George’s Restaurant — photo by Justin Denune

Sometimes the tastiest of meals come from unsuspecting locations; such is a rule of thumb that this food enthusiast has come to expect from Bushwick, which is a haven for some low-key eateries worth checking out. One in particular that I find myself mindlessly salivating over is George’s Restaurant. Situated on the corner of Broadway and Graham, the eatery is in a flatiron building with an ornamented terra cotta facade, and is conveniently located adjacent to the Flushing Avenue JMZ stop. This “Spanish-American” restaurant does everything from cubanos, to rotisserie chicken, to octopus salad! The range of George’s menu is fantastic and welcome in our relatively food deprived neighborhood.

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Pumpkin Ravioli, by Kara Naylor

Today, I had to layer my outerwear, a true sign that fall is completely and officially here. So instead of just wishing I lived in a warmer place, I am going to embrace all things fall. I decided to cook up a delicious homemade pumpkin ravioli with brown butter sauce. I cannot tell you how worth it is to make your own pasta from scratch, it’s a hundred times better, but if you really don’t want to, you can use those won ton wrappers instead. I did a little research, but couldn’t find the recipe that matched my ingredients on hand (grocery shopped BEFORE looking for a recipe…not too smart!)…so I made my own recipe based on a generalization of those available on the web. Everything was purchased at the Food Dimensions and Mr. Kiwi’s.

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My PE teacher in elementary school always sang a song about Halloween and the last line was “Don’t be late, don’t forget to be home by 8 and check your candy.” As the suburban legend goes, people were trying to poison our treats, and candy apples were on the top of the list of Things You Can Put Razor Blades In, so I never tried one. So for the Halloween edition of Bushwick Cooks, I’m suggesting this confection — they’re easy to make but slightly messy, and of course, you get to control the amount of poison/sharp objects you put inside.

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From 6161810’s flickr photostream.

Quit school to paint like Picasso. After leaving Bushwick High after just a half semester, Andre Serrano went on to become a highly acclaimed and controversial photographer.  Black Book asks him about his major turning points.

GBM and DGF (damn good films).  A colorful review of one of Bushwick’s most colorful locales from Block Magazine, and a “how-to” look at the Bushwick Film Festival.  (scroll down)

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Halloweeeeeeen! This year on a FRIDAY and a good forecast to boot! What more can a girl ask for? There are tons of amazing options (including plenty of free ones!), so no excuses, team. Grab a wig and get out there.

Tonight get a jump start on the haunting. Video presents a BBQ Bloodfest Movie Night with beer, pumpkin carving, zombification by guest make-up artist and, of course, some artfully curated scary films: Suspiria, Kwaidan, and Freddy vs Jason.

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Dance off at the Ghostbusters Ball, Market Hotel — photo by Phoebe Waterson

I braved the cold to check out the first annual Ghostbusters Ball at Market Hotel on Friday night, camera in hand. The event was curated by Ben Furgal and organized by Toilet Records, Sleep When Dead and Show is Monster. Proceeds went to benefit Showpaper, a local events flier.

I was surprised by the small turnout of this all-ages event. The place looked great, with black lights, funky art and a large-scale projection. The DJ was playing great tunes (like MJ’s Thriller!) — the only thing missing was people! Maybe it was too early for people to get into the Halloween spirit, maybe people were at CMJ; whatever the reason, attendance was not what I expected it to be.

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Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum trashes Bushwick’s free STD clinic.

Aw, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum doesn’t like our free STD clinic. Honestly, her complaints are a bit nitpicky. No rapid HIV testing after 3pm, not open outside normal business hours, only treating what the patients came in for… this is a free service, people. You can wait a bit for your HIV test, or if it’s that urgent, show up before 3. If you got the clap, you can take off work to get examined.

There were no complaints from Gotbaum about anything else, and in fact her findings are an improvement upon 2006 conditions. We think the clinic is fabulous.

If you, like me, don’t know what the hell a Public Advocate is, click here.

PS 384 on Cooper Street, by specmotors

The Village Voice’s heroic Nat Hentoff wants to know the Bloomberg Administration’s logic behind handcuffing children under 16 for non-crimes and booking them at police precincts. Of course, nobody denies these kids are probably misbehaving, but this is the province of a school disciplinarian, not a nightstick-wielding police officer. As discussed here previously, treating at-risk children like criminals is not a good way to steer them clear of a future life of crime — in fact, by exposing them to threatening jails and indifferent cops early on, it teaches them early on that the world is against them.

Bushwick kids have it bad enough without being tasked with trying to learn in a police-state environment.

Final rendering of the Wyckoff Exchange, by architect Andre Kikoski

The long, long anticipated retail project on Wyckoff begins today, nearly a year after the whole process began. Whata city. No worries, we’re about to get a piece of sweet new architecture care of the talented Andre Kikoski, who has designed projects as diverse as the Yahoo! store at Rockefeller Center and the Z Hotel in Long Island City, not to mention loft interiors and furniture.

Living green walls and lots of glass will grace the gap between Wyckoff-Starr coffee shop and Northeast Kingdom, and the facade will incorporate a “super cool lighting scheme” visible at night. Two of the storefronts will be taken up by a grocery from Williamsburg (that I am told by everyone has fantastic prepared sandwiches) and a wine shop. The other two, including a double-height hangar-like space, are still available.

Construction is expected to be finished in “early 2009.”

I like the price on this house, though I’m sure there’s a good reason. Like, it’s across the street from the parking entrance of a big ugly old-folks’ home. The block has some of those newer “affordable” townhouses but they’re made to look like brownstones, so they’re kinda cool, in a way. Aside from that, the house is solid — new roof and siding, inside looks to be well-maintained and while the kitchen is sort of tacky, it is new. Three-bedroom duplex downstairs and two-bedroom upstairs, big back yard, and close to the train. It’s also 22 feet wide on a 25-foot lot, which in my experience makes houses feel more spacious with the same square footage.

70 Palmetto Street | $489,000
3080sqft | 22ft-wide | 2-family, 3ba | frame
Gates JZ