Peppa's Places...Second

While the smoky drums jerking birds behind Peppa's may approximate the Kingston vibe, they were no match for the exquisite chicken of Exquisite Express on Church near Nostrand, so says a piece in a certain weekly of a certain age. Never been myself. The People's Choice on Parkside was an offshoot of Exquisite for a hot minute, and I did sample their signature delicacy and was somewhat impressed. The fact is though, Peppa's does a beautiful bird - charred skin and moist meat (ew...did I really just write that phrase?) So why would I hoof over to the very reaches of the hood just for a slightly better mound of meaty morsels?

All this must sound utterly revolting to vegetarians. Actually, these chickens and the ones at my other fave joint "Melany," a Dominican treasure on the corner of Lenox and Flatbush, are probably the LEAST organic farm fresh cage free birds on the planet. They seem to be made almost entirely of breast, which suggests they didn't have a lot of room to frolic. I know for myself that when I don't get exercise I too seem to turn entirely to breast. I'm already white meat, so it's the breasty part that troubles me. Somehow, I've twisted it in my head that it's okay, since it's "ethnic" food. Ever LOOKED at the pork in chinese food? What is that exactly? The burger at a Greek greasy spoon? The chunks of lamb in Indian take-out? They almost all scream "Forgive me Jonathan Safran Foer, for I have sinned, and I know you're Jewish and this confession must seem a bit strange coming from a complete stranger, but for the love of Jehovah take away my carnivorous shame!"

Back in the real world, the one where the Village Voice has lost nearly every ounce of cultural currency it once had, but still chugs along as sort of a Triple A farm team for the majors (actually, if the VV is Triple A, what is the Q? Tee-ball? Hmm...maybe bloggers in glasses shouldn't throw stones...at other people's glasses, or whatever Billy Joel implied*), a piece comes at us judging the relative merits of the Jerks in the area. Give it a read and see if you agree!

Village Voice Jerk

* Ever notice how hits ABOUT Rock 'n' Roll are often the worst sorts of rock 'n' roll? Forget the Velvet Underground song...that was most definitely not a hit in its day. But Billy Joel's "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" from the above-mentioned Glass Houses album; Huey Lewis and the News with "The Heart of Rock 'n' Roll," Boob Seeger's "Old Time Rock 'n' Roll." Kiss's overrated "Rock 'n' Roll All Night" hardly rock 'n' rolls at all...more of a Grand Funk Boogie. "We Built This City (On Rock 'n' Roll) is closer to Broadway than Little Richard. I'll even go out on a limb and say Led Zep's "Rock 'n' Roll" is WAY not rock 'n' roll. I don't even think it's that good, frankly. It barely grooves at all. Only the "lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely time" has any pizazz. The rest is all fuzz and muscle. I love John Fogerty, like LOVE John Fogerty, but "Rock 'n' Roll Girls" is completely sexless. Check out Peter, Paul and Mary's outstanding "I Dig Rock 'n' Roll," and as great as it is you can't accuse it of making you want to jitter bug. Even Joan Jett's version of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" is lifeless if you listen close. Slow, lumbering, the beat plods along and only the guitar sound and her voice have any life at all. Ever try to dance to that song? It's near impossible. Embarrassing even, cuz you get up going "yeah, dude, Joan Jett!" and then you start dancing and pretty soon you look like a slow-mo caveman stuck in La Brea Tar Pits long before there was a museum there. I mean LONG before there was a museum there.

Songs with rock 'n' roll in the title that actually rock include: Rock 'n' Roll High School by the effin' brilliant Ramones, Any others? Please share. (Without dropping names, I had lunch with a certain rock "n" roll critic the other day with whom I was once em-banded, and told him despite my past I NEVER blog about music, but then, in classic my-generational fashion said to myself "rules are for schools" and did the exact opposite. So there, Mr. Critic! Now, sir, I challenge you to write about Community Board Committee Meetings and then see how many twitter followers you attract. Not so easy, is it?

Food Coop In Lefferts/Crown Heights Gets Off the Ground

Well shiver me timbers and call me Ishmael! Those crafty folks at the proposed Lefferts Food Coop have taken their show off the page onto the stage. Coming up on Saturday March 16 they're asking for you, the reader/eater, to come to their poppe-up shoppe at 324 Empire near Nostrand and help cleanup the space being GIVEN to the group to get the store off the ground. Wow. I mean, I'm really impressed. This is no slight undertaking, and you guys are proving a little elbow grease can lead to organic bulk elbow macaroni. The group has apparently been purchasing wholesale items and getting the hang of inventory etc.

