Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

Grimaldi’s Served Eviction Papers
19 Old Fulton Street, Dumbo; (718) 858-4300
“Apparently, the long lines at Grimaldi’s aren’t enough for restaurant owner Frank Ciolli to pay back rent of $44,000 to the landlord, Dorothy Waxman,” reports Dumbo NYC. The blog cites a piece from the Wall Street Journal: “Mr. Ciolli also has set aside money to pay August’s rent and $7,000 in attorney’s fees, and can pay the $38,000 for a security deposit, but Mrs. Waxman’s attorney has refused the money… Even if things end well this week for Mr. Ciolli, he’s lost his right to renew his lease, so the restaurant would likely leave the space next fall. Mr. Ciolli plans to open a pizzeria on Sixth Avenue and 20th Street in Manhattan.” Thoughts on Grimaldi’s leaving Brooklyn for good?

Now Open: Champs Family Bakery
176 Ainsle Street (at Leonard St), Williamsburg; (718) 599-2743
The owners of vegan cafe Boneshakers have soft-opened a vegan bakery in Williasmburg, decorated with portraits of famous vegans. So far they’ve got “Mike Tyson, Rue McLanahan, and Georges Laraque in fancy gilded frames,” says The Discerning Brute. The blog also reports that they’ll be serving “the only vegan croissants in New York,” plus “cookies, muffins, scones, cupcakes, cakes, whoopee pies and custom pastries all made on the premises… They’ve even got some Italian flair happening with pignoli cookies.”

Best Burgers in Park Slope
Some Chowhounds have reopened an old burger thread, adding some new contenders for best burger in and around the Slope. There are votes for Bar Toto‘s Brooklyn burger, Korzo‘s deep fried burger, and the burger at Bark, but we’re most intrigued by Chowhound cjd260’s claim that Lot 2 (technically located in Greenwood Heights) “currently makes the best burger in Brooklyn, and maybe the best in the city right now. Just-right bun. A big hunk of meat filled with flavor. Wonderful pickled onions to add as you see fit. Perfect amount of and tang to the cheese. And the potato wedges that come with are just plain awesome with the aioli they give you.” Can anybody else back this up?

After the jump: Forbidden pleasures at Traif, what to eat on the Coney Island boardwalk, beer gardens, and ribs in Bed-Stuy…

Recently Reviewed: Traif
229 South Fourth Street (Havemeyer Street), Williamsburg, (347) 844-9578, traifny.com
“The name, in Yiddish, refers to food forbidden under Jewish dietary law… But here is Traif’s little secret: it is, simply, a very nice restaurant. There’s nothing outré about the food, which is for the most part delicious and well made. The cooking is thoughtful, the flavors subtle and complex, the prices reasonable… When asked if you’d like to sit outside, say yes. On a stone patio, small tables nestle under a bower at the edge of a garden — lush, riotously green, with flowers, bushes, trees. You sit and stare, not daring to enter this promised land.” [New York Times]

Quick Bites
Insatiable Critic Gael Greene walks up and down the Coney Island boardwalk, making stops at Nathan’s Coney Island, Randazzo’s Clam Bar, Denny’s Ice Cream, and Williams Candy Store… The New York Times scopes out some of the city’s newest beer gardens, including Loreley Williamsburg Der Schwarze Kölner in Fort Greene… And Chowhound Jeffsayyes shares a flickr set from Calvin’s Royal Rib House in Bed-Stuy.