Pop-Up Soup In Park Slope

Last summer, a friend of mine suggested, as a way to stave off depression while writing this blog, that I rename is "Found City" and write instead about great new things in New York, rather than the great old things New York was losing.

Well, I'm not changing the name of the blog, or it's mission. But he had a point. Not everything old was good. And not everything new is bad. I never insisted on any notion of the kind, though many have assumed my thoughts went along those lines.

So, here's the Soup Bowl. Something new and good. It's a pop-up store, temporary taking the place of Uncle Louie G's ice cream. It opened this month and will only be around until Louie G's returns in the spring. But I hope they stick around longer. It's a good place, and the owner, Richard Gussoff, is terribly friendly and earnest. He told me he gets up early every morning to go to the City's various greenmarkets to get the ingredients for his soups. Selections change every day, and can include such interesting things as Squash Lobster Bisque and Baby Carrot Asparagus. Prices are much more reasonable than chains like Hale and Hearty.

Soup Bowl is at 321 Seventh Avenue, near the F train stop.

Ray, the King of Beauty

I don't look for authenticity in Times Square much anymore. Maybe that's why I've never gone inside Ray's Beauty Supply on Eighth Avenue, despite it's enticing claim to be "The King of Beauty." My mistake. Turns out it's not a run-of-the-mill drug store, but equipped with one of the most eccentrically complete stocks of beauty and bathrooms supplies in town—more than 10,000 different items—most at good prices. They have your regular shampoos, creams, combs, curling irons and hair dryers, but also the fancy schmancy, serious stuff you see at hair salons. They seem to be fairly renowned for their hairdryer selection, and also do a fair trade in wigs.  They even repair hairdryers, which is odd in this day and age.

The shop itself is a curious in the way old New York shops are. (Ray has been around for 55 years.) There's an old barber chair just inside the door. There's a flashy neon sign inside. The staff are obviously lifers and have that kind of take-it-or-leave-it attitude. And then there's this sign:

Local Wines

Saw this tiny, cement store in Riverhead, Long Island, and like it in so many ways.

A Visit to Souvlaki House

The Souvlaki House has been on Lawrence Street, just off grubby old Fulton Mall, for 40 years. This probably makes it one of the few old restaurants in the area. Eateries don't last long in Darwinian downtown Brooklyn. The only exception for many years was Gage & Tollner. And that finally bit the dust, as we all bitterly know.

Souvlaki House is hardly in the same league as Gage & Tollner. But it does what it does with a certain bygone charm. It's run by a father and son who are always behind the counter. The father, white-haired, mans the spinning cylinder of gyro meat, tenderly carving off slices into his special, dustpan-like utensil as they are ordered.

Read more »

Greenpoint Donuts in Carroll Gardens

I don't like donuts in general. But I love Peter Pan Donuts. Unfortunately, I only eat the a couple times a year, whenever I happen to be in Greenpoint during the day and can visit the landmark bakery. So I was happy to find out the Brooklyn Farmacy in Carroll Gardens, near where I live, will start carrying the donuts. It's a stroke of genius. Wonder shy no one thought of it before. (Oh, by the way, Cobble Hill Blog, the Farmacy is in Carroll Gardens. DeGraw is the dividing line between the neighborhoods.)

America's Largest TGI Friday's

They boast about it.

In Times Square.

Court Street Landmark No Longer "Discount"

At some point recently, the indispensable Cobble Hill notions and sundries store Winn Discount changed its name, and its sign, to Winn Home & Beauty. Thankfully, they have retained the general design spirit of the old sign, even if the "Winn" is a bit more fancy and curvy now. Otherwise, the change is, I feel, unfortunate. "Winn Discount" was easy to say. The name had a lovely assonance to it. It fell trippingly off the tongue, as in "I'm going to the Winn Discount." No one's going to say, "I'm going to the Winn Home and Beauty." I suspect the neighborhood will continue to call it Winn Discount.

Conway Covers Automat Sign

Once of the bright spots in the bleakness that is downtown Brooklyn was the leftover Automat sign that could be spied by the watchful on Willoughby Street. The lovely artifact has now been covered up by Conway, which took over the space a while ago. As things were: see below. It's comforting to know that the ghostly letters are still lying there under the ghastly Conway pink.

Lost City Asks "Who Goes to Sam's?"

Been to Sam's a number of times over the years. Finally wrote it up for "Who Goes There?" Nice shot of the pizza oven. I've never been inside the kitchen.

Who Goes There? Sam's Restaurant

To eat at Sam's is to know Louis Migliaccio. Louis is the waiter, bartender, sometime cook and chief bottle washer at this Court Street institution, and the son of Mario Migliaccio, who has made pizzas at this timeless, basement-level, red-and-white-checked-tablecloth joint for sixty years, and is or is not retired now, depending on what article you read.

Read more »

Gage & Tollner, the Cursed

The Arby's the worked very hard with the Landmarks Commission to get into the landmarked interior of the old Gage & Tollner space has closed. This is old news. It happened last August. I'm just putting it down here for the record.

Maybe the coming of Danny Meyer's Shake Shack will help attract a restaurant with some dignity and some staying power to the space.