The Brooklyn Wine Book: Your Tickets to 2-for-1 Pours

Meet your new favorite white, red or bubbly with Brooklyn Wine Book. Photo: Taylor Vaught
Our friends at Brokelyn are out with their first-ever Brooklyn Wine Book, a beautifully-designed booklet of tickets good for 2-for-1 wines by the glass at fantastic bars and wine-focused eateries from Cobble Hill to Greenpoint.
If you’ve bought Brokelyn’s sold-out Beer and Cocktail Books in the past, you’re already that friend who knows all the best bars, no matter what neighborhood you’re in.
And if you have never purchased one of these books before, because you’re not big on beer, or because you can’t imagine that a bar will really be OK with you pulling out a coupon for a fancy drink, think again.
I used the wine book at The Camlin, a wine bar I’ve been meaning to try ever since Robert Sietsema extolled its ambitious food and well-curated wine list. Our bartender was more than happy to apply my… Read More

The post The Brooklyn Wine Book: Your Tickets to 2-for-1 Pours appeared first on Brooklyn Based.

from Brooklyn Based » »Brooklyn Based http://ift.tt/1XmXqRf
via IFTTT

“Nasty Baby ” Stealthily Indicts Your Gentrifying Ways

Kristen Wiig and Sebastian Silva star in “Nasty Baby.”
Going into Nasty Baby, the new sort-of-comedy from Sebastián Silva, I was under the assumption, based on a short press release I had read, that I was about to watch Baby Mama crossed with Modern Family, with maybe a splash of faux seriousness, a la Silver Linings Playbook, but starring Kristen Wiig. Nope. Not at all, not even close. And while the movie I just described would be a lot easier to watch, and would probably do well at the box office, Nasty Baby, which many viewers may well hate, accomplishes what films do so infrequently–it left me uncomfortable and puzzled in a productive way.
The basic plot here is simple. Polly (Wiig), and her gay BFF Freddy (Silva) are trying to have a baby. Turns out, his sperm count is low, so they convince his boyfriend Mo (Tunde Adebimpe) to be the donor. They all stroll around Fort Greene, gawking… Read More

The post “Nasty Baby ” Stealthily Indicts Your Gentrifying Ways appeared first on Brooklyn Based.

from Brooklyn Based » »Brooklyn Based http://ift.tt/1Gt84BG
via IFTTT

“Natural Resistance”: Drink Wine, Change the World

Stefano Bellotti is a farmer, winemaker and firebrand. Photo: Natural Resistance
“As long as we eat crap, we are crap,” says farmer and winemaker, Stefano Bellotti in Natural Resistance, a new documentary about the natural wine movement in Italy. Bellotti is one of a handful of winemakers interviewed in the film who argue that the way they make wine is nothing short of radical.
Natural wines are made without using pesticides or herbicides in the vineyard, and without intensive interventions and lab-derived yeasts in the cellar. The concept goes so far beyond the notion of being organic, that very few winemakers who produce natural wines bother with certification. The subjects in Natural Resistance argue that the modern wine market as well as European agriculture ministers, demand a uniform product from year to year that robs each vintage of unique character. They also claim that the use of chemicals in agriculture results in grapes that are less… Read More

The post “Natural Resistance”: Drink Wine, Change the World appeared first on Brooklyn Based.

from Brooklyn Based » »Brooklyn Based http://ift.tt/1W6zgbj
via IFTTT

Find the Perfect Spot for Your Event with Brooklyn Venues

Instead of shopping around online for the ideal venue for your holiday party, conference or any other affair, Brooklyn Venues offers free tours to the best venues in Brooklyn so you can see the ones that will work for your event in person.
To help you find the perfect spot for your gathering, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and Explore BK are releasing the second edition of the Brooklyn Venues Guide (Fall/Winter 2015) this November.
Brooklyn Venues open houses will take place November 2 for North Brooklyn and November 3 for South Brooklyn. The following are some memorable spots for winter soirées. Check out the Brooklyn Venues Guide for a full list of venues to use for any of your upcoming events year-round.

Villain (Williamsburg)
With two huge rooms, each with its own loft mezzanine, plus a fully customizable facade, this 19th Century textile warehouse offers lots of space plus full AV, light, and design and fabrication services. The space is ideal for companies… Read More

The post Find the Perfect Spot for Your Event with Brooklyn Venues appeared first on Brooklyn Based.

from Brooklyn Based » »Brooklyn Based http://ift.tt/1Gkb2su
via IFTTT

The Movie Every Mom is Afraid to Watch is Quite Amazing

 
Jacob Tremblay and Brie Larson in the challenging but captivating film, ‘Room.’ Photo: Courtesy of A24
There is a scene in “Room” where five-year-old Jack spots a mouse making its way across the grimy floor. Gently as he can, he puts down some food and kneels slowly so that he is eye-to-eye with the creature. The celestial awe that spreads across Jack’s features fills the screen in full; he’s never seen a mouse in real life before. We get the profound sense that it’s one of the most absorbing things he’s ever witnessed, another real living thing in his universe. Then his mother heaves a thick magazine at the vermin, expelling its presence with a single pop.
“Room”–based on the 2010 best-selling novel by Emma Donaghue–tells the story of Ma (Joy, played by Brie Larson) and her son (Jacob Tremblay) who live in a 10-by-10 garden shed, and are being held in… Read More

