Sad Farmers Diner Update and Other Restaurant News

It looks like the PLG bloggers at PLOG got the scoop that we couldn't: The Farmers Diner isn't coming to Brooklyn any time soon. While Brooklyn is still part of the long-term agenda, they are focusing on going to San Fransisco first.

PLOG quotes co-owner Denise Perras:

Our hearts are still there, as we fell in love with PLG, and most importantly, the residents. At this time we are focused on the other piece of our expansion project, San Francisco area specifically. Our first location set to open in the spring.

Reading between the lines of her extended quote, it appears that while there was a lot of local enthusiasm about the project, it wasn't backed up with a willingness to invest. I confess that we were among those who were very excited about the project but didn't feel financially secure enough to put our own money into it.

I also have to give credit to PLOG for this: I have a few pages of a notebook full of restaurant Board of Health ratings from the neighborhood but they went out and created an integrated map with ratings, including ratings for some restaurants that I'm pretty sure still have "Grade Pending" signs in the window. I have to remember to send them some of my notes for Rogers and Nostrand, since it seems that they only covered Flatbush and west.

You can also consider this a much-belated Welcome Aboard to PLOG, which has been doing a very good job since they started blogging in November.

New Neighborhood Blog: The Q at Parkside

I'd like to welcome The Q at Parkside, a blog for people "for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain," to the Brooklyn blogging family. The blog is run by Clarkson resident Tim Thomas, who has lived in the neighborhood with his wife (and now daughter) for 7 years.

The blog has hit the ground running, with a comparison of our four neighborhood grocery stores and a review of Melany, a Dominican restaurant on Flatbush and Lenox (gmap) that I wasn't aware of (and will now be checking out). He also beat me to joking about the DNA testing ads on the dollar vans, which I obviously waited too long to poke fun at.

In addition to blogging, the Thomases started the Clarkson FlatBed block association, which apparently kicked off strong: there will be a clean-up day on June 4 and a block party in August.

Welcome aboard, Q. Don't take too much of our traffic.

(Image via The Subway Nut)

Nap Time for the Blog

Hey folks, we are delighted to introduce Sidney McLaren Star, a new arrival at Hawthorne Street HQ... which is our way of saying that Carrie and I are going to have to take a break from blogging for a while. I'm sure that we will periodically wake up cranky and complain about something. We may even take the time to write something nice about things we like — but if you think we're smiling it's probably just gas.

Now if you'll excuse us, we need to go learn the secret handshake for the Stroller Mafia.

Reading this blog

Hello and welcome. Before creating any misconceptions, let me say up front that we're going to be posting irregularly: anywhere from a couple of times a week to once every two months.  Quality over quantity!

With this in mind, I highly recommend using a newsreader so that you know when we update. If you are one of the people who have no idea what RSS is, trust me when I say that it would make reading online a whole lot easier. A news reader will tell you when your favorite sites update and allow you to keep track of articles that you intend to read later. (I use Bloglines, so that's what I'll recommend. Here are some instructions.)

Thanks. We look forward to reading your comments!