(This venue is closed. A gentleman standing in front of the closed security gates said that the premises are for rent but that another restaurant, under the same ownership but likely a different name, is (or will soon be) open at 135th and Frederick Douglas.)
The doors are open to all, but the cuisine makes few concessions to non-African palates.
It's made way for new construction; the factory, and the murals outside, aren't in Williamsburg anymore, Toto.
Manhattan Chocolate & Nuts
Formerly at 580 Union Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn
(This venue is closed.) This might have been my meal 20 years ago, with two exceptions.
(This venue is closed.) I'm fond of West African food, and I'm still getting to know Honduran, so I was very excited to try a restaurant that offered a hybrid of the two.
Perhaps the name seemed propitious from behind the register, but when I'm phoning in an order for Chinese takeout, "Hello, long line" isn't what I want to hear. Today, they're long gone.
Long Line Restaurant
501 Atlantic Ave. (Third Ave.-Nevins St.), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
(This location is closed.) This shopworn "ice cream parlor and restaurant" stirred up a fine vanilla egg cream ($2.10).
(This venue is closed.) When I first saw this kiosk (and took this photo), in February 2007, I hoped against hope that it was shut up tight because of the season. No such luck, I saw over the course of a summer. This poor old thing is even more decrepit now, but it's still standing.
Shakes-and-ices kiosk
On the otherwise vacant lot at Metropolitan Ave. and Lorimer St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn
(This venue is closed.) Early in the afternoon, on a near-empty stomach, "country kitchen" sounded mighty fine. From a block away, I reckoned that the garage-like space at street level could hold two or three picnic tables, easy. You're way ahead of this story, though: Louise's is so long gone that neither the Mexican laborers on the ground floor, nor the office workers one flight up, could say when "soul food" had said goodbye.
Surviving signage for Louise's Country Kitchen
Near Bushwick Ave. (on McKibbin St.?), East Williamsburg, Brooklyn
(This venue is closed.) Crete must be ancient history, I imagined, but that's what a southern exposure on wide-open Queens Blvd. will do. Even though the food seemed uninspiring — "Steaks" and "Chops" suggest Cretan owners, perhaps, but not Cretan cuisine — I hoped that a web search might just possibly unearth a menu. On that front I had no luck, but I was surprised to discover that the restaurant had shut its doors relatively recently, in September 2006.
Less surprising: Of the first ten search results for crete restaurant 4311, only Urbanspoon indicated that Crete was no longer a going concern, and then only through a reader comment. The other nine were oblivious to its fate; on several, you could still "be the first to submit a review." Even after its sign has crumbled away completely, it's likely that Crete Restaurant will linger in web limbo.
Surviving signage from Crete Restaurant
43-11 Queens Blvd. (43rd-44th Sts.), rooftop level, Sunnyside, Queens
(This venue is closed.) Sure, it's easy enough to see now, when we're both sitting down. But the other day, when I walked up on this restaurant from the right, the word that came to mind was something I saw not long ago in a Chinatown market, among the specialty meats: a package labeled "ox pizzle." I never ate at Garlic Bob's, so no, I can't tell you if they served slices.
Garlic Bob's Restaurant & Pizzeria
508 Columbus Ave. (84th-85th Sts.)
212-769-2627
(This venue is closed.) The magazines in the window date from 2005, and the sunbleached toys and travel items are probably the same vintage. I always like to pick up a little something after browsing through a mom-and-pop like this; I took it on faith that the sell-by date on my Table Talk cherry pie (69 cents) referred to this February, not some February long past.
Stationery store
Broadway, east side, near 121st St.
The on-again, off-again venture known as the J&L Mall seems to be gone for good, at least for the half-dozen or so food vendors who occupied the passageway to the right. A closer look at the signs (and translation by Brian S., a frequent contributor to the Chowhound message boards) reveals that the bing vendors from the front of J&L now sell their wares at the back of 41-40 Main St., the Guizhou stew vendor will be moving to 41-42, and another vendor has set up shop at 135-23 40th Rd. (In person, some friends and I established that Sheng Jian Muslim Little Kitchen has also relocated to 41-40 Main St.)
J&L Mall
41-82 Main St., Flushing, Queens
(This venue is closed.) The owner's home country is easy enough to guess from the mention of the famous mountain in Rio. For the time being, Brazilian offerings are limited to flan, passion fruit mousse, and catered hors d'oeuvres, but soon they'll serve the cheese bread called pão de queijo, said the counterman, who happens to be Venezuelan. Would arepas be too much to ask?
Sugar Loaf Coffee
711 Amsterdam Ave. (94th-95th Sts.)
212-749-2636
Never did stop by this Indonesian BBQ and snack shack, which once greeted passengers descending from the elevated 7 train at 52nd St.; it gave up the ghost sometime in 2006 or early 2007.
Warteg Fortuna
51-24 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, Queens
718-898-2554
In Havana, Cuba, and in Little Havana, Miami, the namesake burger piles ultrathin, crisp fries directly on a fried patty; even though the beef is often spiked with paprika and onion, you'll want to wet it down with hot sauce. But not here: On a return visit, the spit of roast meat near the window and the taco menu on the back wall suggested that the business had changed hands.