Here's the flyer. I highly encourage you all to check it out and help create a viable alternative to the Key Foods of the world.

UPDATE: Parkside Ave Tragedies

Two serious car vs. person crashes last night. One on Parkside near the Parkside Q, the other on Parkside and Nostrand. Each late afternoon. Each very, very serious if not fatal. Information I gathered from bystanders was inconclusive. Anyone see either of these accidents and care to comment? I don't see them in "the News" yet. Hard to believe they both happened on the same street blocks apart around the same time. But eyewitness twitter accounts corroborate.

UPDATE: From a very reliable sounding account in the comments section:
 

I was walking to the Q and heard the crash, saw a sneaker go flying about twenty feet in the air. I was the first person there. A teenage girl was unconscious on the ground with a pretty severe head injury. She'd been knocked down by a woman driving a toyota camry who stopped immediately. The girl was jaywalking. I called 911, checked her pulse. She was breathing and had a steady pulse. Big crowd gathered around, including some of her friends/family members. She started waking up/trying to move and a couple of us held her to keep her in place. She may have had a broken arm/shoulder as well, but I was most concerned about the head/neck. It appeared that she had hit her head very hard on the pavement. Police came within about 5 minutes and took over the scene. The girl was conscious but clearly very badly injured when I left. No idea her name. I really hope she can pull through. It was horrifying. Please, please be careful crossing around that intersection.

Lefferts CSA Open For Registrants

Below find the cut and pasted info from the Lefferts CSA (d/b/a as the PLG CSA). Go their website and get all the details. You can brows the crucial stuff here, like the March 24 registration deadline.

In other socialist news, local drug dealers are taking a page from the local food movement and starting their very own CSN's, or Community Supported Narcoticulture organizations. By jointly purchasing shares you can cut your drug bills in half with the assurance that your heroin, crack and crystal are made with love, by hand, by nearby meth-labs, or carried by grass-fed, humanely treated camels from organic poppy fields of Afghanistan. Your shares may be picked up at Ray's, in front of Shifty Fifty Lincoln Road, anywhere along Woodruff between Flatbush and Ocean, in front of 35 or 60 Clarkson, next to JJ's on Flatbush near ParksideZ, at various buildings along Hawthorne and Fenimore, or for those preferring the cover of dead-end streets, try Beekman Place.

The info on the FOOD CSA below:

Yes! It’s finally here! Registration for the Summer 2013 season is now open! Our 2013 Season will once again offer vegetable, fruit, eggs and pasta shares. The season will run for 22 weeks on Saturdays from June 22 to October 26 from 9:30-11:30 a.m. at Maple Street School.

VEGETABLE SINGLE SHARE: $340 ($15.45/week)
VEGETABLE DOUBLE Share: $600 ($27.27/week)
FRUIT SINGLE SHARE: $135 ($6.14/week)
FRUIT DOUBLE SHARE: $265 ($12.05/week)
ONE DOZEN EGGS: $105 ($4.77/dozen)
HALF DOZEN EGGS: $53 ($2.40/half dozen)
PASTA SHARE: $110.00 ($5.00/12 oz. box)

Initial deposit and registration is due by Sunday, March 24, 2013. Final deadline with FULL payment is due Sunday, April 21.A limited number of income-based shares are available. Please contact us at board@plgcsa.org or 347-823-1076 for more information. If you have any questions or for more information, please visit the website at plgcsa.org (Karen, Pavani, Diana, Barbara, Ashley, Gen, Justine, Sheila, Alecia)

Good Morning, Lefferts!

This arrived for the "Timothy" family. I'm thrilled to be on their mailing list! Did y'all get this too?

Trash Violations

Over at the Community Board and its Environmental Protection Committee we've spent the better part of a year warning local businesses that trash on the Flabenue must be reined in or we'll ask Sanitation to step up enforcement. Gradually, we've seen more summonses issued, as DoS has been directed by District Manager Pearl Miles to clamp down. We've repeatedly warned the merchants, who along with landlords are ultimately responsible by City ordinance to maintain the cleanliness of their buildings to six inches into the street, that they must step it up. Now the next phase begins...ensuring that each business has an updated arrangement with a private carting company contract, a City-wide requirement meant to ensure that business trash is picked up daily and that merchants don't simply dump their trash at corner bins. To be clear, most businesses comply, and are disturbed to see their neighbors trying to freeload. It ain't good for unity, that's for sure. And it ain't good for business neither.

