Today we get even more pizza with the opening of Brooklyn Central

I've said it before & I'll say it again: Park Slope needs another pizza joint like I need a fucking hole in my head.

As of press time my skull is still intact, even though as of today, Park Slope has another brand new pizza joint: Brooklyn Central. Housed in the spot previously occupied by the short-lived Pete's Pizzeria, they come with the same promise of Neapolitan pizza as Pete's, but with what seems like a better chance of success. I mean, I knew Pete for years because of his original restaurant, Pete's Downtown (RIP), and I think he's a great guy & all, but Pete's Pizzeria was a bit of a mess.

Brooklyn Central is the product of Matthew Hyland & Roberto Patriarca, two dudes who became friends whilst slinging pies at Boerum Hill's Sottocasa. Roberto got his start at his father's pizza spot up in the Bronx, headed to Italy for a while, and then eventually came back to Brooklyn. Matthew grew up in both Brooklyn & Greenwich, CT, eventually settling in Brooklyn as well. When deciding on a locale, the men decided on Park Slope as both live in Brooklyn & felt like our neighborhood fit their collective sensibility. As for the name, it's a nod to the now-defunct train that used to run down 5th Ave back in the day. Did you know there was a train on 5th Ave? I sure as hell didn't.

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Greenwood Park Beer Hall VS. Die Koelner Bierhalle

With the U.S. Oktoberfest season getting underway, it's high time for you to get thee asses to a large gathering of drunk people & hoist up a stein in celebration of the harvest, or whatever the hell it is that Oktoberfest is supposed to commemorate.

For the proper Oktoberfest feel, you obviously have to get yourself to a beer garden or beer hall, right? Which one though? That is the question here in Park Slope.

First came Greenwood Park, a beer garden that opened its doors in the shadow of Greenwood Cemetery last June. Then in early August, Park Slope became home to another beer haven when Die Koelner Bierhalle opened for business on St. Marks near the corner of 4th Ave. 

So, which one has the upper hand?

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Brooklyn Brewery Brews a Beer For Lewis Skolnick

Photo via Brooklyn Brewery

Nerds sure do know how to party! Other than the scene where the Tri-Lambs perform that sweetass musical number in the first Revenge of the Nerds film, my fave scenes in the Nerds saga are the ones when the Tri-Lambs throw bitchin' parties where everyone gets wasted, Booger chases the babes around & we all have a hearty chuckle at the nerds' collective shenanigans.

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FiPS Sneak Peek: Welcome to the Terroirdome

I've always been of the belief that wine is for the snooty: "Tut tut Chaz & I tried a 2003 Pinot at the vineyards this weekend" and "Fuck merlot" & such. Though I know it's an outdated, Paul Giamatti-driven stereotype, I just can't shake the feeling that wine's a rich, haughty man’s game. That's why when I learned that Terroir, a wine bar with locales in Tribeca, the East Village & Murray Hill was moving into the space formerly occupied by my once-favorite Park Slope bar, Great Lakes (R.I.P.), I once again found myself thinking, There goes the neighborhood.

Terroir is looking to open within the next week or so, and this past Saturday I got a chance to stop by & chat with Allison Whittinghill, a Terroir veteran who will manage the front of the house for the new Park Slope locale. By the time I left, she'd managed to quell most of my initial misgivings. 

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FiPS Preview: Du Jour Bakery

When Perch, the Fifth Ave brunch spot that many a Park Slope mommy thought of as a second home, shuttered at the end of last year, it was just another death in the long list of slightly-shocking 2011 Park Slope restaurant closings (see Aunt Suzie's, Tonio's).

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