Photo Friday: Nutella Lasagna

From Robicelli's, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Read more here: http://www.robicellis.com/nutella-lasagna.html

We Move Out, Robicelli's & Lock Yard Move In

I was upset when two new storefronts opened in Bay Ridge just months after we left our old Brooklyn apartment for Ohio. Mainly because I wasn't there to welcome them and patronize them often, both being less than a mile away from where we used to live. Luckily we visited both on our return trip to New York in June.

The first: Robicelli's. This husband-wife team opened a gourmet market in Bay Ridge not long after we moved there -- in fact, Paul won second place in a sandwich contest there. But they later closed to focus on their booming cupcake business, delivering to stores around the city. Now they have a Bay Ridge storefront again, this time focusing on their baked goods.

And they are delicious. The chocolate cream pie justified all the raves I had read about it, and the biscuits were amazing. The one thing I didn't try on this trip -- the cupcakes. But I've had them before, and they live up to the hype. I did get my Robicelli's cupcake cookbook signed, though.

The second: Lock Yard. Not far from Robicelli's is this beer garden, a real beer garden with a large outdoor space (by Brooklyn standards, anyway). I don't know what's best: the beer selection, the sweet potato tater tots or the fact that it's kid-friendly, at least during the day. Parents actually have meet-ups there with the kiddos.

I'm sorry I'm not in Brooklyn to spend all of my money at these two places. But as I type that, maybe that's a good reason to be glad I don't live down the street. Either way, they'll be part of our regular rotation on our return trips to Bay Ridge.

Photo Friday: Edith at a Bay Ridge Baby Mama Meetup

Our First Visit to a Sprinkler Park

Edith wore her first swimsuit for the first time in Brooklyn when we met up with a couple of my old friends and their toddlers at one of Bay Ridge's sprinkler parks. At first Edith didn't know what to think -- I believe shock was the first reaction. But she loved filling up a red bucket that one of our friends had brought, and she happily spent a couple of hours at the park. Perhaps we'll check out the Columbus sprinkler parks one day!

Photo Friday: From Shore Road Promenade - Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

Lunch at A.L.C. Italian Grocery

As I was browsing through the old photos on my phone, I came across a few from one of the last restaurants we ate at in Bay Ridge last July: A.L.C. Italian Grocery.

If you hadn't already guessed from the name, it's actually more of a specialty store than a restaurant. It sells items like pasta, olive oil and spreads. In fact, Paul and I each got our moms a jar of delicious rose jam for Mother's Day last year. I wish I would have gotten one for me, too!

But A.L.C. also has a delicious menu with a few seats along the counter up front, by the window. I can't recall exactly what I got the one time we ate in, but I remember it was delicious. And I remember regretting that we wouldn't get a chance to try the menu again anytime soon. It was sooooo good!

"Saturday Night Fever" vs. the Real Bay Ridge

There was one thing I longed to do before we left Brooklyn, and I did it just under the wire:

Watch "Saturday Night Fever."

I had seen it once, before we moved to New York. But this viewing would be different. Why? "Saturday Night Fever" was set in my very own Bay Ridge. I wanted to see how my neighborhood was portrayed.

"Bay Ridge ain't the worst part of Brooklyn," John Travolta as Tony says at one point. "It ain't a hellhole or nothin'."

OK, so it's not portrayed in the absolute best light, but it was interesting all the same.

The movie begins with a shot panning over Bay Ridge to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. I swear if you look closely, you probably could see our apartment building.

But then it cuts to an above-ground subway, which obviously isn't in Bay Ridge. The neighborhood has no trains above ground. It may have been in Bensonhurst, the next-door neighborhood where I understand a lot of the movie was filmed.

Later in the movie you see the characters looking at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from a bench on the Shore Road Promenade. And speaking of the bridge, at one point Tony mentions it, but the caption said "Brooklyn Bridge" when it was obviously the Verrazano. Brooklyn knowledge for the win!