If it sounds like we're being harsh, consider this. The rules are the same throughout the City, and apply to private homeowners as well. We're not singling out Flatbush - we're trying to drag it into the modern era. The thinking behind the laws is simple: the City can't be everywhere at all times cleaning up after selfish litterers and thoughtless supers, landlords and merchants. So it sets certain requirements and twice daily (between the hours of 9-10am and 4-5pm) issues summons for dirty sidewalks. That's to create incentives for everyone to do their part. IF an avenue wants to organize into a strong merchant's association or, more rigorously, a City-sponsored Business Improvement District, it can and is encouraged to do so. In so doing, they then have resources to hire someone to clean the streets and bag trash for them (like the Flatbush BID does south of Parkside Avenue). I don't think this is the job of local residents - everywhere else in the City merchants take the pride and their longterm interests into account and do the legwork. We residents are asked to place litter in receptacles, make sure our garbage is set out at the right times in the right places, and owners and landlords must take care of their own. For we residents to pick up the tab is essentially an acknowledgment that we haven't everyone on board. And getting everyone on board is much more important than ponying up dough or organizing cleanup days, in my opinion.

I've been over all this before, I know. I must seem like a man obsessed. I'm really not. If nothing came of the effort I wouldn't die from heartbreak. I do find it unacceptable that an open business would look outside and see mounds of filth and do nothing. Sure it's probably not YOUR trash, but have you no pride in your business, or feeling for others who have to walk through and past the mounds? Even the biggest businesses aren't responsible for more than a few square feet! I've met with Delroy at that FEPMA merchant's group and with various interested local folks. We've done a couple community-wide cleanup days to bring awareness to the issue - props to all who made those happen (congrats Skei on the baby girl!) My wife and I routinely walk into places and remind them of their responsibility to do their part. Many people have stepped it up. Delroy arranged a program with the D.A.'s office to get community-service-mandated folks out here to bag trash, and we hope that will continue. We've done everything we can do to let people know what they need to know, and to warn of impending enforcement of the private carter requirements. It's do or die time - either you're part of the community, or you're a drag on the community. The City will aggressively fine you for the latter.

People ask why I'm so dogged about dumping, tenacious about trash, livid about litter. Simple. A relatively few buildings make most of the trouble, and I want to make sure we let them know how we feel, and compel them to change their behavior. Because, as I noted when I brought it up at the CB9 meeting a few months ago, it's a "consensus issue." Very, very few people are opposed to cleaning up the trash. So it's something everyone can get on board for, to make all of our qualities of life better.

And so, let the more rigorous ticketing begin. Below is an example of a sanitation summons, levied last week on our un-neighborly neighbors BOOST Mobile, or rather the landlord, at 701 Flatbush. That block in particular is a real dump, particularly in the middle. They, and Original Struggs, simply don't seem to give a hoot (don't pollute.) They can no longer claim ignorance, however.

Nykki's Boutique

Cheryl Carty is Nykki. Or rather Nykki is Cheryl. No wait...Cheryl Carty is the dressmaker behind the shoppe. How'd I know that? I walked in, baby on board, and found out the whole scoop going on next to Scoops. Cheryl wanted to start a fashion store, she had a niece named Nykki, and voila -- Nykki's Boutique. The place has one of the most lovely signs on the Flabenue, a true original with an awesome font:

The combo of the Nykki's and Scoops signs make an awesome duo. Not so much the Jackson Hewitt tax sign, but two outa three ain't bad, as Meat Loaf reminded us.

If you haven't stepped inside, Cheryl's store is absolutely worth a closer look. All the clothes are handmade and designed by her - she can often be seen in the back working on patterns and sewing. She also curates a fascinating collection of handbags. (I'll be honest, I don't know handbags from handkerchiefs, but they sure are purty to look at). Cheryl went to F.I.T., lives on Fennimore, has been in biz more than 20 years, makes prom dresses and Sunday fashions. She's clearly very good, because she's always busy. Perhaps you wondered how she stays open with such slight inventory. Wonder no more - her big business is custom work. Still, there's plenty to look through, and I'm sure that hard-to-shop-for person on your list will appreciate a true original. Need a new dress? Why go to Target, TJ Maxx, Barney's or the Gem, when you can get something handcrafted and one-of-a-kind?

Cheryl of Nykki's. Another reason you live in one of the coolest neighborhoods on earth.

"Lefferts" Hit Hard By Health Hacks?

The Daily News reports that the Lefferts neighborhood has been smacked with more than its fair share of health violations. True? False? Filthy? Eat-off-the-floor clean?

