Jon Cronin’s Stream Of Consciousness

In today's Metro Newspaper there was an article about eating out in Brooklyn. I wanted to share it with you all, because I think that the two recommendations of The Vanderbilt and James Restaurant in Prospect Heights are great and if you want a more detailed account of Prospect Heights restaurants go here.

What places would you recommend for visitors to the Brooklyn Museum or Prospect Park?

I would send someone to The Vanderbilt (570 Vanderbilt Ave.) or James Restaurant (605 Carlton Ave.) in Prospect Heights. They’re great places to go after a day at the museum to have a glass of wine or a cocktail and some really well-prepared food. Both are close enough to the museums and the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens that if you really wanted to make a day of it, you could end your day the

Also, Check out the book on Amazon!

Do you like to watch movies? Of course you do! This Friday make your way over to The Brooklyn Int'l Film Festival.

The competitive event will run from June 4-13 at indieScreen and Brooklyn Heights Cinema. The festival has received over 2,400 films from 92 countries and will present over 100 film premieres. 2010 film lineup.

OPENING NIGHT on FRIDAY June 4
7:30pm: Film Screening at Brooklyn Heights Cinema
10pm: Party at The powerHouse Arena
VIEW OPENING NIGHT EVENTS

FILM SCHEDULE
Saturdays & Sundays:
Brooklyn Heights Cinema: 2:30, 5:00, 7:30, 10:00 pm
indieScreen: 3:00, 5:30, 8:00, 10:30 pm
Monday through Friday:
Brooklyn Heights Cinema: 5:00, 7:00, 9:00 pm
indieScreen: 6:00, 8:00, 10:00 pm
VIEW SHOWTIMES

The Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF), is an International, competitive festival for and by independent film makers. BFF mission is to discover, expose, and promote independent film makers while drawing worldwide attention to Brooklyn.

Everyone should see this exhibition. You know this. So go and tell us what you think!

Andy Warhol: The Last Decade
June 18–September 12, 2010

Andy Warhol: The Last Decade is the first U.S. museum survey to examine the late work of American artist Andy Warhol (1928–1987). Encompassing nearly fifty works, the exhibition reveals the artist’s vitality, energy, and renewed spirit of experimentation. During this time Warhol produced more works, in a considerable number of series and on a vastly larger scale, than at any other point in his forty-year career. It was a decade of great artistic development for him, during which a dramatic transformation of his style took place alongside the introduction of new techniques.

Warhol continued to expand upon his artistic and business ventures with commissioned portraits, print series, television productions, and fashion projects, but he also reengaged with painting. In the late 1970s, he developed a new interest in abstraction, first with his Oxidations and Shadows series and later with his Yarn, Rorschach, and Camouflage paintings. His return to the hand-painted image in the 1980s was inspired by collaborations with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, and Keith Haring. The exhibition concludes with Warhol’s variations on Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, one of the largest series of his career. Together, these works provide an important framework for understanding Warhol’s late career by looking at how he simultaneously incorporated the screened image and pursued a reinvention of painting.

Freddy's Bar and Backroom will hold its last call at the end of this month (April 2010), as the Forester City Ratner Atlantic Yards project moves forward. This was a Prospect Heights institution for many and with its characters and regulars, has become a home-base for the fight against the project. Many had previously vowed to chain themselves to the bar, but have recently changed their tune to a more peaceful protest. The final standout for the project, head of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Daniel Goldstein has taken the money and ran, with a 3 million dollar payout for his 590,000 apartment. This is probably the final nail in the coffin for the protest and will make way for the building of the Barclay's Arena and the sale of the New Jersey Nets to the Russian billionare Mikhail Prokhorov. For many this is a relief to get this project moving, for others it is the end of the community fight for the presevation of neighborhood. "Change is hard" - Barack Obama

Here is a list of the top ten best restaurants in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. While there are many fabulous places to eat in this diverse and delicious neighborhood, there are a few that stand out from the rest. What do you think about this list? Do you agree? Let us know! 

1. Frannys (Best Environmentally Responsible Restaurant)
2. Le Gamin Cafe (Best French/Crepe)
3. James (Best Neighborhood Feel)
4. The Vanderbilt (Best Hors D’oeuvres/Drinks)
5. Cornelius (Best Oysters)
6. Beast (Best Brunch and Jazz)
7. Chavellas (Best Authentic Mexican)
8. Tom's (Best Old School Diner)
9. Gen (Best Sushi)
10. Rawstar (Best Caribbean Food)

While we all know that Prospect Heights isn't a new neighborhood at all, but it is rapidly shifting and becoming a place where the professional creative class is mixing with the diverse neighborhood locals to form a vibrant community. If you compare it to other neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Prospect Heights is fairly intimate and is notable for its cultural diversity, tree-lined streets exemplified and mixture of older buildings under reconstruction, rows of classic 1890s brownstones, and newly built luxury condominiums.