A final point I found interesting was at the dance contest, when some of the characters said the Puerto Rican dancers were in the wrong neighborhood. I wonder what they would say about Bay Ridge's diversity now.

NYC Desserts: Brooklyn Blackout Cake at Little Cupcake

If Brooklyn blackout cake isn't my very favorite dessert of all time, it's at least in the top five.

And luckily when we lived in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, I could get an excellent version of the dessert only a 20 minute walk away, at Little Cupcake Bakeshop. Unluckily, I live in Ohio now.

Blackout cake is a traditional Brooklyn dessert make popular by Ebinger's, a bakery that closed in the 1970s. That cake was "a three-tiered devil’s food cake layered with chocolate pudding, slicked with dark chocolate frosting, and topped with additional devil’s food crumbs," according to an article on the website Capital.

While I can't be certain what exactly makes up the Little Cupcake version -- the website doesn't list a description -- an in-depth investigation (conducted by eating dozens of slices over several years, of course) leads me to this conclusion: three tiers of devil's food or chocolate cake separated by layers of chocolate ganache, smeared with ganache on the top and sides and covered in chocolate buttercream frosting.

I'm pretty sure I just got a cavity writing out that description.

And Little Cupcake has chandeliers, too!

I love the cake so much that it made my list of the 12 things I'll miss about living in New York, but even I have limits. Almost every time I've attempted to eat a slice of Brooklyn blackout cake by myself, I've come to regret it. It's a dessert best split by two, or gotten to go in order to eat the other half of the cake the next day.

But don't get the whole slice to go. Eating at Little Cupcake is half the fun. Browsing the delectable cakes, cupcakes, cookies and bars, pretending I don't know what I want to order, trying to find a table at a window: That's all part of the experience.

The takeaway: I love, love, love, love this cake. When Paul returns to Brooklyn in November for the New York City Marathon, I've already made him promise that he'll return to Ohio with a piece of Brooklyn blackout cake in his carry-on. Our marriage depends on it.

Finally Eating at the Restaurant Downstairs

Our apartment, two stories above the awning.

The ground floor of our apartment building was a bar/Mexican restaurant when we moved to Bay Ridge in 2007. It was a happy, happy day when it closed. The food was bad and the crowd it attracted was worse. Middle of the night shouting matches underneath our bedroom window were common occurrences.

The space was empty throughout the summer and much of the fall of 2010, before opening that November as a seafood restaurant.

I was curious about this new restaurant, but also hesitant. The restaurant was completely made-over with lovely glass walls and pleasant outdoor seating. Yet I consistently put off dining there.

"We'll go when it gets too hot to walk to a restaurant further away," I'd tell Paul at the beginning of the summer. "We'll go when the snow's too deep to go elsewhere," I'd say in the winter.

We'd had drinks in the bar area with friends, but we hadn't tried the food. Finally, with our move to Ohio looming, it was now or never. So last weekend we finally ate dinner at Mussels and More.

It was a pleasant night -- one of the last ones before the current heat wave -- and we had Edith in a stroller, so we chose the outdoor seating. Our table was approximately 20 feet from the entrance to our apartment building, and vaguely underneath the window to our kitchen.

We purposefully arrived around 9 p.m., when Edith generally goes to sleep. She was zonked out before the entrees arrived. True to the restaurant's name, we ordered mussels (the classic Prince Edward Island kind) and more (grilled octopus, plus zucchini sticks). The dishes we chose were delicious, as was the complimentary bread that started out the meal -- I didn't expect yummy cinnamon-raisin bread.

By meal's end, I was feeling pretty foolish that we hadn't previously eaten at a place both good and convenient. But whether or not we were patrons, I can definitively say that living above Mussels and More has been a surprisingly great experience. The restaurant and bar added a nice hustle and bustle to the street corner, and a pleasant hum of people enjoying a nice meal out. I'm glad that for at least one night, we were part of it.

