By Keith Klein

It was a sad day for many in our neighborhood when Cranberry’s closed their doors during the pandemic, deciding not to return after decades in business. The shuttered storefront remained vacant since, and then suddenly last week, Poppy’s appeared. Poppy’s, who bills themselves “a hospitality brand born out of a passion for serving seasonal, delicious food + building community,” makes Henry Street their second location with their first on Degraw Street in Cobble Hill. The new location serves breakfast daily from 8am to 11am and features egg sandwiches, wraps, frittata and hash browns. Lunch is from 11am til 3pm and offers sandwiches such as chicken cutlet, kale and cauliflower with cheddar and pumpkin seed spread and a lemon orzo soup. I had the turkey sandwich with little gem lettuce, cheddar, pickled vegetables, green goddess aioli on potato levain. Simply put, it was delicious. A long list of breads and pastries includes a maple pear scone, fig leaf and cardamom pecan coffee cake, banana bread, apple cider bundt as well as an assortment of cookies. The store also has some cool retail items as well as a full coffee bar. There is outdoor seating available. On a recent Saturday visit, the place was packed. The verdict? Poppy’s is a hit!

What a great addition to a neighborhood that is “restaurant-challenged.” Can’t say enough great things about it. They did a spectacular job on the decor which was previously Le Pain Quotidien. The staff are at the top of their game. The food was simply marvelous. Not being familiar with this type of cuisine, we relied on our waitress to suggest a bunch of items that we’d all share. Adjaruli Khachapuri was so delicious with its creamy egg and cheese mixture. Georgian dumplings were so yummy and unique. Homemade potatoes with eggs and mushrooms were amazingly good. Georgian style pancakes with berries are a must-have. I seriously doubt there’s anything on the menu which isn’t great. Will go back and I encourage you to try it! I’d love to see this place make it.

https://www.chamamama.com

Cadman Plaza Park, on the border of Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn, is about to undergo a grand transformation.

The shady oval section at the north end will soon be closed for roughly one year for a $6.4 million upgrade that includes a new lawn, new paths, replaced plumbing for water and drinking fountains, new planting and lighting.

In addition, the artificial turf portion of the park at the southern end will be replaced. Black infill pellets made of shredded tires have been spilling from the turf for years, sticking to the clothing, hands and hair of anyone playing there.

Parks has also recently released a Request for Proposals for the operation and development of a new café to be built inside an existing former Parks maintenance building along Cadman Plaza West and Tillary Street.

For more on this story, visit The Brooklyn Eagle at https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2023/01/10/cadman-plaza-parks-grand-transformation-is-about-to-begin/

A new cafe could soon be coming to Downtown Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza Park, with the city asking businesses interested in setting up shop to submit a proposal of their plans.

The successful bidder will be able to expand the current 450-square-foot footprint of the building and place tables, chairs and umbrellas at the cafe, as well as placing seating on the surrounding lawn if decking is installed and on the park’s center oval, all subject to Parks’ approval.

For more on this story visit The Brownstoner at: https://www.brownstoner.com/brooklyn-life/cafe-cadman-plaza-park-rfp-downtown-brooklyn-nyc-parks-department-request-for-proposal/

Moving to Montague Street

New York Magazine, July 27, by Clio Chang: https://www.curbed.com/2022/07/montague-street-books-are-magic.html

Montague Street used to be drab, and now it is less so. The beloved bookstore Books Are Magic announced on Tuesday that the Brooklyn Heights retail strip would be home to its second location this fall. The poetry salon Brooklyn Poets also opened over the weekend, and the Brooklyn Women’s Exchange — a volunteer-run, handcraft consignment shop that was born 168 years before Audrey Gelman started hauling in goods from Ohio’s Amish country — signed a lease on Montague last month. That’s three new stores. Amy Schumer may browse all of them.

Montague’s decline began in the ’80s and ’90s as the neighborhood gentrified and commercial rents spiked. Storefronts sat empty, and chain stores came and went. The pandemic saw even more closures: Some one in five storefronts shut down for good by 2020.

But things seem to be getting better. The big block goss this spring was the opening of L’Appartement 4F, the Instagram-born bakery, which saw lines down the street. (Our colleagues at Grubstreet declared that “L’Appartement 4F has already done the improbable: generate buzz on Montague Street.”) The increasingly ubiquitous Blank Street Coffee joined the neighborhood around the same time. Causing less fanfare, but nonetheless of note, were the additions of an art center for kids, a deli, and martial-arts studio. Signs of life!

At over 26,000 square feet, the new library has more public space than any other branch in Brooklyn and a bright, open design with flexible spaces for books, programs and technology.

The new, City-owned Brooklyn Heights Library anchors a mixed-use building topped by market-rate condominiums, developed by Hudson Companies. This project generated $40 million for repairs and construction at other branches in Brooklyn and created over 100 affordable housing units in Brooklyn’s Community Board 2.

For more information, visit: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/locations/brooklyn-heights/reconstruct

Starting this weekend, the Montague BID and the BHA are hosting a series of car-free Saturdays on Montague Street. Bring the whole family for fun activities, live music and more. Many businesses are offering promotions and discounts so check out the full line up here. We are excited to welcome L’Appartement 4F to 115 Montague Street with a a ribbon cutting and champagne toast at 1pm!

The Circa-1829 townhouse at 19 Cranberry St. in Brooklyn Heights whose exterior was used for the classic film “Moonstruck,” starring Cher and Nicolas Cage, has sold for $11 million. For the complete story, visit the Brooklyn Eagle at: https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2022/04/29/brooklyn-heights-famed-moonstruck-house-sells-for-11m/

After one of Brooklyn Heights’ staple restaurants closed its doors in 2019, a couple who loved the eatery made it a mission to bring its signature meals back to the neighborhood.

When Vineapple Cafe, an Italian-esque eatery located on Pineapple Street just blocks from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade first closed for business, regular customers Aubrie Therrien and her husband Zac Rubin were hopeful their favorite haunt would return.

“We’ve been residents of Brooklyn Heights for seven years,” Therrien said. “Old Vineapple used to be our coffee shop, we basically lived right next door and, like the rest of the neighborhood we were very sad when they closed. First, they put up a sign that they’d be closed until summer … summer rolled around and they never came back. We were like, ‘What’s happening?’”

For the complete story visit the Browstoner: https://www.brownstoner.com/brooklyn-life/brooklyn-heights-vineapple-cafe-restaurant-reopens-71-pineapple-street/

From Untapped New York, here is a tour of the most interesting spots in neighboring Vinegar Hill. Thanks to Lori Moorehead for the contribution.

Vinegar Hill, located along the East River waterfront, is one of Brooklyn’s quietest neighborhoods. Sandwiched between DUMBO and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the small community has a population of about 2,700 and features historic Federal and Greek Revival architecture. Vinegar Hill is often described as a quiet European village, whose off-the-beaten-path tranquil streets feel out of place in Brooklyn. The area has a rich Irish and Lithuanian history, as well as a Tibetan Buddhist center, popular restaurants, and a large mansion previously occupied by Commodore Matthew C. Perry. Here is our guide to the top 10 secrets of Vinegar Hill: https://untappedcities.com/2022/04/06/secrets-vinegar-hill-brooklyn/?displayall=true