Cosmo gURL

Taking a bite out of BillyBurg

2013-08-15T14:22:00.001-07:00

I live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn but I am not a hipster. And the reason I know this is because I live in one of "those obnoxious sky rises" on the east river. Although I reside in the 11249 area code the fact that I have a doorman, washer and dryer (in my unit), pool and gym exempts me from petition for hipster status - not that I am concerned or particularly care. The residents in my building are arguable responsible for the gentrification or loss of ? in My neighborhood. I am framilirar with this line of prejudice. When I lived in Venice beach I remember being berated by one drunk Tony Alva who claims to be the godfather of venice beach and responsible for the skateboard movement (that part true although I can find any verification for his godfatehr status.) But like Venice, I enjoyed the new Whole Foods market that took residence on Venice blvd. and saved me the aggravating hour trek to Brentwood to the north or the whole foods in WEst hollywood passed the dreaded 405. I enjoy the influx of good restaurants and bars that have been popping up in increasing regularity in my hood. One thing I do find ironic is that based on the geographic location a restaurant is considered cool or good right away. Just read the review in NYMag. In their "Best Things Issue." the best haberdashery went to a men's store that opened up near bedford 2 months before publication... hmmm... I love my neighborhood and don't mind that a soul cylce has just poped up around the corner and an organ grocery store just opened a block from me saving me 2 more blocks walk to the older grocery store. If you watch HBO's show then you will feel like you have stepped into the show. I actually saw a post the other day for a "Girls, guided walking tour!" Complete with a PBR and a discussion of the ugliness of Lena's body parts....

Here is my city guide list

If Williamsburg birthed the modern day hipster than Andrew Tarlow is it's cult leader. his empire started with...

Marlow & Daughters quasi-organic gourmet general store with that success they opened. Marlow and Sons Café by day, raw bar and restaurant by night and then a few blocks away they opened Diner which of course inhabits an old air-stream like diner and uh-mah-zing food. Het also opened a boutique hotel. Wythe Hotel... It has a rooftop bar, Ides and a restaurant called Reynard. Very interesting architecture a modern cube like structure sits on top of an old bldg. Expect to get lots of unwarranted attitude from all the waitstaff which is all part of the ascetic, I assume. Last fall he opened a shipyard-themed dive bar called Achilies Heel

King and Grove is the other boutique hotel that opened in Williamsburg and has a beautiful outdoor pool. It is also the home of NYC latest most celebrated restaurant The Elm. I had dinner a few nights ago and it is the 2nd best meal we have ever had (next to The French Laundry).

EAT

Antica Pesa, a cute Italian place where I hostess a few nights a week. Cafe Mogador (Moroccan), Crif Dogs (Cheap but well crafted hot dogs) the much celebrated Aska (Scandinavian minimalist) Fiore, Vinegar Hill, Cafe Juliette, Isa (Mediterranean) Miss Favela (Brazilian), Maison Premiere (great for oysters and shell fish) The Meatball shop, Sweet chic, Rabbit hole,
Marbel steak house.... Oh and 5 Leaves has amazing food and good brunch.

GWYNNETT ST.

TAGS: American Nouveau, Fairly Expensive, Fancy Cocktails, Graham, Recently Opened,Recommended

WD-50 Veteran, Justin Hilbert, brings impeccable locavore cuisine to the Graham Avenue stop. The desserts show his love of molecular gastronomy without compromising flavor and the Amish Chicken is the best chicken we have ever eaten, um, anywhere. Simply amazing. From the NY Times: Mr. Hilbert’s style of cuisine is not yet common in this pocket of Williamsburg. In fact, cooking this sophisticated would be a find anywhere in New York.

And while it is a restaurant in Brooklyn, Gwynnett St. is not really a Brooklyn restaurant. There are no butchers’ tools hanging from reclaimed barn doors. Under the eye of Carl McCoy, the proprietor, the dining room staff is calmly professional, utterly free of pretense and attitude. Nobody is the least bit likely to pull up a chair and offer to show you pictures of the sauerkraut the chef is currently fermenting inside a pair of Red Wing boots.

