Die Hard Diner: Hinsch’s Gets New Owner

By on March 7, 2013  Featured story, Food & Drink
Mar 072013
 
Image source: emilydickinsonridesabmx via Flickr

Image source: emilydickinsonridesabmx via Flickr.

It looks like Hinsch’s [8518 5th Ave] has nine lives after all.

Thanks to a deal partners Roger Desmond, Gerard Bell and Bill Gardell recently made with Staten Island diner mogul Mike Moudatsos, the endangered eatery, which first opened in 1915 as Reichert’s ice cream parlor and still makes its own ice cream, will live on as “Mike’s Hinsch’s,” writes Helen Klein for Home Reporter.

Desmond, along with Bell – who is also co-owner of Skinflints [7902 5th Ave], and Gardell had taken over the space a little over a year before, when longtime owner John Logue retired.

“When we take over, we keep the name and add Mike’s to it,” Moudatsos’ son Lee, who will run the establishment’s day-to-day operations, told Klein – He also assured the public that the egg creams, homemade ice cream and chocolates that made Hinsch’s famous would continue to satisfy the neighborhood’s sweet tooth after his family took the helm on Monday, March 4.

“All that stuff is going to stay,” Lee Moudatsos said. “We are just going to add to it.”

“I feel the weight of the world is off my shoulders,” Desmond told Home Reporter. “It’s really been some roller coaster. I lost a lot of money but I don’t have any regrets.”

Just over a month ago, after a deal with a national fast food chain fell through Desmond, die hard restaurateur that he is, resolved to reinvent Hinsch’s as a late night date destination.

MAP: Dine-In Brooklyn Begins March 11; Full List Of Participating Bay Ridge Restaurants

By on March 6, 2013  Food & Drink
Mar 062013
 


View Dine in Brooklyn 2013 in a larger map

Dine-In Brooklyn kicks off its 10th anniversary season on Monday, March 11, and runs through Thursday, March 21.

Participating restaurants will offer some combination of $28 prix fixe dinners, $20.13 lunches, and $20.13 brunches-for-two. Some will also offer $10 “dine-again” gift cards.

The list of all participating restaurants throughout the borough of Brooklyn is available on the web site of the Borough President. The list of all Bay Ridge restaurants participating in 2013 is below. Continue reading »

Hinsch’s Saved [For Now]!

By on February 1, 2013  Featured story, Food & Drink
Feb 012013
 
Image source: emilydickinsonridesabmx via Flickr

Image source: emilydickinsonridesabmx via Flickr.

American humorist Mark Twain once wrote, “the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

And then he died.

According to Brooklyn Paper’s Will Bredderman, neighborhood institution Hinsch’s [8518 5th Ave], which was expected to close March 1, has dodged the figurative bullet – and will in fact remain on 5th Avenue for the foreseeable future.

Hinsch’s partner Roger Desmond, who helped save the circa 1948 soda fountain and luncheonette in 2011, told Bredderman that a deal he had been negotiating with a “national burger chain” to take over the space’s 10 year lease recently fell through.

And with the iconic ice cream parlor back on the market, Desmond says that in the meantime he’ll do whatever he can to put it back on the path to success – Including having the soda shop moonlight as a romantic rendezvous.

“I want to make it work. I always wanted to make it work. So while I’m here, I’m going to continue to try to make it work,” said Desmond.

Expected to begin sometime in the next week, Hinsch’s will remain open “at least two hours” later than normal. The eatery’s extended evening version will include candlelit tables, jazz, and a new nighttime menu set to feature hamburgers made with beef from renowned meat purveyor Pat LaFrieda.

Alchohol consumption at the re-birthed bop spot will be BYOB, giving you an excuse to dig out that flask you got for Christmas. Classy!

It’s Official – Hinsch’s To Close March 1

By on January 11, 2013  Featured story, Food & Drink
Jan 112013
 
Image source: emilydickinsonridesabmx via Flickr

Image source: emilydickinsonridesabmx via Flickr

Say it ain’t so.

After a reprieve that lasted well over one year, Bay Ridge’s idolized 1950s ice cream parlor, soda fountain and lunch counter will soon be serving its last egg cream.

