As I type, a Blue Jay with striking lapis and silver-tinged feathers has landed in the branches of the crab apple tree near my fire escape. My landlord and brownstone housemates were concerned it wouldn’t survive the winter after the trauma of last summer, when our next door neighbors felled their stately giant without warning, and without a proper arborist, carelessly letting the heavy limbs land right on our tree’s branches. They left them like that for days. The branches of our sweet sapling buckled under the weight, and now seem to permanently bend to the side when they used to reach toward the sky. It didn’t bear any fruit last autumn.

But this spring it was the first in the yard to regrow its leaves! You go, tree! 

So it seems that after some false starts, spring has finally sprung in Brooklyn. It was a tough winter for all of us, but we somehow made it. 

What better time for a refresh? My friend Tim McKee, who is host of the popular YouTube interview show Five Drinks or Midnight (the beverage industry answer to Hot Ones), has graciously done me the favor of redesigning my website. 

Here it is, the new and improved amandaschuster.com! I’m super excited. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but didn’t know where to begin. Tim’s a fantastic graphic designer and all around great guy. If you need one, you should hire him. 

In the Big Apple, here in my Brooklyn neighborhood of Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens especially, spring revamps are popping up all over with beloved local institutions under new ownership. They’re aiming to retain the same old vibe, but with some calculated repositioning. Neighbors are still smarting from several severe casualties over the past couple of years (Sal’s Pizza, Esposito’s meat store, Hank’s Saloon, Buttermilk Channel, Court Street Bagels—that one counts, don’t get me started—to name a few), but at least a handful of new/old businesses aren’t luxury chain stores no one shops in, or a dispensary. 

Recently Mazzola Bakery changed hands, but you wouldn’t even know it unless you knew it. No pause or price increase for the lard bread, pastries, pizza, or excellent grab-and-go sandwiches I always pick up for flying since the homemade bread and fresh fillings are way better than anything in the NY airports, even if it’s a day old kept in the fridge till I leave the house. Smooshed Purse Mozzarella Sandwich > convention oven BEC. 

Bar Bruno—in both Carroll Gardens and Williamsburg—polished its exterior (and yes, they kept the George Best mural on the side) as well as its menu, with thoughtfully presented Latin American classics and reinventions, cocktails, and family friendly pub fare. 

Jackie Cuscuna and Brian Smith, the founders of Ample Hills Creamery, now have Ramblin’ Chick , serving soft serve and chicken smash burgers on Court Street. I hope to visit soon! 

Atlantic Bagels is becoming a diner concept instead of a café. They named it Dinah, which is cute. They’ll apparently still have bagels. 

The rebooted Bar Ferdinando opens next week as a cafe and restaurant. Long live panelle sandwiches on Union Street!

Montero’s recently handed over the keys too, though the bar is still the longshoreman-themed dive of yore. Pepe Montero is my landlord’s cousin. He’s been threatening a sale for years. I’m relieved to know he didn’t do anything unspeakable. 

Speaking of the unspeakable, just around the corner, Sam’s red sauce joint has been under renovation for months. I knew what was happening, then I didn’t know, then I sorta knew, then who the hell knows? All I can say for now is there’s brown paper over the windows, and it seems like something might be close. I can say the interior has been completely renovated (I got a peek at some of it as it was happening but haven’t been inside for a couple of months) and it’s looking and sounding like the place will get The Long Island Bar creative anachronism treatment—retaining its basic 20th century decor but offering new takes on old classics (the brick pizza oven isn’t going anywhere), with better things to drink and more opportunities to drink them.

People will freak out. It’s bound to happen. But here’s the thing: this is better than the alternative. The last time I ate there, owner Lou Migliaccio, now in his late 60s, was not able to keep up. Only two people worked there: Lou and the cook. The classic Italian food was as great as ever, but Lou wants things done his way (a sign on the wood-paneled wall even states “YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS, TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT”). He was a one-man show taking and busing all the table orders, making all the drinks, and schmoozing with regulars. A meal that typically took an hour and change to get to the table took nearly three. He was literally on his last legs. 

The last time I ran into him on the street he blurted, “Don’t you tell people nuthin’! You know everybody!” before even nodding in my direction. A few months after knee surgery, he was shoveling the snow piled on the sidewalk in front of the closed restaurant. 

“Oh? What is there to tell?”

“Exactly.” 

The opening lines of my book New York Cocktails are “One can’t tell with the naked eye, but despite the hustle and bustle, New York City is a ghost town. It’s a city that’s constantly building over itself.” 

Sardi’s is set to close for a few months starting late June. The new owners insist the caricatures will stay on the walls, but the dining room is getting a glow up. 

We’ll see. 

Hi-Life is celebrating 35 years of sushi, burgers, and Martinis next week on the Upper West Side. 

Now if only Jimmy’s Corner can keep fighting. It’s perfect the way it is. 

--A

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