RYE

TAGS: American Nouveau, Bedford, Brunch (Weekends), Fancy Cocktails, Open Late, South Williamsburg

With its pre-prohibition era décor and the best Old Fashioned we’ve ever tasted (theirs is made with rye, of course) Rye is a hidden gem. Don’t miss the meatloaf sandwich — it’s made with ground veal, pork, short rib, and duck and comes with house-made pickles. It’s decadent, but amazing. Rye makes a great Bloody Mary too, with a touch of anise, which goes perfect with their Sunday brunch.

ROBERTA’S

TAGS: Brunch (Weekends), Bushwick, Garden/Outdoor Seating, Hipster Spottings, Italian,Pizza

You’ll feel like you’ve been invited to a farmhouse in Vermont, until you taste the brick oven pizza which will transport you to Italy. Many ingredients are grown on premises in the garden outside. This is our favorite restaurant in Bushwick. Start with a pizza to share and be sure to try one of the seasonal entrees. The Times call Roberta’s “one of the more extraordinary restaurants in the United States.” We agree.

MARLOW & SONS

TAGS: American Nouveau, Bedford, Breakfast, Brunch (Weekends), Hipster Spottings, Open Late, Seafood

With a moody backdrop of the Williamsburg Bridge this tiny little hole-in-the-wall is our favorite place to go for a good glass of vino and oysters on the halfshell. The menu will please localvores and the intimate atmosphere couldn’t be more inviting. Great for a date, but prepare to wait on the weekends.

BROOKLYN STAR

TAGS: American Traditional, Lorimer, Open Late, Restaurants, Southern

Now in a new more spacious location — the original restaurant closed after a large-scale fire — Brooklyn Star is now serving up comfort food with a Nawlins twist. They no longer have a brick oven, but the menu remains largely the same. And by that, we mean its delicious. Must have dishes include the Dr. Pepper ribs and the

ST. ANSELM

TAGS: American Nouveau, BBQ, Bedford, Good for Groups, Lorimer, Notable Beer,Recommended, Restaurants, Steakhouse, Wine Bar,

St. Anselm reopened in 2011 with an all-new menu and the difference shows. From the owners of Spuyten Duyvil and Fette Sau, St. Anselm is now an essential Williamsburg dining experience. As NY Mag points out, the wines are as amazing as the food: As impressive as St. Anselm is on the food front, it’s even more so on the wine. If Spuyten Duyvil demonstrates Joe Carroll’s exceptional beer geekery and Fette Sau his fluency with American whiskeys, then St. Anselm proves that he’s also a major oenophile with ecstatically offbeat taste and the guts to veer away from big-ticket Bordeaux and Napa Cab convention. His list itself is worthy of multiple trips, if only to sample rare by-the-glass selections of “yellow” wines from the Jura (vinified like fino sherry), “orange” wine from Friuli-Venezia (tinted by exposure to white-grape skins), and draft picks from two of the region’s most experimental producers (Red Hook Winery and Channing Daughters). Visionary winemakers both present and past populate the list, from Abe Schoener to Dr. Konstantin Frank, but what really sets it apart is the array of half-bottles, nearly five dozen opportunities to match each course, be it fish or fowl or succulent red meat, to its perfect pairing.

PIES-N-THIGHS

TAGS: Bedford, Breakfast, Brunch (Weekends), Delivery, Garden/Outdoor Seating, Hipster Spottings, Open Late, South Williamsburg, Southern

If you want homemade biscuits, fried chicken, pulled pork and other things that could send you into cardiac arrest, go here. It makes the risk one worth taking. From kale to mac-n-cheese to blackeyed peas, you could make a meal from the impeccable sides alone. Comfort food at its best and you can’t beat the price (entrees are $10-$12 bucks). On the downside the pies are just mediocre, especially after indulging in the amazing chicken and waffles.

