The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Local Boy Done Good - Saul to Open at the Brooklyn Museum!

Via the Times comes news that Chester Court resident Saul Bolton is opening a restaurant at the Brooklyn Museum. This is such HUGE news I can hardly believe it. I had to check the date...no, not April 1.

Wow. Congrats on inking the gig, Saul. Our own neighbor is about to transform our local institution. Dude has a Michelin star! This is big, big, big news.

NY Times on Saul at BM (hee hee)
Ruby Washington/The New York Times

26 comments:

babs said...

So exciting!

shelley said...

Congratulations, Saul!

Anonymous said...

This is great! Love the restaurant Saul and thrilled to have this great food experience coming to the museum, and inching closer to PLG. Please Mr Bolton, how about a neighborhood spot next. Pretty please?!?

Anonymous said...

I'll take a look if/when I am there on a First Saturday.

Anonymous said...

It's great for the museum too. Good idea to have a destination restaurant there and not just some typical semi-edible museum fare.

Anonymous said...

Yea, even a fancy hotdog stand in PLG would be highly appreciated!

Anonymous said...

Ooh fancy hotdogs like Bark would be awesome here!

Anonymous said...

I'd rather see a Shake Shack. :)

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Correction, Disco. You'd rather EAT a Shake Shack. Just seeing one would be cruel.

Re: Bark and "Pour Overs"...The day has finally come when you can get A coffee and A hot dog for $10. Progress!

Anonymous said...

If shake shack owners thought about all the prospect park and skating rink business they could do they'd be a miss not to come here. Like on the corner of Ocean and Lincoln where that grocery currently takes up space!

The Snob said...

I know it's the internet, but folks are awful cavalier about "just shutting down" businesses like this corner grocery, or Western Beef, or whatever nail salon you don't use. People work hard to own and run their businesses. A little respect.

Now, what's the deal with the vast parking lot on Parkside past Nostrand?

Clarkson FlatBed said...

True true Snob. I spend a lot of money at that place...little Miss Q calls it the "chip store" after our most frequent purchase, and I have nothing but nice things to say about the proprietors.

It is, however, a colossal missed opportunity for SOME entrepreneurial pursuit.

As to the lot you describe, that was recently floated as a location for a moved version of our district Sanitation garage, which is currently right across from the hospital on New York Avenue. The hospitals (Kings County and Downstate) have long wanted us to move what's essentially an All-You-Can-Eat fly haven away from its facilities. I've even been part of the team that met with Downstate to get some of their property for the purpose, and I believe the lot in question is owned by them (and by extension, by NY State).

Interesting. When government owns something, it definitely has a lot of possibility for public good, if only the right people get behind it. And conversely, when the government owns something (LICH hospital much?), the people can get wholly shafted.

And still, people I know and respect, have the gall to say it doesn't matter who your elected leaders are. "They're all the same." Hogwash. They don't even look the same with their shirts off on Twiiter! And they most certainly do not all play the game with the same set of rules.

Anonymous said...

I would like to eat high-end and super expensive food in the neighborhood as well.

-A Snobby Manor resident.

Anonymous said...

Re: "I know it's the internet, but folks are awful cavalier about "just shutting down" businesses like this corner grocery, or Western Beef, or whatever nail salon you don't use. People work hard to own and run their businesses. A little respect."

No arguing the respect part; I'm basically a life-long resident of this area and I have made use of the nail salons (to get my brows done; I still miss the one on Lincoln Road where Tip of the Tongue now is) and the hair salons and the corner stores (like the one on Ocean and Lincoln). They provide services and goods at a good and affordable price. I have always disliked Western Beef however and that's why I rant about it.

Ideally I'd like to see this neighborhood have the around-the-way nail salons and the cheapie stores, bodegas, and the Burger Kings co-exist along with establishments with higher price points, like Wholesome Gourmet and Shake Shack. Some of this happens already on Fulton Mall. That way something is there for everyone.

Anonymous said...

Mentally I have been having a huge dilemma because I carry around a sense of guilt moving to this neighborhood being a white man. My mind has created this image that my prescence is not welcomed because I am one of the reasons driving up rental prices and forcing a lot of long time residents to move.

This is a serious ethical question I have been grappling with but this emotional guilt has prevented me from interacting with a lot of long time neighbors in order to avoid tension and/or conflict I have imaginarily conjured up in my head. I have even begun to avoid the more gentrified shops like Tip of the Tongue to make it seem like I do not support all this change.

I am not trying to justify my actions and I can understand that people must view me as cold and unfriendly when I walk on the street but I also rarely have long time residents respond back to my hello's or good mornings. I am also guarded because honestly some of the crime in this neighborhood scares me, so I usually walk home looking like I am in a hurry and have a purpose. It's harder to hit a moving target kind of theory. But I do honestly wish I had more opportunities to interact and get to know my neighbors, it just seems that my own fears have gotten the best of me. Am I overreacting?

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Wow. That's the most honest and searching thing anyone has said on this blog in quite some time. Thank you.

What you're describing is probably echoed by hundreds of newcomers all over the borough. I can't make you less fearful...you have to do the heavy lifting. But don't let the occasional brush off get you down. It's NYC, and that could happen anywhere. It's not like I have meaningful interactions with everyone at the Park Slope Food Coop...and I avoid some of those people too. No fear there, but there are a lot of weirdos in Park Slope. And it's not super friendly on the streets either.

