Chillin’ at the park
For the third time, I took my Thursday coffee companion, Mario, around Bushwick. Last year, we had pizza and espresso at Fortunata’s, but on each subsequent Mario visit we have instead had pizza at Roberta’s, his new favorite place, far from Houston Street though it may be. While the coffee at Roberta’s is fine — they use Lavazza from the black can and make it in a “moka” — we were still undercaffeinated after having drunk an entire bottle of wine between us. Yeah it’s only 2pm by this point, so what.
After a pit stop at my place (bumped into Aaron on the way!) to show off my new and improved garden (we’ve reclaimed a full 1/3 of the yard from the trash monsters!), we headed to the park to sit and watch the neighborhood at leisure. The sun in the central plaza was a bit intense, so we cut the park visit short and headed to “mafia coffee” — our nickname for Caffe Europa on Wyckoff. We had another entertaining and jittery (high-octane stuff) time among the chattering old Italian men before I deposited Mario at the DeKalb L stop and said goodbye.
On the way home I made my way back through the park, stopping at the corner of Starr for a tamarind piragua. The piragua man was Mexican, though, and I didn’t like the texture of the ice. Too crunchy, not grainy enough. I slurped and chomped and inevitably spilled sticky brown juice on my shirt, all the way home.
Make this day your day:
ricmac01 May 29th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
The stovetop espresso maker pictured is known as a “macchinetta”. A “mocha” is a drink containing espresso (if made properly). Once upon a time I functioned as a barista where I got addicted to another fine Italian coffee – Illy!
Jeremy May 30th, 2008 at 8:11 am
It’s properly called a “caffetiera.” It actually turns out the word I was using, which is what they use at Roberta’s, is spelled with a “k,” and it’s more a familiar usage of a brand name — like Band-Aid.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka
Matt June 2nd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Isn’t Roberta’s located west of Flushing? That means its not officially in Bushwick, right?
Jeremy Sapienza June 2nd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Are we really not past this yet?
It’s actually North of Flushing, and the “Morgantown” area is considered by most to be Bushwick. So, no.
ricmac01 June 2nd, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Isn’t “Morgantown” an expression attached to an area by certain members of this blog? I used this term with a friend who has lived there for over two years and he said he’s never heard his neighborhood called “Morgantown”.
Jeremy Sapienza June 2nd, 2008 at 4:45 pm
I don’t remember how that started, but it was only brought to our attention after a few people started using it. I don’t think it’s anything near widespread. Most people just say “The Morgan L Stop Area” or something like that. Regardless of what it’s called, it’s considered Bushwick.
Brandon June 2nd, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Bushwick doesn’t begin until the Jefferson stop. Come on. That’s East Williamsburg. Look at any map.
Jeremy Sapienza June 2nd, 2008 at 5:40 pm
A map like…the one above? Which doesn’t tell us one or the other? This is stupid. That area has been considered de facto Bushwick for decades and still is.
ricmac01 June 2nd, 2008 at 6:17 pm
My friend calls it Bushwick. When he used to live on Montrose and Bushwick he called that Bushwick as well (shh – don’t tell the realtors – heck, there’s a newish 24 unit apartment building on Grove/Broadway recently listed on Craigslist as “East Williamsburg/Bushwick”!).
jessica June 2nd, 2008 at 6:43 pm
What’s the point of this conversation? Not being saucy, really want to know.
ricmac01 June 2nd, 2008 at 9:05 pm
The point is to enlighten and entertain! If you find yourself neither, then M.Y.O.B. (not being rude, being “saucy”).
Santa Starr June 3rd, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Morgan is in the East Williamsburg Industrial Park, so it technically is East Williamsburg, but I think realtors became confused because Morgan looks nothing like Grand or Montrose. It also looks nothing like Jefferson or DeKalb. You got to figure, at the same time Morgan was being advertised as Buswhick in some cases, Troutman was being advertised as East Williamsburg. Montrose is definitely not Bushwick. In considering what is Bushwick, remember that Chauncey & Aberdeen Sts are considered Bushwick, miles from Morgan.
I do like the name Morgantown though. :-)
Jeremy Sapienza June 3rd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Yes, it is de jure East Williamsburg. Nobody has disputed that. The fact that Chauncey is “miles” from Morgan is irrelevant — Morgan is also “miles” from Bedford. I find all this very odd because usually people are arguing that the Morgan area IS Bushwick, and that E Wburg is a made up place (though of course it’s not).
Matt June 3rd, 2008 at 9:24 pm
too many ‘matts’ on this blog! I was trying to remember when I made that comment about morgantown. But i didn’t :p
I remember Brooklyn Natural, before it expanded, had a flyer about naming the locale. That was one of the names. Stuck for me.
varetron June 15th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
wikipedia, of all places, gets into this fray of how/what is called east williamsburg or bushwick.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Williamsburg,_Brooklyn
seems history is on the side of bushwick, and i like that, especially since it’s only half the syllables of
“east williamsburg”
:p