I for one pay attention to the letter grades. Do you? Are they going over-the-top with the mop cops, such that rat stats are keeping coffers fat? Should they go easy on greasy eateries and speakeasies? And what EXACTLY is meant by "Grade Pending?"

Winston from Culpepper's gets a nice photo though:

photo by todd maisel

I'll be very curious to see how the numbers pan out after the Public Advocate's inquiry. Four-and-a-half hours sounds like a lot of time to be looking for vermin to me.

For Parents of Wee Ones - Bring Them This Saturday To the Masonic Temple

Okay, maybe that sounds a little weird. But I promise, the Freemasons aren't actually going to be there indoctrinating your children with all kinds of Masonry Hocus Pocus. If you haven't any children, read no further - there's a very exciting debate happening in two posts ago about rent regulation that has "adult" written all over it. But, if you DO have little kids, and like me you say to yourself "oh my God, another cold weekend day and I'm going to go completely out of my mind if I don't take them somewhere to run around instead of getting into all my stuff and gnawing on my favorite knick-knacks like crazed chipmunks," have I got a plan for you. And trust me, I went to this thing last year and it's actually a blast and the music is tolerable. And the food is allergen free! (Not to complain, but let me complain for a minute. It seems to me if your kids has allergies it's YOUR job to keep them from eating it, right? I mean, suddenly a lot of people have Celiac disease, but they're not needing me to keep my gluten locked behind closed doors. Maybe I'm being harsh, and kids tend to share with each other and stuff, and lick peanuts off each other's faces. I guess I can live with Sunflower Butter and Jelly Sandwiches...just forget I said anything).

Below is the promotional language for the big show. All proceeds go to the scholarship program at Maple Street, the coop nursery school so convenient they put it in the train station at Prospect Park. On Lincoln Road. So why do they call it Maple Street School? Because it used to be run out of someone's house, probably on Maple Street. It seems quite common these days for little schools to be run out of people's houses. Who knows, maybe one day they'll grow too big for their baswements, and they too can move to a public transportation hub like, I dunno, a bus station or airport or something.

And now, the advertisement:

Brooklyn Kids Rock!

Get ready to kick the end-of-winter blues to the curb and get down at the third annual Brooklyn Kids Rock, New York’s most amazing kids music festival!
Join us for a rockin’ day of music, featuring four of the hottest kids music bands. This year we welcome back Jeremy Plays Guitar and Captain Kirk Douglas (of The Roots!). And we’re also thrilled to bring you two new acts: The Anna Banana Band and AudraRox! Together, these four bands will get your little ones moving and grooving (and will hopefully get you an early and easy bedtime!).
   
But Brooklyn Kids Rock isn’t just music. When little feet need a break from dancing, there are awesome carnival games, face painting, arts & crafts, pizza and other food and drink.
Plus, an amazing raffle with prizes like tickets to SpiderMan: Turn Off the Dark, a Brooklyn Nets game, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon; an ice cream party at Ample Hills Creamery; and a 15-week music class at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music!
It’s a whole day of fun, all in one room!

Details & Directions

Brooklyn Kids Rock!
Saturday, March 2, 2013
11am – 3pm
at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple
317 Clermont Ave @ Lafayette, Fort Greene (map)

Parkside Plaza - One Step Closer To Reality?

It's hard to imagine a bright future for Parkside Avenue without renovating the Q station (on for this summer!) and making the plaza itself more inviting. After meetings with DOT to re-imagine said plaza, after the Parkside Prize folks submitted a proposal, we've seen what the future MIGHT bring. But a lot depends on how much support we'll have from the neighborhood, and to what degree people are willing to step up and help maintain the plaza. Luckily, we have our Parkside Prize winner In Cho on board to make some professional renderings of various scenarios, to whet your appetite. Rest assured we'll be looking for as many street trees as possible. But questions remain about seating options, planters, the cost of maintenance etc. And so we need as many people as possible to show up at the next meeting about the Parkside Plaza, at Play Kids next Sunday. We really want to know what you think, so we don't start sprucing it up without lots of input. If we build a nice plaza, there will be uses for it too. Farmer's market? Talent show? Communist protest? Communist Farmer Talent show? Whatever your thoughts, please join us.
:
  WHEN:  Sunday March 3 at 5pm
  WHERE:  Play Kids, 676 Flatbush
  WHO: You, most discerning blog reader

After this meeting, Rudy and his team will be going back to the Dept. of Transportation, to try to arrive at a final plan for amenities on Parkside. 

In's coming up with a new picture we can look at by week's end. In the meantime, let me share with you one of my many losing entries. I'm still kinda miffed I didn't take home the gold, but at least you can see what might have been: