New Wine Shop To Open Saturday

After an eight-month wait, 65 Fen has secured its liquor license and will open this Saturday. The new wine shop—a first in the neighborhood—is on Fenimore Street, just around the corner of Flatbush. The owner lives here in PLG. That's about all we know, but I suppose that's all we need to know to raise a glass for this new business. Cheers, everyone!

Breaking: Lefferts Gardens Charter School Wins Approval!

After well over a year of planning, the Lefferts Gardens Charter School has passed its final hurdle: the elementary school has been approved and is headed to open its doors in the fall 2010. Major congratulations to everyone who worked on seeing the application through, from the school organizers to community members who wrote letters of support.

As you may have heard, the school will feature an environmental-science program that spans across disciplines. The over-arching idea is that the learning will be "experiential"—meaning that teachers will try to connect what goes on inside the classroom (and out) to children's daily lives. The school plans on working with the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and the Prospect Park Audubon Center as part of its curriculum.

As for the school details, we'll have to wait for a formal announcement from the planning team. This much, however, we know: the Lefferts Gardens Charter School will be a free, public school open to all children in New York City. If the school receives more applications that than it has seats, applications will be selected by a random lottery, with preferences given to children living in District 17 (and, after the first year, to siblings of children who already attend).

The location of the school hasn't yet been determined. The planners are hoping to secure a space within walking distance of Prospect Park and the BBG, but it's possible that the school may end up outside the PLG border (at least temporarily).

For the time being, the school has an office at the New York City Charter School Center (111 Broadway, Suite 604, New York, NY 10006, Tel: 212.437.8314).  I suspect that they'll need to hire teachers soon, so if you know of any exceptional candidates, you might want to put them in touch.

I was involved in this group for most of this year and, though I left a couple of months ago, I'm excited and hopeful for its success.

See also:
Update on Lefferts Gardens Charter School

Lovely 3 Family Limestone Available for Drive-Bys!

A neighbor sent us this ad for a limestone on Hawthorne Street this morning:

LOVELY 3 FAM LIMESTONE THAT NEEDS TLC. DRIVE BY ONLY. TENANT WONT WONT LET US IN.

Community Board Meeting To Address Curb Cut Change

A proposed amendment to zoning rules would make it harder for property  owners to turn their stoops and front yards into parking spaces.

You need to look no farther than Parkside Avenue to see how curb cuts can make a nice block ugly: many front gardens there have been paved over to serve as driveways. The owners paint the curb in front yellow, removing space available for public parking -- sometimes legally, sometimes not.

Flatbush Life has more about the proposed changes here.

At the next Community Board 9 meeting, reps from the Department of City Planning will be discussing the zoning changes and answering questions about them. Come on down!

Tuesday, December 22
7 pm
Middle School 61 Auditorium
400 Empire Boulevard
Brooklyn NY  11225

No More Roll-Down Security Gates

Following up on using environmental cues to deter crime, here's a bit of news I meant to blog a couple of weeks ago (before my son's recent bout of diarrhea):

Citing high rates of graffiti, the City Council voted...to gradually ban the use of roll-down metal security gates, a move that would eliminate what has been an enduring if forbidding feature of the urban streetscape. Other kinds of security gates, like rolling or sliding grilles, which allow passers-by to look into store windows and are seen by some as being harder to vandalize, would still be permitted.

Councilman Peter F. Vallone Jr...also noted that many police officers and firefighters considered the gates that allow partial visibility to be preferable from a safety perspective. (NYT, 11/30/09)

Obviously, the City Council must be reading Hawthorne Street...

TONY tabs PLGers for Top 100 Eats

This week Time Out New York's cover story is the "100 Best Things to Eat and Drink in New York." PLG grabbed one slot, walking distance from PLG grabbed one more and three more are a short trip from the MTA away.

First, in PLG proper, is the chicken patty from Jamaican Pride bakery (731 Flatbush between Parkside and Clarkson) which, for some reason was listed among the best meat dishes when there was a poultry category. For research purposes I swung by today and I assure you that the $1.65 was well spent. I also saw that they have ackee patties for $3.00. I've been curious about ackee since I moved to PLG so I'll be stopping by again.

Just outside of PLG, Michael's Prime Meats (1412 Nostrand between Linden and Martense) was recognized in the sandwich category for its chicken burger. TONY says "The circa-1931 butchery grinds secret-recipe chicken-breast patties packed with onions and green peppers that, when grilled slow, are as juicy as prime-beef burgers." I'd never heard of Michael's but now they're on my list.

A short trip south on the Q to Cortelyou Road will take you to Cafe Tibet (1510 Cortelyou between 15th and 16th) . And I mean that literally; Cafe Tibet is in a tiny second floor nook overlooking the train station. The sha-baklap - a Tibetan version of the beef patty - is what TONY recommends. I wish I could remember what I got when I went, but it is an easy place for picking up take-out on the way home from work if you don't mind overshooting Parkside.