ISA

TAGS: American Nouveau, Expensive, Recently Opened South Williamsburg

The latest creation from the people who brought you, Freemans…. which should have always been in Brooklyn anyway. From Time Out: Fans of Taavo Somer’s downtown hot spots Peels and Freemans have been eagerly anticipating his latest project, Isa, a new restaurant in Williamsburg. The indie restaurateur teamed up with Il Buco’s former executive chef Ignacio Mattos, and the name of the restaurant is Estonian for father (Somer and Mattos became fathers within 45 minutes of one another). They describe Isa’s decor and rustic fare as “modern primitive”: Expect sardine fillets served with their fried skeletons and a treviso salad with a vegan nut dressing. The 40-seat Brooklyn tavern features exposed brick, geometric hanging lights and a wall of logs for the wood-burning oven

FIVE LEAVES

TAGS: American Nouveau, Breakfast, Brunch (Weekends), Coffee Shop/Cafe, Delivery, Fancy Cocktails, Garden/Outdoor Seating

Our favorite Australian/American Café sits right on the border of Greenpoint and Williamsburg and serves eclectic food at all hours of the day. Fresh flowers are everywhere you look, and the décor is nautically themed which is always a plus in our books. Though seasonal entrees are sublime don’t miss the burger! Our favorite pancakes are from here on the weekend brunch menu, but we also love the truffle fries.

DINER

TAGS: American Nouveau, American Traditional, Bedford, Brunch (Weekends), Burgers,Diner, Garden/Outdoor Seating, Open Late, South Williamsburg

Located near the rustic Williamsburg Bridge, when you step into Diner, which inhabits a refurbished 1926-dining car, you’re immediately transported to another era. Serving American Nouveau food, the menu appears sparse at first until you realize that each entrée is a constantly changing special of the day. Brunch is our favorite meal there, although the dinner ranks pretty high on our list as well.

Across the street we have an old fashioned ice creamery called Odd Fellows. Brooklyn is very into the "locavore" movement and small batches so of course everything is made on the premiss. They have odd flavors like "Beet Pistachio Honey goat cheese" which is actually less adventurous than it sounds and Sesame Kumquat Pumpernickel.

We must stop at Mast Brothers factory. They offer lots of samples

DRINK

As far as drinking...Bedford ave. which is sort of our main drag has tons of great bars with backyard patios. donna, dram, hotel and huckelberry serve pro-hibition style dinks... extra Fancy

Natural Wine and Co

Radegast Hall - Beer Garden

Brooklyn Bowl

Pete's candy store. The back is a reclaimed train car where they have live music and also the occasional spelling bee.

We have a lot of great men's stores...GQ wrote this article

http://www.gq.com/food-travel/restaurants-and-bars/201304/best-shopping-williamsburg-gq-style-bible-2013

Also Tommy guns is a really fun old style barber shop that caters to the ironically well groomed hipster

OTHER THINGS...SHOPPING

scosha jewlwery

Moon river chantrel

Antoinette vintage shopping

In God we Trust

The Nite Hawk is a really fun cinema that serves food and adult beverages themed on the movie you are watching... We watched Beast fo the Southern Wild and ate Fried Oyster Po’ Boy with Hush Puppies and a Spicy Remoulade and drank Winks Bathtub Gin. They show mostly cult-like movies and indies and re-run the fun ones like goonies and japanese samurai movies.

COFFEE SHOPS/2ND OFFICES

Black Brick Coffee
A beautifully designed cafe on the south side with yummy pastries. Good for meetings and to get a few hours of work done.

Blue Collar
They have wi-fi here — a really yummy burger and milkshake spot with the internet. Sounds great to me

Gimme! Coffee
They make a damn good cappucino. This spot is small & quaint, so while it’s not the best to have a proper meeting, it’s good for alone time.

Internet Garage
Use a computer of your choosing. It can cost you up to $40 if you don’t know the basics: like how to surf the internet or use your email.

Modca Cafe
1 of my favs: they don’t seem to mind how long you stay as well. Get a table and make it a cafe work day. You may even find team Karta here!

Oslo Coffee Roasters
Great coffee and it’s fun to sit and work at the big communal table in front. Good meeting spot too!

South 4th Bar & Cafe
This place opens at 7 a.m. So you can start your work day off right or wrong. An unpretentious bar serving coffee and pastries in the morning.

Sweetleaf
Another great spot for coffee, meetings and all-day work days.

Toby’s Estate Coffee
A great coffee spot for the coffee connoisseur to work and people-watch. This place can get super packed too.

Cafe Variety
I’ve eavesdropped on hilarious conversation here. Bring headphones to focus and def. grab a table in the back if you want to stay a while.

Verb Cafe
Super sceney, but it’s nice to sit out front with your computer, coffee and people-watch on Bedford while you work. The wi-fi costs $ here.

