DEAN STREET CAFE ...Grand Opening!

DEAN STREET CAFE opened its door yesterday March 16!

Starting at 7AM, they will be serving Stumptown Coffee, delicious muffins & pastries AND free Wi-Fi, of course. Now you can end and START your day at Dean Street! (Underhill Ave entrance only)

Owned by John Longo and Rob Gelardi, Dean Street Restaurant is an upscale restaurant and pub located between Underhill and Vanderbilt Avenues. Dean Street is open daily serving drinks and offering gourmet brunch and dinner menus in a refined, comfortable environment. The bar offers a happy hour special everyday from five to eight.

• Hours: Dinner: Daily, 5pm - midnight; Brunch: Sat, Sun, 11am - 3pm; Late Night: Thu - Sat, midnight - 2am; Bar: Daily, 5pm - 4am
• Payments accepted: American Express, Cash, Discover, MasterCard, Visa
• General services: Eat-in
• Cuisine: American, Burgers
• Features: Dinner
• Food/drink: Yes
• Alcohol served: Yes

755 Dean St, Brooklyn, NY 11238
(Located on the corner of Dean Street & Underhill Ave.)

Tel: 718-783-3326

http://www.deanstreetbrooklyn.com/

April 4th and 11th we are teaching at Brooklyn Brainery!!

Brooklyn Brainery hosts cheap classes on anything and everything and now they are hosting us!
It's a place to experiment with all the things you've wanted to learn but just haven't gotten around to yet -- think book clubs on steroids. They are just the greatest and now we are joining forces to teach you the in's and out's of real estate.
Please join us for one of the classes we are offering at the beginning of next month that will give you the inside real estate knowledge:

APRIL 4th:

First-time homebuyers (for reals)

Tired of renting? Saved up a nest egg? In this class we’ll take you through the daunting process of buying your first home. We begin with this question: is it better to own than to rent? (Hint – sometimes the answer is no). From there, we take you through, step by step, to get you to closing. Will you still want to buy once you know what it takes? This class will help you decide.

April 11th:

Selling your home in the worst of times

We’re not going to blow smoke – it is bleak out there. But some people are seeing their homes sell over asking prices in bidding wars that resemble the insanity of 2006 (but with more secure financing, of course). Why do some homes sell quickly while others just sit there? We’ll share our secrets - with case studies and current market analysis – to show you what it takes to sell today.

They are located in Carroll Gardens at 515 Court Street, a couple blocks from the lovely Gowanus Canal.

Terrible News for Red Hook's Coffey Park

We just got this letter from our neighborhood advocate:
Please let's not let this happen without a fight or our voices being heard!

I have terrible news: We may be losing the dedicated gardener position in Coffey Park.

Currently, John Clarke is the gardener. Many of you know and love him. He's been integral to rebuilding Coffey Park.

Here's a beautiful piece the New York Times wrote about him last spring.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/nyregion/26gardener.html

As part of the city-wide cutbacks, the Parks Department is planning to assign one park per district. They are selling this as an expansion, as a promotion for the gardeners. 

And while we will be devastated to lose John, this is about more than losing a beloved member of our community. It means losing yet another resource.

No dedicated gardener means nobody on site to keep the park clean -- and forcing people to pick up after themselves.

No dedicated gardener means nobody on site to know the residents and the kids and talk to them and build bridges.

No dedicated gardener on site means nobody caring for all the plants he -- and so many volunteers -- lovingly planted over the years.

No dedicated gardener on site means nobody keeping an watchful eye and making sure that Coffey Park remains a neighborhood gem.

Just look at what's happened with Valentino Pier over the past two years. The maintenance has been reduced and most of the plantings have died off.

So what can you do?

Call Thomas Ching, Deputy Chief of Operations, Parks Department, (718) 965-8971Call City Councilwoman Sarah Gonzalez 718-439-9012 

Call Community Board 6 director Craig Hammerman 718-643-3027

If I were a toy...deal

Many of you may know about a website called livingsocial.com. For those of you who don't, you should check it out. It's a website with daily and weekly deals (kind of like Groupon). They have a Brooklyn edition and a Brooklyn family edition. We came across this pretty sweet deal the other day for If I were a toy..., a toy store and children's hair salon in Carroll Gardens. You spend $20 to get a $40 credit at the store to spend on toys or clothing. Click on the link below to view and/or purchase this deal.

http://livingsocial.com/deals/27350-40-to-spend-on-kids-toys-and-clothing/social_share?ref=addthis-share5&amp%3Brui=12706327

If I were a toy... is located at 369 Court Street and along with toys, clothing, and hair cuts, they have classes for children and toddlers.

