Judging the Food and the Gardens
Guest Post by Jeanne Rostaing
Want to make 4 plant and food lovers really really happy?
Then do what the nice people at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden did this
summer. The ladies that run GreenBridge,
the community outreach arm of the garden, hired 3 colleagues and myself to spend two weeks traveling around the borough.
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| Photos by Jeanne Rostaing unless otherwise noted |
Our
assignment was to assess the efforts of the nearly 200 blocks that had entered
this year’s Greenest Block in Brooklyn Contest.
Getting the judging job would have been wonderful in itself,
but then they told us: “lunch is on us and you get to pick the places.” As my fellow judge Susan Steinbrock
exclaimed, “This is the best gig in town!”
What an amazing opportunity to see some brilliant urban gardening and
assess the state of dining opportunities in Brooklyn. Trust me, that state is doing impressively
well.
What follows is a little travelogue of our
lunch spots along with a few detours we made along the way. Use it as a guide if you are also planning to travel around Brooklyn anytime soon. Bon Appetite!
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MONDAY: Early on we decided to try for a different ethnic
cuisine everyday. We started off with an
American classic: pit barbeque. The
place was Fletcher’s, a low-key joint located on Third Avenue. No need to go south to Texas or the
Carolina’s.
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| Photo courtesy of Traci Cappiello |
Succulent ribs, pork, brisket and chicken are available right here in
Gowanus. These people are serious about
what they are doing.
The day we stopped
in they were explaining their methods to a group of out-of-town enthusiasts
visiting for the annual Madison Square Park BBQ Block Party. The carnivores in
our group praised the meaty offerings.
The vegetarian loved the veggie chili and the silky mac and cheese.
TUESDAY: Our next lunch was at Café Tibet in Ditmas Park. It’s a tiny, cheery place right next to a subway station on Cortelyou Road. The food, which is reminiscent of Indian cuisine, is delicious, plentiful and inexpensive. We ordered vegetarian momo…
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| Veggie Momo |