Finally, if you head north on the B44 to Bed-Stuy you can go either vegetarian or very, very carnivorous. At A&A Bake and Doubles (481 Nostrand between Fulton and Macon) you can get the best doubles I've ever had. Say yes when they ask if you want pepper. (J&D Image on Flatbush is good, but ... wow, for A&A). Just across Fulton is David's Brisket House (533 Nostrand between Atlantic and Herkimer). The sandwich is huge, piled high, served with great gravy and a huge bargain at $5. They also make a great pastrami.

Bon appetit!

Fly Fish Finished

Fly Fish, the seafood restaurant that began life as BBQ joint Whiskey Sunday, has itself closed. As reported by The Real Deal, the closing of Fly Fish was part of a Mamary-restaurant massacre. Also closing at or around the same time, were Bueno (European bistro) and Trout (seafood), a pair of restaurants at Smith and Pacific.

Richard Krause, the ponytailed co-owner didn't comment for the story, but Jim Mamary did - and he placed the blame on his partner:

Mamary ascribed [Fly Fish's] failure to the absence of Krause, who did not return phone calls. "When you're an owner and you're not on the premises all the time, that's what happens," Mamary said. He added that the Fly Fish space, which is connected to Enduro through the kitchen and a swinging dining room door, could see yet another reincarnation "with less of a food venue."

Reincarnating Fly Fish as a bar-only space isn't a bad idea. It appears to have morphed into a bar anyway, in part because of the poor quality of the food and in part because the neighborhood could really use a bar.

More interesting for watchers of the Brooklyn restaurant scene is that Mamary himself is leaving Brooklyn, pulling up stakes in Ditmas Park and moving to New Jersey. Also interesting (troubling?) is that Mamary plans to "tweak the concept" of Newkirk Avenue bistro Pomme de Terre, arguably one of his best restaurants, to be "more sensitive to the economic times right now." If that only meant dropping prices it would be great news but I'm loath to see the quality go down and it is hard to make a place more affordable without making sacrifices somewhere.

Help Bring the Farmers Diner to PLG!

On Sunday, a few neighbors gathered with the owners of the Farmers Diner, a highly respected Vermont-based restaurant specializing in simple, locally grown food. You may have read about them a while back in the New York Times Magazine, where the Diner was heralded as a model franchise for locavores. The owners of the Farmers Diner are looking to open a restaurant in New York City—most likely, in Brooklyn or Queens—and so the gathering was a sort of "get to know each other" affair, with PLGers trying to woo the restaurateurs to our neck of the woods. The evening ended on a pleasant but noncommittal note.

Now that the Farmers Diner has gotten our hopes up, we will not rest with a meeting! To further demonstrate neighborhood support for the Diner, we're seeking signatures for a group letter — a pledge, if you will — to send to the owners. It reads:

As residents of Prospect Lefferts Gardens, we would be thrilled to have a Farmers Diner in our neighborhood -- so much so that, instead of merely begging you to locate in our neighborhood, we are making a personal pledge: Should you choose our neighborhood, each of us will personally promise to do whatever it takes to insure that the restaurant succeeds. For most of us, that will mean patronizing the Diner regularly and often (several times a week for those of us who don't cook), as well as bringing guests from nearby neighborhoods. For others, that may mean investing, helping with publicity, or drawing on local connections to help with any of the restaurant's basic needs.

We are convinced that the Farmers Diner would thrive in Prospect Lefferts Gardens -- and feel strongly that both the restaurant and the neighborhood would benefit.

Please join us in reaching out to the Farmers Diner: SIGN HERE.

PLG Group Asks DOT to Fix Ocean & Parkside Intersection

Over a year ago, some fellow travelers and I put together a proposal to urge city officials to make the intersection of Ocean Avenue and Parkside Avenue safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Perhaps you read about that here or here. At any rate, the project got put on hold due to the group members' having personal lives (two couples had babies) but we've recently resumed. We call ourselves PLG Public Works and aim to make PLG streets better, quieter, and safer for all users. In some circles, this is known as building "livable streets."

Our inaugural act is a letter to the Department of Transportation, cc'd to local elects and Community Board 9. I've copied the letter below, which was mailed out today. To read the full proposal, download the PDF here.

Future plans call for improving Parkside Avenue and weighing in on the DOT's stated plans to improve Flatbush Avenue south of Empire.

If you'd like to get involved, join our Googlegroup to find out about upcoming meetings. If you're part of a local organization or block association and would be willing to endorse our proposal, please email me at brooklynite282 at gmail.com. Thank you, thank you.

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PLG Christmas and Chanukah Activities

A couple of neighborhood groups are organizing events for the upcoming holidays. First up: Chanukah! A week from today, December 14, Chabad is holding a Chanukah party on Rutland Road (rsvp for address). The fun includes hot latkes; games, arts, and crafts for kids; a Chanukah-themed buffet, and Menorah Kits. The event starts at 5 pm and the Menorah Lighting will take place at 6 pm sharp. For more information and to RSVP, please contact Rochie at plgrsvp at gmail.com.

Meanwhile, PLG Arts is looking for volunteers to help out with its annual neighborhood caroling plans. Specifically, the group needs block leaders to spend an evening working with carolers, collecting song books and candles, etc. The dates and times aren't yet set. If you'd like to volunteer, contact Siobhan O'Neill at siobhan.oneill622 at gmail.com or 917-209-6164.