Filming "A Walk Among the Tombstones" in Bay Ridge

I didn't see Liam Neeson, but I may have pissed him off.

Here's the story:

On Friday, a crew was in Bay Ridge filming "A Walk Among the Tombstones," starring Neeson and Dan Stevens (of "Downton Abbey" fame). The set was only a couple of blocks from home, so after Edith and I dropped off a load at the Laundromat, we walked by to see what we could see.

Which wasn't much. They filmed a scene or two in the 27 minutes before I had to put the clothes in the dryer (OK, I was a little late getting back!). We didn't see any stars; the most interesting thing was watching my grocery store being turned into a movie set.

My grocery store as a filming location.

I didn't know the NYPD had special cars for movie and TV sets!
(See the label at the back of the car.)

Gawkers like me lined the street across from the set.

Later in the afternoon I took a walk around Bay Ridge with two other neighborhood moms and their young sons. We found ourselves at the set again, this time a block away from where it had been earlier.

We parked our strollers in front of the Middle Eastern bakery where they were shooting and waited for something to happen.

A few minutes later a production assistant came up and asked us to move. Liam Neeson said we were distracting him!

Did Neeson really say it? Who knows? But doesn't it make a much better story to think that he had?

We moved down the street and had a laugh. A lady who also had her eyes on the set did say she saw Neeson back there, but we didn't catch a glimpse. I wonder if the crew will return -- the movie is based on the book of the same name, and it seems that it is at least partly set in Bay Ridge.

And who knows -- maybe when the movie comes out you'll see Edith's stroller reflecting in that bakery's windows.

Trucks and trailers lined the side streets.

What Makes Bay Ridge Unique

Compared with many New York neighborhoods, Bay Ridge doesn't get much attention. Even in Brooklyn, it's a low-profile neighborhood. Underappreciated, I would say.

That's why I was especially excited to see that Bay Ridge was the focus of the weekly "Local Stop" column in Sunday's New York Times. The online version also included a 7-photo slide show.

Be sure to look at slide no. 2  (the neighborhood's Gingerbread House) and no. 4 (an enclosed model of Crete), both of which Paul and I have wandered by. In fact, there isn't much that was featured that we haven't seen.

I'm glad. If most of what was included in the article really was news to me, then I would have to conclude that we haven't done a very good job of exploring Bay Ridge.

The article isn't a comprehensive overview of the neighborhood. It's not meant to be. But for someone who's never been here, it does provide a taste of what makes Bay Ridge unique.

Happy Belated Halloween!

Hurricane Sandy interrupted my normally scheduled Halloween blog post. So, two days late ...

What better way to celebrate Halloween in Bay Ridge than by digging up a creepy photo of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge draped in fog a few weeks ago?  Well, a bowl of candy (but no yucky candy corn, please!) would make it better.

From Apartment to Subway in Bay Ridge

Birds on my way to work.

The walk from our apartment to the subway is only six minutes, but we still have four routes to choose from.

The one I choose depends on several factors, but primarily upon the direction in which the "walk" sign is flashing. But a few other things come into play, too. I'll choose the sunny side of the street on cold days, the shady side when it's extremely hot. After a big snowfall, I'll avoid the sidewalks that haven't been shoveled. When I see a garbage truck making stops on one street, I'll generally go to the next.

In the springtime, I'll purposefully walk down the street with the big purple lilac bush. In the fall, I choose the path with the house that has the best Halloween decorations. And at Christmastime, I seek out lights and try to make it a point to walk through the corner where the trees are sold, taking in the holiday scent.

But some morning sights never change, no matter the month or season. At one corner, I almost always see a flock of birds picking at bread left by some kind soul. Once I saw the birds feasting on giant muffins. Usually, however, it's a crumbled wet mess.