The post The Movie Every Mom is Afraid to Watch is Quite Amazing appeared first on Brooklyn Based.

from Brooklyn Based » »Brooklyn Based http://ift.tt/1Lo0SWp
via IFTTT

Dinner, Delivered From a Personal Chef’s Kitchen to Yours

Trivet founder Puja Vohra hired Lauren Gustus, above, as head chef after falling in love with the food Gustus prepared for Vohra’s family. Photo: Trivet Foods
I am a grouch when it comes to food delivery. Despite the absurd number of options—Seamless, Grubhub, Caviar, UberEats, Doordash, Munchery, OurHarvest—I prefer my dinner to come from my kitchen, not a plastic container that traveled two miles in a messenger bag, and not a cardboard box that contains all the ingredients and none of the creativity. (See more grouchiness here.)
But Trivet—a new service delivering seasonable, healthy, locally sourced meals to Brooklynites—surprised me. The bag arrived at my door on a Monday containing neat, well-marked containers and the food was extraordinary. There were flavors I don’t cook with, complicated combos and seasonal vegetables I often avoid, and it was all restaurant quality.
Trivet dinners arrive in compostable packaging, so you can feel less guilty about the leftover containers from… Read More

The post Dinner, Delivered From a Personal Chef’s Kitchen to Yours appeared first on Brooklyn Based.

from Brooklyn Based » »Brooklyn Based http://ift.tt/1W4D3pH
via IFTTT

… Read More

The post appeared first on Brooklyn Based.

from Brooklyn Based » »Brooklyn Based http://ift.tt/1W5PEhE
via IFTTT

Your Ideal Week: October 22- October 28

Get into all the brews you can handle at the Tapped craft beer festival, which is taking over the Barclays Center on Sunday. Photo: Tapped
Greetings on this gorgeous October Wednesday! Have you all gotten started on your Halloween preparations yet? It’s beautiful weather and I for one have itchy feet–thinking a day trip involving apple-picking/hiking/leaf-peeping/pumpkin-carving or some combination thereof might be in order. Maybe now is the time to get my visit to Beacon or Storm King in before it gets too cold, or maybe I’ll stick closer to town and head to Blue Hill: Stone Barns for some communing with livestock. The North Fork always beckons with tasty wine tours, but then again I could always hop on the subway and take in the majestic views from the Cloisters or catch the Frida Kahlo exhibit at NY Botanical Garden before it closes. There is no lack of great day trips available to… Read More

The post Your Ideal Week: October 22- October 28 appeared first on Brooklyn Based.

from Brooklyn Based » »Brooklyn Based http://ift.tt/1Xkc6kh
via IFTTT

Dinners Delivered from Another Kitchen

Trivet founder Puja Vohra hired Lauren Gustus, above, as head chef after falling in love with the food Gustus prepared for Vohra’s family. Photo: Trivet Foods
I am a grouch when it comes to food delivery. Despite the absurd number of options—Seamless, Grubhub, Caviar, UberEats, Doordash, Munchery, OurHarvest, I prefer my dinner to come from my kitchen—not a plastic container that traveled two miles in a messenger bag, and not a cardboard box that contains all the ingredients and none of the creativity. (See more grouchiness here.)
But Trivet—a new service delivering seasonable, healthy, locally sourced meals to Brooklynites—surprised me. The bag arrived at my door on a Monday containing neat, well-marked containers and the food was extraordinary. There were flavors I don’t cook with, complicated combos and seasonal vegetables I often avoid, and it was all restaurant quality.
Trivet dinners arrive in compostable packaging, so you can feel less guilty about the leftover containers from… Read More

The post Dinners Delivered from Another Kitchen appeared first on Brooklyn Based.

from Brooklyn Based » »Brooklyn Based http://ift.tt/1GSXajA
via IFTTT

In Brownsville, Street Art Stokes Neighborhood Pride as Gentrification Encroaches

Eelco’s vibrant mural feels like a magical urban forest scene. Photo: Audrey Connelly
Where others in Brownsville, Brooklyn saw shuttered storefronts, N Carlos Jay, an artist with roots in the neighborhood, saw blank canvases with the potential to engage and uplift the community.
The Writing on the Walls Art District, off Belmont Avenue between Mother Gaston Boulevard and Rockaway Avenue, is the culmination of Jay’s vision. Twelve vibrant murals, painted by notable street artists and financed with a crowdfunding campaign, stake a visual claim on a neighborhood that, despite being long-maligned and underserved, has recently become a new frontier for gentrification.
As heralded by a New York Magazine cover story early in 2015, Brownsville and neighboring East New York are some of the final frontiers of gentrification in New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to build new affordable housing in the area is almost certainly helping to fuel a speculative rush by real estate developers to… Read More

The post In Brownsville, Street Art Stokes Neighborhood Pride as Gentrification Encroaches appeared first on Brooklyn Based.

from Brooklyn Based » »Brooklyn Based http://ift.tt/1W3qpMO
via IFTTT