'JE NE SE QUA' AND RESTRAINED GLUTTONY

2011-03-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

Last summer i worked on a film in pittsburgh and my social circle was limited to the boys on the production crew...beer drinking, carb indulging, pizza-at-midnight, men. i had no females to eat salads with or to understand what i meant when i asked the bartender for a 'skinny’ margarita.

little known fact: the 'burgh is a gastronomic paradise! many saturday afternoons were spent at german beer halls drinking huge steins, noshing on deep fried sauerkraut balls, juicy bratwurst and pretzels with beer cheese that i literally wanted to pour into a huge vat and swim in! bored with nothing to do and per diem money burning a whole our wallets we made it our job to find the best meals. we also frequented all the steak joints, greasy dinners and of course tried the famed primanti brothers sandwich...a strange concoction that was invented for truck drivers who passing through the city, didn't have time to stop and needed their po’boy fix-ins, fries and coleslaw all conveniently rolled into one delectable sandwich (don't knock it until you have tried it). all this gluttony sounds like it would have added at least 10 lbs to my frame - nicely magnifying the ripples of cottage cheese on my thighs, accentuating that adorable inner tube of fat that bulges over the sides of my jeans creating what can be described as 'muffin top' and feeding the fat cells in my tummy that create a water bed effect while running - better viewed in slow motion.

i remember my first attempts while in pittsburgh to stay healthy choosing the dinner salad which was really just wilted iceberg lettuce, shaved carrot and smooshy tomatoes. side note: eating salads is not advisable in blue collar towns. soon i succumbed to peer pressure and the constant mockery from my dinner companions and reluctantly ordered some of the food-porn worthy options i had been envying. i reluctantly ate consumed with guilt, however noticed how much faster i got full. i also noticed there were no late night scavenger hunts in the kitchen trying to find something that is caloric content is suitable and guilt free to satisfy my hunger.

however, much to my utter disorienting surprise when i returned home to l.a. - valley of the judgment dolls - and my friends kept vehemently accusing me of having lost weight while pretending to be happy for me (it's what girls do! we cant help it.) they were less than interested to hear of my glutenous tour de pittsburgh and how i was shocked to find my skinny jeans fitting in a way that actually made me feel well, skinny. i know my friends were secretly and with great animosity dismissing me as "one of those girls we hate" the one who's blessed metabolized can quickly dispose and block any assault you may through its way and allow you to keep the figure you had when you were a cheer leader in high school. however, my detestable stubborn metabolism can assure you this is not the case. i was a chubby girl in high school, my nick name was bubbles for my voluptuous shelf like ass and tree trunk thighs!

so as bewildered as i was at my surprising recent weight loss i searched for the holly grail so that i could patent it, sell it and make millions. i had read 'why french woman don't get fat' in my book club a few years back. the author uncovers that french woman make a ritual out of every meal, stress flavor and variety over quantity, eat slowly and with all five senses and, therefore, are more satisfied with less. they don't weigh themselves, they don't snack all the time, they eat more fruit but would never give up their bread or other carbs. conversely americans eat portions that are too big and food that is too bland probably due to fat or sugar substitutes. the business of dieting is a multi million industry fueled by woman who are completely and utterly obsessed with losing weight.

i believe i had the french factor working for me while in pittsburgh seeing food not as a conflict and obsessing over calories and fat carb - but excited to try all the fabulous food the city had to offer...in conclusion i believe paris and pittsburgh are far sexier (and delicious) than south beach!!

MIX TAPE MONDAYS/HALLOWEEN

2010-10-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

wondering what to play on your ipod at your halloween shindig this weekend? here is my play list. i included the youtube link so you could cut together an audio/visual halloween experience if you are super ambitious! i'm planning on putting in lost boys on my tv and turning up my ipod!
1 ghosts n' stuff / deadmau5 feat. rob swire
2 thriller / michael jackson
3    time warp / glee
4 sweet transvestite / the rocky horror picture show
5 in the hall of the mountain king / trent reznor
6 people are strange / echo and the bunnymen
7 is there a ghost / band of horses
8 cry little sister / gerard mcmann
9 mad house / chew fu straight jacket fix rihanna
10  monster / lady gaga
11  heat miser / massive attack
12  3 a.m. / eminem
13  freakshow / britney spears
14  creep / vega choir