New Gowanus Bar

[Krieger, 02/19/11]

Gowanus seems to be the new up and coming neighborhood. It seems that every time we visit there is a cool new bar, restaurant, or shop opening up. A few of our favorites include Brklyn yard, (an outdoor space at 388-400 Carroll St that hosts small concerts and usually has some neighborhood food vendors selling goodies), Four and Twenty Blackbirds at 439 3rd Avenue (a delicious pie shop that has unique pie selections including Salted Caramel Apple, Cranberry Sage, Salty Honey, Buttermilk Chess), and The Bell House at 149 7th Street (one of the coolest venues in Brooklyn to see shows and lectures).

Now something to add to the list is the new Halyards Bar. Eater reported on the bar recently and said that this "new, relaxed watering hole..serves beer and a small collection of top notch spirits (many of them are whiskeys). But, there are plans to offer sandwiches and snacks from local purveyors in the near future." See picture above from Eater.com

Halyards is located at 406 3rd Ave (between 5th Ave & 6th Ave.

Stinky's on the Move

Very soon we imagine many loyal Stinky Bklyn cheese shop shoppers will walk to their favorite cheese and high end food shop, now located at 261 Smith Street, to find that it's no longer there. Don't worry cheese fans it's not leaving the neighborhood. In fact, it's only moving a few blocks down Smith street. The new address will be 215 Smith street and used to be the Big Apple market. It's a pretty exciting move because the space they'll be moving to is going to be bigger. You know what that means don't you? More cheeeeeeese! They still have a little while before the big move. The new spot is still being worked on. Can't wait to see their new digs!

Catherine Deneuve at BAM

“Acting is working with people who invite you into their dreams and trust you with their innermost being.” That is a quote by the amazing and beautiful Catherine Deneuve. She shared her innermost being with the world in a career that has lasted more than 40 decades.

Starting last Friday and ending March 31st, BAM cinematek is holding a retrospective of her work showing 24 of her films, which sounds like a lot but only makes up less than a quarter of her career. Deneuve has worked with the likes of François Truffaut, Roman Polanski, and Jacques Demy. And you can see films by these masters and more throughout the month. Click on the link below to read more and see their schedule.

Click here to see the schedule

Beer and Wine Dinners.

There are a couple of special dinner events coming up soon in two of the best restaurants in the neighborhood. One at Buttermilk Channel that they're calling a "Winemaker's Dinner" and the "Untapped Beer Dinner" at Prime Meats. Here are the details.

Buttermilk Channel will host a $100 four-course winemaker's dinner with Jared Brandt of a Donkey and Goat Winery on Thursday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m. Naturally, chef Ryan will roast a whole goat for the occasion. [Grub Street]

PrimeMeats & sixpoint will be hosting Untapped Beer Dinner on March 15. $55 for 4 courses. Only 40 seats available so RSVP ASAP at events@frankspm.com

Swap It Up!

BK Swappers is a food swapping event for Brooklyn residents, although the last event actually took place in the Financial District for some reason. If you're crafty in the kitchen you can make a big batch of, say, granola and trade it out for jam, honey, cookies and other goodies made by fellow Brooklynites. Here's their company overview:

BK Swappers is a bi-monthly Brooklyn-based larder swap and social gathering. If you bake, can/preserve, grow or forage food and would like to trade the fruits of your labor for other delectable, homemade foods....BK Swappers is for you!

We had an insider at the last swap who thought it was fun but a little disorganized. Some people brought dozens of items while others brought only one or two so it was hard to make fair trades. Maybe this will change as time goes on. It's definitely worth checking out. Follow them on Facebook for info on upcoming events.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BK-Swappers-A-Brooklyn-based-Food-Swap-Event/158976194142177#!/pages/BK-Swappers-A-Brooklyn-based-Food-Swap-Event/158976194142177?sk=wall

Prime Meats Takes Credit!

Prime Meats, a tremendously delicious haven for carnivores located on Court Street, is now taking MasterCard, Visa, and American Express! This is great news for those who were annoyed with their previous "cash-only" policy. The restaurant isn't cheap and it makes sense that diners wouldn't want to carry around so much cash in order to eat there. Maybe this will start a trend among the other cash-only establishments in the neighborhood. Hint hint. We found this information out via grubstreet.com and the last comment they made about it was " Now if only Prime Meats would start taking reservations ..." We second that opinion!