Bark at the Moon

Wordplay's fun, right? Take a common word, twirl the context around a lil' bit, get a satisfying internal chuckle...we humans love the wordplay. Without it, we would be but bitter chimpanzees, evolving at a snails-pace, begetting wildly & wondering why Ann Geddes won't take adorable photos of US instead of stupid babies. This is all foretold in the bible, people. JOHN NUMBER COLON NUMBER, PEOPLE. LOOK IT UP.

While we're on the subject of wordplay, let's discuss wordplay in the world of food. It's pretty much a given...if you're running a restaurant, give your foodstuffs quirky names & watch the chuckles roll in. Got a disgusting 6,000 calorie burger on the menu? Call it the "Triple Bypass." Chuckle when your spokesperson dies. Want to make light of everyone's favorite gay, sweater-vest-sporting former Republican presidential candidate? Add a "Santorum Salad" to the menu. Chuckle when he bows out of the presidential race. Some dude in Miami just gnawed off another dude's face? Announce a new sandwich on Twitter & then chuckle quietly to yourself whilst quickly withdrawing your idea. Also, see everything made at Guy's American Kitchen & Bar.

Here in Park Slope, Bark is jumping on the food wordplay bandwagon with their "Barkbecue Burger," the first in a line of forthcoming monthly burgers.

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[Gettin' it Wrong] 200 Fifth

Gettin' It Wrong is our semi-regularish column where we call out a Park Slope biz that deserves an online kick in the nuts for doing something that's totally fucking stupid. Today's nominee: 200 Fifth!

Late nights, at like two in the morn, I like grabbing a beer at a bar someplace & ordering up some food to go. Often times, due to the lack of post-midnight takeout options in Park Slope, that place ends up being 200 Fifth. While I love sports as much as the next guy, the atmosphere there kinda sucks. Still, they do have an expansive selection of craft beers and the bartenders are always friendly with me, so I put up with the atmosphere in deference to my late night cravings.

Not any more.

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A Vendy Award Winner Opens on 4th Ave (Also TACOS!)

It's just a scientific fact that in Park Slope, there's a serious lack of taco options. Sure there are a handful of places to grab a taco in the hood, from Oaxaca to Tacos Nuevo to that Jalapeno NYC truck that's been showing up on 5th Ave recently, but most of them are ultimately forgettable. With that in mind, taco lovers have been salivating in anticipation of 2008 Vendy Cup winner Calexico's impending move into the spot formerly occupied by Blue Ribbon Sushi.

While the wait for the Park Slope Calexico continues, this past Saturday another Vendy Award-winning taco purveyor quietly opened up shop in the neighborhood—Country Boys. They've been around since 1993 & as the winner of the 2009 Vendy Cup, they became the first vendor from the Red Hook Ballfields to take home the prize.

Since Red Hook's far & the Brooklyn Flea's become "too hipster" for you, Country Boys has decided to come to you, Park Slope citizen, taking over the space on the corner of 4th Ave & 16th St that was formerly occupied by J&R Restaurant.

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FiPS Food Throwdowns: Banh Mi Edition

FIPS Food Throwdowns is a series where we order the same exact thing from two different Park Slope restaurants and evaluate which was better. It's a culinary smackdown...a triumph of the will of sorts.

In Park Slope, the banh mi sandwich has a storied tradition. Specifically, the hood is home to two Vietnamese sandwich shops along 7th Ave--Hanco's & Henry's--who are so intertwined, from their owners to their menus, that NPR's This American Life did a 2010 segment on their strange rivalry. Hanco's came first. Then a guy from there left & opened Henry's with the same exact menu...blah blah blah.

Down on 5th Ave, there are two more Vietnamese sandwich shops--Home & Lotus Vietnamese Sandwiches--and late last year, a new, ridiculously-named joint--Banhmigos--opened up in a tiny spot just off of 7th Ave on Lincoln Pl. If it wasn't for frozen yogurt shops, Vietnamese sandwich shops would be the best target for any & all "OH GREAT, ANOTHER ONE" jokes.

For today's Throwdown, we'll be pitting the original--Hanco's--against the new kid on the block--Banhmigos. They're TOTALLY gonna meet after school by the bike racks and scrap for my approval by serving me the exact same takeout order, proving once & for all which of the two is OBVIOUSLY BETTER.

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FiPS Food Throwdowns: Kinara vs Amin Indian Cuisine

FIPS Food Throwdowns is a series where we order the same exact thing from two different Park Slope restaurants, get it delivered, and evaluate which was better.  It's a culinary smackdown...a triumph of the delivery will. 

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Everybody loves a violent, knuckle-filled brouhaha, right? It's in OUR BLOOD, people. Cavemen & shit. Hell, even I got my start on this here blog by pitting various Park Slope blocks against each other in TOTALLY EPIC BATTLES. FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

With that in mind, I'm reviving an age-old FiPS tradition--The FiPS Food Throwdown. By tossing two neighborhood businesses into our metaphorical squared circle & ordering the exact same goods and/or services from them, we'll prove once & for all which of the two is OBVIOUSLY BETTER.

In the hood, there have always been a handful of Indian restaurants. Some blow snot rockets. Some don't. Today's two competitors are Indian restaurants that have been open in Park Slope for a while now: 5th Ave's Kinara & 7th Ave's Amin Indian Cuisine. On New Year's Day, I grabbed the same takeout order from both--Aloo Gobi & Veggie Samosas--and absconded back to my apartment to see the results.

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