Mmm...Ramadan.

Wow. Is it Ramadan again already? As an agnostic, it sneaks up on me every year, especially now that I don't have helpful Bush administration officials around to remind me that Ramadan's when Muslim radicals in Iraq & Afghanistan step up their attacks.

Of course, Ramadan is more than attacks on our troops. It’s a time for fasting & humility & spirituality & most importantly, cupcakes.

READ MORE

[Review'd] Dekalb Market!

In New York City these days, food markets are a dime-a-dozen and it seems like there are new ones popping up all the time. In late May, we were introduced to the Smorgasburg Food Market up in Williamsburg. Two weeks back we got the first monthly Food Truck Rally at Grand Army Plaza.

This past weekend brought the opening of Dekalb Market, an outdoor market that's located directly outside of the Dekalb Ave subway stop.

READ MORE

Get Pizza! Get Whacked?

Photo via Pardon Me For Asking

Do you like eating Italian food in a joint steeped in nostalgia and a history of mob ties? If so, you're in luck, paisan.

Monte's Venetian Room, an Italian restaurant at 451 Carroll Street -- a mere waft from the Gowanus Canal -- has just reopened. The famed eatery, which closed under questionable circumstances back in 2008, is so old that when it first opened, America's favorite rough rider, Teddy Roosevelt, was in the White House, and cholera was still a real possibility. THAT'S OLDSAUCE.

READ MORE

Clam Shack Baby!

Photo via NY Eater

Recently we got word that three dudes are planning on opening up a "New England-style clam shack" called Littleneck in a 1200-foot space over near the Gowanus Canal (specifically, 3rd Ave between Carroll & President). I spent the first twenty-two years of my life in New England and drove by a joint called Clam Haven almost every day on the way to high school, so I'm quite familiar with the ways of the New England-style clam shack. Basically, Brooklynites should get ready to be served big-bellied clams by a big-bellied woman with the sweetest non-ironic mullet you've ever seen.

READ MORE

Sneak Peek: Zito's Sandwich Shoppe

Image via Park Slope Lens

Oh, circle of life. Last week, Tonio's, the old school Italian mainstay that had called 7th Ave home for the past nineteen years, shuttered their doors, ending a long run in the neighborhood. While it's disappointing to see it go, it couldn't have come as that much of a shock to anyone familiar with the amount of closings in the hood over the last few years.

At the same time, in the spot three doors down that used to house Peek-a-Boo Kids, there's a new school Italian joint that's slated to open up within the next month — Zito's Sandwich Shoppe. It's the product of two brothers-in-law — Marcello & Enzo — who named the joint in honor of the family they both married into and its patriarch, Charlie. Last Friday I swung by to get a sneak preview of the space and although it's still in the somewhat early stages of construction, they left me with a good idea of what to expect.

READ MORE