Strollers are a common sight -- both at the preschool about a block away and a popular pediatrician's office closer to the subway. And across from the pediatrician, the beautifully manicured lawn of a funeral home, sometimes with a few men dressed in black out front. Life and death, right across the street from one another.

If I walk by my salon in the morning, I'll give a quick wave to my hairdresser if she's looking out the window. If I walk by the bodegas, I'll see the workers unpack the fresh fruits and vegetables that were just delivered.

Mostly, however, the morning walks to the subway are interesting just because you start to see the neighborhood wake up. It's nearly 9 a.m., and the gates are coming up and businesses are opening their doors.

All that happens in the sun, rain and snow, although it's much more difficult to find enjoyment in it when the wind is blowing raindrops in your face, under your broken umbrella. But sometimes, when it's warm and pleasant and everything comes together, the world seems almost perfect.

Are Hipsters Taking Over Bay Ridge?

A news article last week about plans for a new bar catering to Midwestern "hipsters" -- with a special shout-out to Ohio -- has some neighborhood residents up in arms. And it has left me not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

According to a story in The Brooklyn Paper, a new beer garden is expected to open next year in Bay Ridge about a half mile from our apartment. It will feature microbrews from the Midwest and, says owner Tommy Casatelli, will attract the hipsters who have invaded Bay Ridge.

“We’re getting people from Nebraska, Ohio, California, and they were all wearing the hipster uniform," Casatelli said in the article about the clientele at another neighborhood bar he owns.

By the end of the story, I'm laughing for several reasons.

• An outdoor bar with Midwestern beers? Sounds good! But the thought of Paul and me as part of this hipster infiltration? Ha!

• There are hipsters in Bay Ridge already? While I have noticed that the age of my fellow commuters who exit at my subway stop has skewed downward since we moved here five years ago, I have seen few, if any, people I would classify as hipsters. Their clothes are far too sensible for that.

• Paul regularly asks -- at least half in jest, I think/hope -- whether he has crossed over into hipsterhood. Alas, the answer I give is always no. But maybe I've been wrong and didn't know it!

But after I read the article, I then got to the dozens of comments underneath, and they made me sad. And sometimes a little mad. While a few of the readers seem eager to at least give the beer garden a chance, others take the opportunity to bash the idea of both hipsters and outsiders moving into Bay Ridge.

And while I don't wear the hipster hat (a fedora?), I am certainly an outsider. In fact, after so many happy years here, I didn't realize how much of an outsider some of my neighbors must consider me.

So when do you become a "real" New Yorker? After one year? Two years? Ten? Never, unless you're born here? I guess more people than I realized would say the latter.

The Bay Ridge Sinkhole

The sinkhole, about an hour after it happened on Wednesday

My neighborhood, Bay Ridge, is sinking.

It's pretty much a fact, and it was corroborated on my walk home from the subway last Wednesday evening.

About a block and a half from our apartment, I saw a large crowd gathered. There were no flashing lights indicating a fire or massive police presence, and everyone was keeping a respectful distance. I was curious, so I went over to the crowd.

What was everyone staring at? A giant, car-sized sinkhole in the middle of the street.

The sinkhole is the second the neighborhood has seen this summer. The first, according to a New York Times article, came at the end of June and was about 60-feet deep. This one was merely 30-feet wide and 10-feet deep.

Workers in the sinkhole Thursday morning

The cause, according to the Times, was a burst century-old sewer pipe. No one was hurt, but workers did spend two hours getting a car out from the edge of the hole.

Construction workers had been expected to fully repair the hole by the end of the weekend; I'm not sure if that happened, but they were still hard at work when I walked by on Friday.

Candy Art in Bay Ridge

Participating businesses on Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge were paired with an artist to create a unique piece for local storefront windows. My favorite by far is at the entrance of a nearby baking supply store: a candy representation of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Delicious!

Fallout Shelter Signs Around the City

While I've noticed only a couple of fallout shelter signs in Bay Ridge, they're much more common that I realized in New York City at large. In fact, this website has a collection of 100+ photos of fallout shelter signs throughout the city.