According to CNG’s Will Bredderman, “the neon-signed confectionery, which started serving egg creams and sundaes on Fifth Avenue near 86th Street in 1948, will close permanently on March 1 and will be replaced with a new store…”

From Brooklyn Daily:

Co-owner Roger Desmond, — who temporarily saved the small piece of history in November, 2011 after a brief closure, said the high cost of doing business on Fifth Avenue and changing tastes in the area made it to difficult to makes ends meet.

“The area no longer supports this kind of establishment,” Desmond told Brooklyn Daily. “Bay Ridge is more of a fast food kind of place now. Hinsch’s is passé, I guess.”

Landlord Anna Tesoriero reportedly has a new tenant lined up for the prime space – located on one of the neighborhood’s busiest intersections, although Desmond told Bredderman he didn’t know what type of business would be renting his former storefront.

Something tells me it won’t be a Jahn’s.

Eater Scores Some Scandinavian Soul Food At The Danish Athletic Club

By on January 2, 2013  Food & Drink
Jan 022013
 

In honor of all you local history buffs who know why 8th Avenue is nicknamed Lapskaus Blvd, here’s a place where it may still be possible to enjoy a bowl of the avenue’s eponymous stew:

The ever-informative Eater staff writer Brooks of Sheffield recently paid a visit to the Danish Athletic Club [741 65th Street], one of Bay Ridge’s – and New York City’s – last remaining strongholds of Scandinavian comfort cooking.

Sheffield, who also publishes the blog Lost City, apparently liked what he saw, and ate, at the schmaltzy 65th Street supper club.

From Eater:

Those who venture inside the low-slung, nondescript building on 65th Street will find some of the best (only?) Scandinavian comfort food in New York. Fish pudding, meat cakes (called Kjottkaker), pot roast, sweet and sour cabbage, perfectly boiled potatoes, cream of cauliflower soup, rice pudding. And lingonberries with everything. A bountiful, and very filling, meal can be had for under $20. In fact, it’s impossible to spend more than $20, unless you order two dinners.

The restaurant, which shares the street with the Swedish Football Club, and is mere blocks away from the Norwegian Sporting Gjøa Club, maintains an edge by virtue of being the only one of these dwindling social clubs to run a working restaurant on the premises.

Sheffield writes that during his dinner one guest “insisting on a bit of formality,” asked for the check. “It’s what it is for everybody,” host and Norway native Reidun Thompson answered from her chair. “$17.40.” “What do you need a check for?” the guest’s friend asked in disbelief. “It’s not like we’re at Hinsch’s.”

Yelp reviewer Mary B. advises calling ahead, as the club often holds private events. The phone number is (718) 748-7844.

If you’re looking for a warm, friendly place with affordable comfort food where everyone knows your name, as well as the total on your bill, then you’ll probably wanna check it out.

Vicolo, New Italian Restaurant And Pizzeria, Opens On Third Avenue

By on November 27, 2012  Featured story, Food & Drink
Nov 272012
 

Dear Readers – when I say “new restaurant,” bear this in mind. Vicolo opened up a few weeks ago. I meant to write about it a few weeks ago. Then Mother Nature got all up in our grill, and it has taken me this long to get back to the story.

Which is too bad, because, for starters, I love pizza. I consider pizza to be a food group. Do we still have food groups? I guess I’m showing my age – it’s all about the food pyramid now. Well, pizza forms the base of my food pyramid. Continue reading »

A Bar In A Butcher Shop? Tell me more…

By on October 9, 2012  Featured story, Food & Drink
Oct 092012
 

Image source: grongar via Flickr.

Frank and Eddie’s Meat Market [7502 3rd Ave] may soon begin serving up adult beverages alongside their choice steaks and cold cuts, as reported by Will Bredderman for Brooklyn Paper.

Dennis Mannarino who owns the butcher shop, which has provided the neighborhood with prime meats since 1963, wants to turn a former food prep area in the back of the store into a beer and wine bar that will sell hot deli sandwiches.

