A film, silly — her Louise days are over. A tipster says he saw Susan Sarandon working on a film at Wyckoff Heights Hospital on Wyckoff Avenue and Stockholm Street here in Bushwick. Anyone got photos or more info?

It’s been a long time coming, but Bushwick’s first proper wine shop has finally opened. It’s actually been open for some two weeks now, and is fully stocked with all varieties of wine from every major growing region. Vinos en Wyckoff also sells what seems like hundreds of brands of liquors. I visited with owner Tony Acosta to talk to him about the shop:

more »

On the way back from Caffe Europa, where Jessica and I sat with a gaggle of old Italian men and watched a bit of the Germany-Turkey soccer match, we noticed these freshly cut and planted tree pits on Wyckoff and Starr. They’re in an odd spot — up close to the property line, to avoid the metal grates from the subway, but we thought it was even odder that there were three in a row, with hardly any pavement left between them. Each pit is also very wide. It’s just a strange configuration.

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.

more »

Only a few old cafés exist in Bushwick from the time before everything went dark. One of them is Caffe Europa, at the corner of Wyckoff and Harman. The exterior recalls a late-60s/early-70s redo — the storefront is positively caked in yellow melamine. Inside, the counter had an early-80s redo, another laminate victim, this with hot pink diamonds and a stainless steel stripe on a maroon background. The place is sparse: a few tables and chairs, also from the 80s, and a table in the back with an ever-present gaggle of Italian men playing cards and drinking espresso and tiny bottles of chinotto from the refrigerator case.

Behind the counter is a set of mirror-backed shelves with even more nothing. A few glasses here and there, some random boxes of panettone, and a newspaper clipping of the Clintons that looks like it’s been taped up there since the Clinton Administration. Also behind the counter: the espresso machine.

You can of course order and pay for and down your espresso right there at the bar, but you can also sit down and the barista will bring it to you, along with two glasses of seltzer. The espresso is some of the best I have had in New York. That may seem counterintuitive considering Bushwick’s indisputable lack of sophistication in most customs European, but consider this: Caffe Europa is one of three or so places that I know of in Bushwick that has survived the decades to serve members of a tiny extant Italian population who only drink espresso. That’s quite a filter to pass through.

Warning: eat something before you have the espresso here, it’s high-octane. Each time, I’m jittery for hours afterward, and I am a daily coffee drinker.

Caffe Europa, 201 Wyckoff Avenue at Harman Street

Assorted hipsters and such walk past Bushwick’s “future Bedford Avenue.”

I have been thinking that the Northern part of Wyckoff Avenue, with several vacant storefronts and underutilized warehouses, would be the perfect little hipster-yuppie “main street,” if only a few more atmosphere-contributing businesses could open. Several large residential lofts exist within a one-block radius, not to mention the thousands of Bushwick newbies that have moved into all the unglamorous standard apartments in the area over the past year. Northeast Kingdom and the Wyckoff-Starr anchor the block — of course, they’re both owned by the same people. One new storefront has recently been beautifully renovated, but it’s still not certain what is going in that space.

Why won’t someone with a clue buy the big, empty brick warehouse on the interior of the block? Chill out, someone has. And they plan on creating up to five storefronts, with the renovations inside and out to be designed by an architect “practically pro bono,” attracted to the project for its uniqueness.

This weekend I met with David Krieger of the Brooklyn Atlantic Real Estate Co. to talk about it. He and his team are working with the owner to find a “sustainable” mix of tenants, so we won’t just end up with whatever will pay the highest rent.

more »