La Casa de la Frita Cubana
3217 Bergenline Ave., Union City, New Jersey
(This venue is closed.) You don't so much drink it as slurp it.
You don't see that often. Here, in fact, you won't see it any longer; the tavern was closed for good six months ago, a passing tradesman noted. The building was home to the Sinatra family before they moved to Hoboken, he also told me.
Johnson's Tavern
404 36th St., Union City, New Jersey
201-863-9475
Sadly, the sign is all that's left; the building next door, which housed the restaurant, was torn down in 2004.
Clam Broth House
38 Newark St. (at Hudson St.), Hoboken, New Jersey
201-659-6767
The red paper covering the windows may add a cheery glow, but that's still paper covering the windows. Long before there was a Little Senegal in West Harlem — 17 years ago, in fact — Keur N'Deye began serving the food of that West African nation in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. It's closing for good, said co-owner Salif Cisse on Wednesday evening, noting matter-of-factly that a number of high-end residential developments will open soon within sight of the restaurant. Salif and his wife, Marie, have no plans to move Keur N'Deye or, for the time being, to open another restaurant; after a long run, they plan to take a break from the business.
Keur N'Deye
737 Fulton St. (South Elliot Pl.-South Portland Ave.), Fort Greene, Brooklyn
718-875-4937
(This venue is closed.) Several varieties of the sandwiches called banh mi are on offer at Tu Quynh, but I always get hung up on the elaborate spread of Vietnamese treats. Limiting myself to just one, or perhaps two, is the problem.
Take these cured pork mini-sausages (10 to a half-pound package; $5). The meat is nothing special, but that garlic-and-pepper touch makes a tantalizing impression. Would be a great bar snack.
On another visit, around dessert time, I ultimately settled on a trio of glutinous rice balls filled with mung bean paste (one is shown in cutaway view), swamped in coconut milk, and topped with sesame seeds of varied toastiness ($1.50). Probably very tasty at room temperature, but the lady at the counter obligingly warmed them up before I carried them off to the park.
Tu Quynh Center
230 Grand St. (Elizabeth St.-Bowery)
212-966-6878
(This venue is closed.) Taiwanese tamales? This central Chinatown bakery markets the Asian sticky-rice bindles called zongzi (very roughly, Dsoong-dsuh) under a Mexican name, and very successfully, it seems. This version (shown "husked"; $2) packs seasoned pork, large skin-on peanuts, and shiitake mushrooms in sticky rice made fragrant by a wrap of bamboo leaves.
In brisker weather if not year-round, May May also sells cups of a potent ginger lemon cider that you'll smell long before you taste; very restorative.
May May
35 Pell St. (Mott-Doyers Sts.)
212-267-0733
(This venue is closed; a wholesale bakery will reportedly open in Willamsburg.) Best…rugelach…ever. In my book, chocolate, raspberry, and strawberry take a back seat to the apricot with nuts (shown; $8.50 per pound). Prune hamentashen ($1.50 each) are also superlative: The buttery pastry embraces a filling that's not merely moist, it's supple.
Gertel's Bake Shoppe
53 Hester St. (Ludlow-Essex Sts.)
212-982-3250
(This venue is closed.) Smoked shrimp wasn't my thought going in — Oklahoma Smoke takes evident pride in its Southwestern heritage, and I'd stopped by just days after the soft opening (sit-down service, and longer hours, are scheduled for mid-August) — but I'm glad, very glad, that I took their suggestion. Good to know, too, that they peel 'em, you just eat 'em.
In addition to a can of iced tea, my shrimp ($8) included a side of firm collard greens flavored with smoked meat; an additional side, rice and beans, soaked up the remaining broth. Love to try the mac 'n' cheese and candied yams, mains like the brisket and the pork jerk ribs, and halfway measures like a baked potato, smoked and then stuffed with a choice of BBQ chicken, beef, or pork. Also some more of that smoked shrimp.
Oklahoma Smoke BBQ
231 West 145th St. (Frederick Douglas-Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvds.)
212-862-5335
(This venue is closed.) Silly name, solid jerk chicken (large; $9). And though I arrived after official breakfast hours, the chef/owner kindly cooked up a taste of her salt cod and ackee. Worth a return visit for that alone; at dinnertime, I might go for the curry goat, or shrimp.
Ale!!! Silly Goose
242 Bradhurst Ave. (154th-155th Sts.)
(one of two locations)
212-690-2336
(This venue is closed.) Though you can sit inside the adjoining bar when the weather's dreary, better to snag a picnic table in the alley out back. Best to order the chicken (three-piece "box"; $9) rather than dither over the menu; though this time the crisp, well-salted skin adhered imperfectly, the meat itself was very moist. Includes a biscuit and one side — here, a special of black-eyed peas with a major pepper jolt.
Pie (slice; $4) was a tougher choice, but the countergal's favorite did me just fine; the rhubarb still offered toothsome resilience.
Pies-N-Thighs
351 Kent Ave. (at South 5th St.), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
347-282-6005
