressive. But how come Marxism has become so tied to healthy food in Park Slope? I love fresh insecticide free fruits and vegetables, but do I have to sign-on for The Great Leap Forward to get them? The most popular organic food options in Park Slope require you to make a financial and/or labor commitment.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the communal/coop system of shared responsibility, and in an ideal world it makes perfect sense. But I live in a world that requires most of my time be devoted to my job, and what little I have left goes to my family. So call me bourgeoisie if I do a little research to get the best bang-for-my-buck (and back) before I march to forced labor to get non-poisoned food.

PARK SLOPE FOOD COOP /PARK SLOPE CSA / URBAN ORGANIC

Park Slope Food Coop

When most people think about organic food in Brooklyn they usually think the Park Slope Food Coop. It really is a remarkable organization in their size and longevity. The Park Slope Food Coop, was founded in 1973 by a small group of neighbors who wanted to make healthy, affordable food available to everyone who wanted it, and are now the largest active food co-ops in the United States. They have over 15,000 members who run most day to day operations and the coop carries a wide selection of produce and groceries.

Only members can shop at the coop.

The Park Slope Food co-op requires a $25 membership fee, and a $100 “investment” for each adult.

And each adult is required to work 2 hours and 45 minutes once every four weeks.

So in order to save “20 – 40%” on groceries, my family will need for fork over $250, and work 71.5 a year. Even if you value your time at minimum wage, that’s $768 the first year. (It makes Costco’s $50 membership seem like deal, and the Coop doesn’t even sell caskets.)

So I’ll have to spend over $2500 a year at the Food Coop to make it worthwhile financially, for an overcrowded supermarket, that has no parking, doesn’t deliver, and often gets its politics too involved in its food. Of course you can’t put a price tag on the feeling of your own self regard, (or the weird sense you might be in a cult.)

I know some members will say that is harsh. But harsh is the Coop’s double makeup policy, which says if you miss a work shift, you now owe two shifts. This sounds a lot like predatory credit card practices at the worst, or a lot like “The company store” at the least.

You load sixteen tons of organic onions, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt

Park Slope CSA

Another option is the local CSA, community supported agriculture. CSAs consists of a group who agree to support a farm operation where the growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production. At The Park Slope CSA, founded in 2000, you buy a share in the farm, and starting in June, you get 22 weeks of produce. You can’t get fresher food, a wide variety of fruits and veggies, and a lot of it, from June into November. There is also an option to buy flowers, eggs and other goods.

$644 gets you 22 weeks of vegies (20 weeks of fruit.) Membership for the 22 week season requires 5 hours of work (37 bucks at minimum wage) plus a $25 membership fee. So that’s $706 bucks you fork over for 8 1/2 pounds of veggies plus fruit a week. For argument sake that would run $1680 if you wanted produce for a year (which you cant have, damn that Northeastern winter!)

So that will only satisfy your organic jones for less than half a year, and you have to pick up your share either tuesday or Thursday afternoon (also no parking, no delivery) and you are at the whim of Farmer Ted and the weather . If there’s a late spring frost upstate, don’t count on those strawberries, and if there is a bumper crop of collard greens, better stock up on your Paula Deen recipes and ham hocks, you’ll be seeing them all until November.

Urban Organic
Urban Organic is a home delivery service of organic produce based in Park Slope, and has been around for over 10 years. They buy bulk produce, groceries and dairy organic farmers’ cooperatives, distributors and individual farmers.  All of our produce is Certified Organic.  You can also purchase organic dairy products and some other organic groceries.

In addition to a one time $25 membership fee, $34.99 gets you 15-18 items organic fruits and vegetables, (1-3 pieces of each item) a week, delivered to your home. You don’t get to pick exactly what you want, but they post online what the next box will have, and you can make limited substitutions, say you don’t like collard greens. (They also have smaller, $24.99, and larger $44.99 boxes.) $1845 a year for the standard box.

Mind you, this is not for your locavores, its all organic, but a lot of it is from the major agribusinesses, and often shipped from thousands of miles away, especially in late fall and winter.

Other Options…

In Brooklyn there are a lot of options to get organic produce, in addition to the growing organic sections in local supermarkets, there are several farmers markets that have loads of organic produce (although don’t be fooled, just because it grown locally, doesn’t mean its organic), Fairway and Trader Joe’s have decent organic sections, Fresh Direct has a decent and growing organic selection, and while the Whole Foods in Gowanus may be on hold, the Bowery Whole Foods store in Manhattan does deliver to much of Brooklyn.

Many these options have been deemed as being too expensive, but once you factor in the hidden costs of the coop and CSAs, and the fact that I don’t need to spend every 4th Saturday afternoon stocking shelves, they don’t seem so bad.  (And as an added bonus my dad will stop calling me a pinko.)