Mannarino, along with butcher bar partners Pam Caliendo and Joe Tafuri, has apparently already gotten the ball rolling by applying for a liquor license, readying the space for construction, and beginning to assemble a menu. Continue reading »

Wicked Monk Moving To Old Ballybunion Space On 3rd Avenue

By on October 1, 2012  Food & Drink
Oct 012012
 

9510 3rd Avenue (Image source: Googlemaps).

After enjoying the pleasantly un-ironic, small-town vibe at the Ragamuffin Parade, followed by lunch at Skinflints, my fiance and I made our way down Fifth Avenue for a brief fight with the Saturday shopping crowds at Century 21. Like some anonymous Irish adage, the wind seemed to be at our backs and the sun warmed our faces as we strolled past dozens of storefronts selling everything from Greek specialties to Real Estate.

It was then, as we approached 86th Street, that we noticed a sign posted to the facade of enshrined neighborhood dive the Wicked Monk. It read something to the effect of “Last Day On Fifth Avenue.”

The Monk was moving. But where? Continue reading »

Nouveau Restaurant Opens It Doors Tonight On Former 3rd Ave Site Of Ibiza

By on September 27, 2012  Food & Drink
Sep 272012
 

A new Latin American-Asian fusion restaurant is set to open its doors to patrons of the culinary arts tonight in Bay Ridge.

Noveau [8214 3rd Ave], whose interior is purportedly meant to conjure up images of a Los Angeles meets Miami locale, will include menu items such as “Ahi Tuna Tartare, Pork Dumplings, Plantain-Crusted Chilean Sea Bass, Lobster Ravioli, and Filet Mignon.”

The eatery seems to place big emphasis on its decor, which was designed by Nina Ferrer, from HGTV’s Design Star and Style Network’s Clean House NY. Some elements its Brooklyn-born owner boasted about in a press release include “large photorealist paintings” by artist Patrick McGregor, as well as re-purposed light fixtures.

The address previously belonged to Ibiza, a Mediterranean restaurant and nightclub which had some liquor license problems with CB 10.

Anyone planning on going tonight?

Promising Beer Garden Receives Kiss Of Death Before It Opens, Gets Called A Hipster Bar

By on September 20, 2012  Food & Drink
Sep 202012
 

The Hipster Line Of Demarcation was imposed in 1494 by Pope Alexander VI to give real Iberian Peninsulians refuge from the rapidly-expanding Spanish conhipstadors. (Source: DieHipster.com)

The Bay Ridge Courier’s Will Bredderman wrote yesterday of a new beer garden that will open soon on 5th Avenue at 92nd Street. Run by the Casatellis of Kettle Back and Ho’Brah fame, the new Lockyard (named in part for the Bridgeview Locksmiths that last held the address) will be ready to cater to Bay Ridge’s Hipster set, a demographic that Thomas Casatelli says has already made its beachhead in the neighborhood.

“A lot of different-looking people have been coming into the Kettle Black and they are definitely not from Bay Ridge… We’re getting people from Nebraska, Ohio, California, and they were all wearing the hipster uniform,” Casatelli told Bredderman.

Yuck.

No, wait – let me clarify that.

I actually like Hipster bars. I like Hipster bands. I like Hipster restaurants, so long as I don’t get price-gouged and have to read Time Out New York to know about the “secret” meny. I like a great many of the things that have popped up in North Brooklyn, particularly Williamsburg and Greenpoint, since the Hipster Kids started moving in.

I just don’t like Hipsters all that much.

Now, as I said a few weeks ago – I’m trying not to be the judgmental, holier-than-thou dbag that I’ve been in the past. (Though by some accounts on Twitter, I’m as big of a dbag as they come.) (They’re probably right.) (I digress.) So I shouldn’t be joining in on the Hipster H8r bandwagon. Right?

Nope. Sorry. I like the company of adults. Or, if I’m going to hang around people who act like kids, it should be because they’re actually kids, and not Brooklyn’s perennial Seventh-Year Seniors.

So to that end: Dear Casatellis – love what you’ve done with 3rd Avenue and 87th Street. Did you know that Ho’Brah is my new favorite taco place? I love the flour tortilla, so that’s saying a lot.

I’m looking forward to Lockyard. A lot. I wish you luck. I’ll see you there.

And once you open, please post this picture of the Hipster Demarcation Line in the front window.

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