Hot Heaping Holy Handymen

Pakistani food for Pakistani people, and their right-thinking friends. Madina I found unnervingly spicy, but I am not in the habit of eating Pakistani food. I additionally found it expensive but then I am not in the habit of spending money. It is open 24 hours, and I can find no reason to quarrel with that. What else? The chicken tikka masala was yellow. The rice was unsuitably costly. The skewers of chicken were red and spicy. The fried fish was mucho excellente. The containers were plastic. My enthusiasm was boundless. The clientele was a lovably heterogeneous mixture of old Pakistani men, young African boys, me in tears, two white men spending like mad people/lovers of chicken curry, the dust-swirling Kensington night and the decrepit environs of Coney Island Avenue with its KFC, its tire shops and its sludge. I never leave Madina without a smile!

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Restaurants • Kensington / Ditmas Park / Windsor Terrace

Flower + Drink Power

Sycamore--a flower shop by day and den of drink by night--is a calm, commodious entrant on the island of excursionist merriment (for locals) that is Cortelyou Road. This highly, yet agreeably stylized outpost bar in Ditmas Park humbly rests between dingy ads and people you don't want staring at you. On my first night of sociological research disguised as drinking, I found the place ambient; dark of garden, mellow and prosperous, with a fine view of the moon and a wide-ranging, inconspicuous medley of twenty to fourtysomethings taking their drink. Until the Indian war whoop pierced through the night, I was convinced it was naught but a better version of something in Park Slope. But that pagan cry that cut through the civilized outer layer of Victorian Flatbush revealed the restless, dormant indigenousness below. And then I clutched my heart as I came to understand: Like the neighborhood itself, Sycamore is a strangely peaceable mishmash of many irreconcilable things: football games on the telly, printed and framed menus on the walls, politely relaxed patrons, sudden pagan outbursts. A juxtaposition of the stylish and the cornpone, Sycamore is a senselessly modern mix. Trendiness for the people!

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Nightlife • Kensington / Ditmas Park / Windsor Terrace

Pomme de Mon Coeur

An ominous/enlightening signpost of things to come on the borderline Midwood border, the Potato (Francophones, holler) is a traditionally French, unexpected den of gentility; another up-and-coming bastion of food, drink and merriment by "middlebrow mogul" Jim Mamary (of Patois, Pacifico, Sweetwater, Gowanus Yacht Club) and Ditmas dignitary (denizen?) Gary Jonas (of Sycamore and The Farm on Adderley). The establishment paints a pretty picture towards the bottom of Victorian Flatbush, particularly in the waning hours of day. However: the food I found a bit bland, though I recognize I am the only one who isn't heaping mountains of praise upon the dainty establishment. Or, to be fair: the appetizers were delectable (grilled sardines, escarole salad)! The desserts sublime (tasty tart thing)! But the entrees totally bored me (pan-seared skate, pork loin), as I am the highest of highborn critics. I should have given more credence to the whole everyone-else-is-eating-steak-frites thing and followed suit. Whatever. I'm American. I do what I want.

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Restaurants • Kensington / Ditmas Park / Windsor Terrace

Once in a Blue Moon

I wouldn't be so silly as to rue the purported undoing of the rickety Dodgers lotus land Pete Hamill says looked like an Edward Hopper painting, smelled of peanuts and bestowed upon its inhabitants eternal life. And I've never been the kind of man to turn down a lady's offer (be that lady a waitress) of diver scallops, sweet corn soup and airy, citified elegance amongst my 99 cent stores. But something does unnerve me about sleek restaurants with "agrarian appellations" popping up in residential neighborhoods. But, really, who am I kidding? My desire to eat tasty food will always triumph over undue, half-baked nostalgia. The clientele--families with young children, young people with themselves, graceful ancients--is relaxed and expected, considering the demographics of the neighborhood. I particularly enjoyed the free plastic animals. I don't remember in what capacity I was given one, but I was thankful.

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Restaurants • Kensington / Ditmas Park / Windsor Terrace

Books Coffee Democracy!

Ah, the glorious Kensington melting pot/mixed salad. Arabs on Coney Island Ave, black kids on Church, Chussids on Foster, big ol’ discombobulating suburban houses with well-tended lawns in Ditmas Park (Alright, that went beyond the borders of Kensington, but I’m talking a general NFT Brooklyn Map 13 here). What this place needs is an out-of-place bookstore/coffee shop. Hello, Vox Pop! A shortening of the Latin phrase vox populi (voice of the people), Vox Pop is a lot of things to a lot of people, all of them white and artistically-minded (J/K..). A world away from every other barbershop/sweet store/Islamic Center around it, Vox Pop is a coffee-serving, meat (and vegetable)-grilling, relatively upscale publishing house and performance space. And unlike that other shining beacon of gentrification in the area (Farm on Adderley), Vox Pop is all Marxist, all the time. The books and newspapers on display are the likes of The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide. The hummus plates and free-range chicken sandwiches have names like The Chomsky and The Gonzo. Alongside its many leaflets and fliers on freeing political prisoners is a children’s play space and promises (in notice-form) of a weekly children’s story hour. Though it clearly risks falling into cliché, the motives seem sincere, the staff seem respectable and the whole idea just unpretentious enough that I don’t mind. Books Coffee Democracy!

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Bookstores , Coffee • Kensington / Ditmas Park / Windsor Terrace

Yummy Taco

You’ve caroused your way through the Slope, your wallet, and another loveless Friday night. You stand on the boundary of Flatbush a stumbling, disconsolate mess. You have one word “(burp)…hungry” and five crumpled dollars. At least its only 11:30. Yummy Taco time rock star! Cheap as dirt and good as pretty good, Yummy will throw you together a whole mess of carne asada hard shells at $1.69 a piece. And that’s the coup de gras; chicken, ground beef, and pinto bean will take you spiraling down the price poll to an unheard of 99 cents. And the quality is not bad at all, enough grease to cut the booze, enough substance to settle the stomach. So slather on that sour cream, crumple the tin foil with a grunt, and get back out there and find somebody to love!

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Restaurants • Kensington / Ditmas Park / Windsor Terrace

Vox Pop

The year-old Vox POP - Books, Coffee, Democracy is the best neighborhood shop in the city these days. Serving 100% fair-trade coffee with unionized employees, the cafe offers free wireless access, an excellent selection of political books, readings, and performances that give the place an activist vibe but real neighborhood feel. Vox Pop is another brainchild of Sander Hicks (Soft Skull Press infamy), who lives and operates the press above the store with his wife and new son. The Ditmas Park/Cortelyou area just keeps getting better and this store alone would be reason to move on in!

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Bookstores , Coffee • Kensington / Ditmas Park / Windsor Terrace

Flatbush Food Coop

Open since 1976, the Flatbush Food Coop is a Brooklyn gem— not as popular as the Park Slope Food Coop, but a great alternative for the folks on the other side of the Park! The Flatbush Food Coop, while small, has great organic produce, lots of healthy products that support sustainable agriculture, very reasonable prices (cheaper in a lot of cases than a supermarket), and allows non-memebers to shop.

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Shopping , Supermarkets • Kensington / Ditmas Park / Windsor Terrace

John’s Bakery & Pastry Shop

If you need a coffee or pastry before you start shopping at the Flatbush Food Coop, stop in next door at John’s Bakery & Pastry Shop. For 18 years, the Ficarra family has owned and operated this neighborhood café and at $3.50 a sandwich, it’s the deal of the century. Try “DA GODFATHER” Panini for five bucks and you'll be made.

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Coffee • Kensington / Ditmas Park / Windsor Terrace