Brooklyn Heights' Noodle Pudding Had a Bad Day on Tuesday, Too

In all the excitement about the fire at Gristedes Tuesday, we neglected to post photos from an incident that could have been equally catastrophic.

The Fire Department was called to Noodle Pudding restaurant at 38 Henry Street (near Cranberry Street in the North Heights) earlier on the same day as the Gristedes fire. A gas leak was discovered and everyone had to get out.

Luckily they caught it in time. The Fire Department (which is right around the corner) stayed quite a long time checking things out. They threw open the windows and installed a fan to suck the gas out of the basement (see photo, left). The restaurant is on the ground floor of a residential building.

It would have been a terrible loss if anything happened to the place. Noodle Pudding is consistently rated as one of the best restaurants in Brooklyn.

Noodle Pudding is a New York Magazine Critic's Pick: "Noodle Pudding prepares some of the best Italian food in the city."

Photos by MK Metz

- Fire Damaged Gristedes: Pharmacy to Reopen?
- Cleanup Begins at Brooklyn Heights Gristedes
- Brooklyn Heights Gristedes Fire Dismal Aftermath

Spring Flowers

At the Farmers Market in Downtown Brooklyn.

Photo by MK Metz

Fire-Damaged Brooklyn Heights Gristedes: Pharmacy To Reopen?

While many comments have been made about the freshness of Gristedes' honey-glazed ham and baked goods, it's occurring to hundreds of Brooklyn Heights residents that they relied on the burnt-out Henry Street store for their pharmaceutical needs.

Several years ago Gristedes bought out the drug store roughly across the street, gaining both the idiosyncratic assistant pharmacist (now gone) and the pharmacy's customers, many of them elderly residents of the Cadman towers.

With this in mind, a representative of Gristedes told the Brooklyn Eagle Wednesday: “We aim to have at least the pharmacy opened up by Friday at noon." They hope to make prescriptions available to consumers to be picked up at the 101 Henry St. location, or delivered to homes or other Gristedes locations, they said.

Meanwhile, the cleanup continues. Contractors replaced glass that had been smashed by the Fire Department during Tuesday evening's fire and washed down surfaces.


Hundreds of bags of damaged goods were thrown into bins or piled on the sidewalk.


Ash-covered computers were dumped like damaged tomatoes.


Independent contractors came in bunches. Someone yelled out that Gristedes was hiring clean-up crew -- no questions asked.


But a union worker told the Eagle that he and his coworkers were notified by their union sometime around noon on Wednesday to stop working inside the store due to the still “unsafe working conditions” inside. “They had to get everybody out,” he said.

Unsafe conditions may not have held back some creative midnight shoppers, however... A commentator said on an earlier McBrooklyn post about the fire, "Gristedes got completely cleaned out sometime after sundown to sunrise..."

Photos by MK Metz

- Brooklyn Heights Gristedes Fire Dismal Aftermath
- Cleanup Begins at Brooklyn Heights Gristedes

Cleanup Begins at Brooklyn Heights Gristedes

Crews were hard at work this morning cleaning up the mess at the Henry Street Gristedes in the north Heights (more photos will be posted later).

Carpenters were sawing planks, and workers from glass companies were on site, replacing a large number of broken windows. (See the full post from last night's fire here.)

Two large dumpsters were filled to overflowing with bagged merchandise by 10:30 a.m. Workers confirmed that the fire started near the deli area, and said that everything in the store had to be tossed because of smoke or water damage. (One guy joked that the store was having a sale on smoked turkey.)

The Brooklyn Eagle reports that police officers had to fend off the large crowds that massed in front of the store during the fire, some taking photos with their cell phones.

UPDATE here.

- Brooklyn Heights Gristedes Fire Dismal Aftermath

Photo by MK Metz

Brooklyn Heights Gristedes Fire Dismal Aftermath

This is the result of this evening's fire at Gristedes Supermarket on Henry Street near Pineapple Walk in Brooklyn Heights.

Black smoke billowed north up Henry Street during the fire. Stores on Pineapple Walk closed early, and the smell still lingers inside buildings all the way to the end of Henry Street.

A worker told McBrooklyn that the fire started in the unit that keeps the bread and donuts warm, just past the deli. Store workers told the Brooklyn Heights Blog that the blaze was caused "by an electrical malfunction in the deli department."