I have yet to see the inside of a fallout shelter in New York, although Paul and I did tour one in Berlin when we went to Germany in 2005. I mainly remember that it was dark and cramped, and the bunk beds were so close together that it would have been impossible to sit up. I believe the guide also mentioned something about how much it would've stunk had the shelter been fully operational and crowded.

No matter how far I crane my neck around the buildings with fallout shelters in Bay Ridge, I can't even begin to guess what they could look like inside. Still, it's interesting to see remnants from decades ago hovering right over my head.

Barbecue in Bay Ridge

I'll be honest. When I'm judging a barbecue restaurant, the meat isn't the first thing on my mind. It's the side dishes. Dallas BBQ is a mostly vile barbecue restaurant with several outposts throughout New York City, but I've happily been there three times because of its onion loaf.

Now I can get something almost identical at Uncle Jimmy's Backyard BBQ, only it's better because (1) it's right here in Bay Ridge and (2) instead of being unnaturally crunched together to form a loaf, the coated-and-fried onions are in free-and-easy strings. And best yet the order was big enough to fit inside a hollow football.

On second thought, maybe that wasn't such good news. By the time my pulled pork arrived, all I wanted to do was keep eating onion strings. By the time I got to my sandwiches (yes, plural: the plate came with two), I was already happily stuffed. I gave one of the pulled pork sandwiches to Paul and got half of my sweet potato chips to go. Unsurprisingly, I was thirsty all night.

So Uncle Jimmy's was good; it's maybe even one of the best places in Bay Ridge if you care as much about quantity as quality. The pork was fine, and the chips were tasty. But give me a basket of onion strings to go and I'd be perfectly fine.

Brunch in Bay Ridge: Pegasus Pancakes

Bay Ridge has a lot of diners.

Although I've only been inside three or four, most of them look exactly the same from the outside. -- no-nonsense vinyl seats, a few old-timers on the stools in front of the counter, and even more behind the counter, serving up grub from a 12-page menu that includes everything from bacon and eggs to spanakopita.One neighborhood outlier has men in tuxedos serve drab food in a large dining room straight out of the '60s. We went there only once.

But one diner worth a repeat visit, however, is the Pegasus. First of all, who can resist a name like that? And second, there's the food. You know it's good when there seems to be a line every weekend for lunch (and forget about supper -- it closes in the middle of the afternoon).

What I really love is what I call the fried delight -- fried chicken fingers, curly fries, onion rings and mozzarella sticks, all on one plate.But I'm getting old and responsible, so the last time we went I ordered blueberry pancakes and a glass of carrot juice.

Blueberry pancakes and carrot juice.

The carrot juice was nothing special. It literally tasted like a liquefied carrot. (Paul had me excited about a delicious carrot drink he had at a different neighborhood restaurant, so I haven't give up hope on the beverage yet.) The pancakes, though, were delicious, something I can barely match even on my best pancake-making mornings. Light and fluffy and filled with a smattering of big, juicy blueberries.

Pegasus isn't particularly atmospheric, although I am fond of the chalkboard signs. But it's the bustling crowd as much as the food that's this Bay Ridge diner's real draw.

Halloween in Bay Ridge

My area of Bay Ridge has a lot of single-family homes, and they sure like to doll themselves up for the holidays. Christmas lights are just the tip of the iceberg -- I've seen one house with a Mother's Day flag perched off the front door.

But few holidays compare with Halloween in this neighborhood. Not only does Third Avenue hold a special parade in early October just to let the kiddies show off their costumes, but several houses deck their porches with orange lights and their windows with glowing pumpkins.

My favorite house -- the one I try to walk by each night when the sun is down and the moon is out as I exit the subway on my way home from work -- is on 79th Street. A pair of gigantic glaring eyes following you on your commute home? That's better than any haunted house.