Some Bullets Summarized from Wikipedia

• The name "Prospect Heights" can be traced as far back as 1889 to a letter to the editor published in the Brooklyn Eagle 
• Largely an Italian, Jewish, and German neighborhood in the 1910s through the 1950s
• Prospect Heights is currently well known for its mixed black and white culture.
• Every year the West Indian Day Parade, the largest annual parade in New York City, follows Eastern Parkway, beginning in Crown Heights and ending at Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Heights.
• A thriving commercial zone has emerged along Vanderbilt Avenue, which in just the last few years has been the location for new bars, restaurants and specialty shops.
• Because of the area's density of Italianate and Neo-Grec rowhouses, much of the neighborhood has been designated as a New York City historic district.
• It is the fifth largest historic district in New York City.
• To its north lies Fort Greene, to the south, Prospect Park, to its west, Park Slope and to its east, Crown Heights.
• Atlantic Yards Project including Barclays Arena will form the Northern border from Faltbush to Vanderbilt along Atlantic.

When you first meet Ross Greenberg you can't help noticing that he is a true local, friendly, talkative with a genuine Brooklyn demeanor. But if you chat with him while he prepares food for his soccer fanatic patrons, you begin to see that he has seen a lot of the world and knows what's what. He might tell you that he was an assistant to a famous French chef in the South of France or that he lived in Italy for a while working with chefs and this place all starts to make sense. Woodwork is not your ordinary Soccer bar. Ross descibes the bar as " a sexy soccer bar, serving foodie and footie fans alike". The menu is focused and delicious (try the waffles) - the beer, whiskeys and overall service is tight and friendly. The location Dean and Vanderbilt, in Prospect Heights, is truly the next new renaissance in Brooklyn and Ross's timing is perfect. There are many speculations about what they may build across the the street, in the South-Eastern tip of the Atlantic Yards project, but Ross (and many others) know that this neighborhood, in particular Vanderbilt Street is on it's way to the top. With it's proximity to Prospect Park, BAM, The Brooklyn Museum, Barclay's Arena, Botanical Gardens, Grand Army Plaza Farmers Market and Atlantic Center, Prospect Heights has become one of Brooklyn's exciting new neighborhoods. Woodwork will reap the benefits of this years WorldCup and he even has plans to hold street fairs dedicated to Soccer events on the Sunday's during the tournament. He says that Brooklyn is international and that Soccer is one of the greatest ways to truly bring other countries together, more than any other sport. The crowd in Woodwork represents this spirit, the spirit of Brooklyn - International and growing.

Here is a blurb from their website:

Located in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, Woodwork is the brainchild of Chef Ross Greenberg, who teamed up with Master Wood Carpenter and beer enthusiast Eric Bernstein, a Prospect Heights resident, to build a sexy soccer bar, serving foodie and footie fanatics alike.

Soccer or Futbol is played amongst every culture and in every neighborhood, but this beautiful game has always been a big part of New York City. Even Prospect Heights-raised sports caster Howard Cossell was quoted in 1977 as saying,

"Soccer will be the biggest big league of all."

Many of us have passed by Tatiania when we walked down the boardwalk from Coney Island to Brighton Beach. Some of us have even stopped by to enjoy the stroganoff and salmon on the boardwalk for a late afternoon lunch, but only a select few have ever made it to Tatiana for an evening of dancing, vodka, performance, people watching and food that never ends. A few weeks back I finally had the opportunity of celebrating a birthday party on a Friday night there and all I can say is that is was one of the best places I have ever been to. It was more than an event, it was an experience not to be missed for any lover of Brooklyn. Bring cash, friends and your appetite, but more importantly bring an open mind and enjoy! 

Named after an Odessa beauty Tatiana, who is frequently seen making rounds in the exotic and
grandiose restaurant. The Brighton Beach mystery of tradition unravels before your very eyes. I call it
dinning with attitude. The scene that opens up is something out of a James Bond movie "From Russia with
Love". Its Sex in the City mixed in Sleepless on Brighton Beach. Vodka and Cognac pours like fountain
Di Trevi in Rome.

Ladies hang on to your husbands and guys don't forget to shave, because there are plenty of people to
impress. You do not need a red carpet invitation to see city's top fashion worn in style and such sex appeal
that is even desired by many celebrities.

From the first glance you are transformed into a world of glamorous design, tasteful decorations,
overwhelming scenery and perfect lighting for those intimate moments. Tatiana's location is on of its
greatest attributes. The Restaurant sits on the Boardwalk with an exhilarating view of the Atlantic Ocean.