A police officer told McBrooklyn "what the fire didn't get, the water from the Fire Department did." He also said that the basement was totally flooded.

Here, officials inspect the damage.

The condition of the ceilings seems to indicate that the Fire Department tore them down as they put out the fire.


UPDATE here.

Photos by MK Metz

Park Slope, Cobble Hill to Charge Stroller User Fees

Trader Joe’s Cries ‘Foul’

Councilmember Bill De Blasio has pushed through 11th-hour April 1st legislation mandating “Sidewalk User Fees” on major thoroughfares in Cobble Hill and Park Slope.

“There hasn’t been one day when our office hasn’t received irate phone calls about these stroller mamas hogging up the sidewalk,” he told McBrooklyn after the successful passage of the last-minute legislation.

“I just said, ‘What the hell,’” he admitted. “I don’t know about you, but I’m just sick of it. It’s especially bad in front of bars and pubs – where little kids really don’t belong anyway.”

De Blasio attached the measure to Congestion Pricing legislation recently approved by the Council. “Technically, this thing’s a slam-dunk,” he said. “We’re putting up video cameras all over Court Street and 5th Avenue anyway.”

Strollers will be required to have a mini-transponder attached to either axle. Parents and others pushing a stroller will be charged $5 on any day when the stroller enters an A5K density zone. The fee would suffice for the entire day, De Blasio said, “So they might as well go shopping, drinking – the whole shooting match – the same day,” he said.

A spokesperson for Trader Joe’s said the company was not happy with the concept.

“We’d like to be seen as a stroller-friendly zone,” he said.


April Fools!

Meet the Sustainable Flatbush Blog

A Walk Around the Blog is series produced by BRIC that profiles Brooklyn bloggers. It is a part of the news magazine program Brooklyn Review that airs on Brooklyn Independent Television.

In this video, Anne Pope of the Sustainable Flatbush blog (just added to our list!) gives a tour, including a stop at a meeting of the Sustainable Flatbush gardening committee hosted by Flatbush Gardener Chris Kreussling.

Carroll Gardens: 340 Court Street Meeting with Clarett Group

A friend sent us a notice about this Carroll Gardens community meeting this Wednesday:

All are invited to the April 3, 2008 community meeting at PS 58 (Carroll St at Smith, Carroll Gardens). The Union Sackett Block Association has initiated this meeting with the Clarett Group, developers of 340 Court St to address community concerns about the proposed site. The program will include slides, video commentary, presentations by the USBA and the Clarret Group, and a Q & A.

- Asbestos brief.
- Dear Mayor Bloomberg
- Huge Drilly Thing at 340 Court Street in Brooklyn
- Developer Promises to Limit Height at 340 Court Street; Will Build Three and Four-Bedroom Units
- 'Something Big' About to Happen at 340 Court

Downtown Brooklyn Busy Chef Pretty Busy

Maybe it was just the lunchtime crowd, but the new Busy Chef on Court Street in Downtown Brooklyn was pretty busy when we stopped by.

The menu lists 13 different kinds of pizzas (pizza oven in the back room), including roasted red pepper goat cheese and kobe burger pizza (now where have we seen that before?), along with scads of sandwiches, sides, dinners and sweets.

Anybody eat there yet?

- Busy Chef Empire: Frozen Dinners or Homemade Cuisine?
- Busy Chef coming to Court Street

Photo by MK Metz

Brooklyn Museum Ratner Protest: Dress Formal

Lose your invitation? Print this one out.

It's good for one admission to a protest at the Brooklyn Museum this Thursday from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m., where they'll be honoring Bruce Ratner at the Museum's $1,000-a-plate Annual Brooklyn Ball.

The Brooklyn Museum says that Bruce Ratner will be commended for his "generous support of various activities of the Brooklyn Museum."

Wow.

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn says: "We don't question the Museum's right to raise funds to support itself. We don't even question the Museum's accepting donations from Bruce Ratner. What we do take issue with is honoring and celebrating Bruce Ratner in light of what he has done and proposes to do to Brooklyn's communities."

When: Thursday, April 3. Starting at 6:30pm
Where: Brooklyn Museum Plaza, Eastern Parkway. 2/3 Subway.
Bring: Your signs and friends.
Dress: Formal (if you wish.)

In the Odd Juxtaposition Dept., the evening will feature a "special one-night-only Louis Vuitton performance in support of the protection of intellectual property."