The crime is a major bummer. But it's probably good to remember it's a drag for everyone, not just the newcomer. Old-timers love to tell you that it was way worse back when blah blah, but they're just as scared when a shots get fired near their home. I'd venture to guess that they're feigning nonchalance as a coping mechanism, but then I would be playing armchair psychologist. Maybe more loveseat psychologist...

It gets easier. And remember, you won't be the newcomer for long. The next set of folks are already signing their leases. Remember how hard it was to move from grade school to junior high, then high school?

BUT, and this is a big butt, you're right that when you moved here someone moved out. That's real. It's also real that realtors and landlords are cashing in on racism to make a buck. Whether we choose to recognize that and act on it (by being a good neighbor, I reckon, and reporting abuses), is our choice. I suspect given your honesty and self-appraisal that you will make the right choices.

That was my call-in talk show response. I've got a million more, and you can email anytime.

tim

The Snob said...

People are people, dude. Part of being a Snob is knowing that we can judge one another based on millions of signals, skin color being just one of them. Be the change you want to see with your neighbors. Try a compliment and not just a hello (tho hello works wonders) and remember, some people are just stank and that has nothing to do with you.
My $.02

babs said...

Assuming that your neighbors judge you based simply on the color of your skin, Anon 10:30, is unfair and wrong to them. And boycotting certain shops in order to prove some imagined solidarity with others is just plain silly - do you really think that your neighbors have so little time on their hands that they can observe where you shop? Additionally, what makes you think your neighbors aren't going there themselves?

Also, you're missing out - Tip of the Tongue is great, AND it's owned/operated by two long-term neighborhood residents, so not really "gentrifiers."

And it's odd you say your neighbors don't return your greetings - perhaps they can sense your uneasiness around them?

And by always walking in a hurry (and don't kid yourself - people can tell the difference between in a hurry and scared) you're missing out on the chance to interact with your neighbors, make friends, and in the long rum make yourself safer, because people will look out for you.

Try to relax and enjoy our neighborhood - we have so many advantages. 99 44/100% of people are good, friendly, law-abiding citizens, and for the ones who don't want anything to do with you, I'd echo the Snob - that's their problem, not yours.

Anonymous said...

Mentally I have been having a huge dilemma because I carry around a sense of guilt moving to this neighborhood being a white man... But I do honestly wish I had more opportunities to interact and get to know my neighbors, it just seems that my own fears have gotten the best of me. Am I overreacting?

I dunno, but something tells me the anon 10:30 post is a hoax.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

It occurred to me. But you know what? It's neither funny, mean-spirited, or particularly confrontational. The "hoax" is pure in tone, and I responded accordingly. Even if it's not sincere, the ideas expressed are real ones. I hope anon will come back to the conversation, perhaps with a screen name this time!

ceelledee said...

I agree with CF. And, silly me, it did not even occur to me that that post could be a hoax! Instead, I saw it as an honest expression of some of what it can feel like to be a racial minority with all the social insecurity, self-doubt, and even guilt, that often comes from having "out group" status.

In fact, like CF, I thought it took a bit of courage to write and post those comments (although had they offered up with a handle, I would have viewed them as even more courageous.) In any event, the points raised -- hoax or not -- are worth noting. Being a minority of any kind -- whether it be racial, gender, sexual orientation, religion, physically challenged, etc. -- is usually no joke! It certainly ain't easy.

And to the anon poster, I guarantee you: if you greet me on the street before I can give you a nod or smile, I promise you I will say "hello" back.

ElizabethC said...

There's a small store on the corner of Parkside and Ocean called 'Ma and Pa's Toy store". Basically they sit outside and sell nuts and drinks along with small toys. Although I said good morning to them for a year before calling it quits (No respond hi!) a neighbour finally explained: they hate large dogs, and when I said hello to them every morning, they weren't not responding because I was white, and a gentrifier ---just a dog owner, with a large filthy beast that they are fearful of.

It's hard to tell sometimes, what people don't like about you.

Anonymous said...

Let's pick up a big fast food chain instead of an indie owned market then, and talk about replacing the Wendy's with a Shake Shack. It sits on the most visible corner that's the most accessible restaurant spot for the Botanic Garden's South entrance, the zoo, the carousel.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, that should be pick on, not pick up.

Anonymous said...

It occurred to me. But you know what? It's neither funny, mean-spirited, or particularly confrontational. The "hoax" is pure in tone, and I responded accordingly.

Hmmm. The best hoax is the subtlest. The writer touched on a lot of issues tied to liberal guilt, and that made it easy for a lot of readers to feel a little empathy and understanding without exercising enough skepticism. However, he went a little further and expressed a noticeable degree of paranoia and neurotic over-thinking. But ending his confession with the question "Am I overreacting", gives it the ring of some phony Letter to the Editor of a women's magazine.

Makes me think of that San Francisco TV reporter who so clearly and impressively stated the names of the crew flying the plane that crash-landed at the SF airport last week.

Anonymous said...

Re :"Let's pick up a big fast food chain instead of an indie owned market then, and talk about replacing the Wendy's with a Shake Shack."

No. Let's replace that yet-to-open Checkers with a Shack Shack. It's still close enough to the Botanic Garden and the Park.