Locals already know about this ‘special’ on Thursdays at 7 Stars Deli on 57 Front Street in Dumbo. Don’t assume this plain looking deli to be any old NYC deli. The lunch special is made/served by the Mexican cooks, who cook the chicken and braise the pork shoulder all day (chopped up before serving) and toast the tortillas to-order, topped with cilantro, onions (none for me please, they’re strong), served with two kinds of sauce (avocado and brown spicy). A wedge of lime tops the tacos. They’re delicious, and if this is your first time, I’d recommend getting one pork and one chicken, which is plenty for lunch. (Get 3 tacos if you have a place to nap in the afternoon). Go now, and worth the wait in line! What do you think?

7 Stars Deli
57 Front Street (between York and Main Street), Brooklyn, NY 11201
open 6 days, closed Sundays

Previously: {Front St Deli}

 
The DUMBO Neighborhood Foundation (DNF), a non-profit group formed in 2007 by neighborhood residents, filed a lawsuit to reverse zoning changes it believes were wrongfully approved by the New York City Council and to halt the so-called Dock Street Project, a controversial mixed-use project in the historic DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. The petition alleges unlawful collusion between Two Trees Management, the real estate developer and New York City officials, resulting in “inappropriate middle school site selection and potential endangerment of the health of New York City school children.”

The lawsuit, filed in Supreme Court, Kings County, alleges defects in the land review process as well as a number of technical deficiencies in the rezoning of the Dock Street Project as a general large-scale development. The named defendants include The City of New York, New York City Department of City Planning, City Planning Commission, New York City Council, DOE, SCA and Two Trees.

The DNF claim that the defendants colluded based on FOIL-obtained documents, previously posted on DumboNYC, and that “The fix was in long before the public approval process commenced,” states Barry Silverstein, Director of DNF. “The Brooklyn Bridge should not be the pawn in this shameless arrangement between a developer and city agencies entrusted to protect the tax paying public. The truth is being uncovered and it’s deeply upsetting to many of us. My hope is that this lawsuit will repair the damage wrought by the bad decision making that has thus far plagued the SCA, DOE, City Planning and the City Council,” said Silverstein.

See the DNF press release (PDF) and the Notice of Petition (PDF), which is an interesting read full of information on the case.

Previously: Past Dock Street Dumbo articles

The New York Wine and Food Festival Burger Bash took place at the Tobacco Warehouse on Friday in Dumbo. Food TV personalities Rachel Ray, Spike Mendelsohn (Top Chef), Bobby Flay, and Martha Stewart were among the celebrities in attendance.

{Brooklyn Paper article}
{More photos on Flickr}

(Reporting by Sabrina Ravindranath)

NOS Boutique, a new shoe and accessory store in Dumbo was featured here a few weeks ago. They are having a fall 20% off sale tomorrow and Thursday (Oct 14-15) and will have extended shopping hours until 9pm.

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(New FTC guidelines (pdf) will require full disclosure for endorsements starting on December 1. Just in case, DumboNYC is not receiving any compensation, products, or donations of any kind by retailer(s) in this posting. If they wish to make a donation, we ask them to donate to a charitable cause, if possible, based in Dumbo.)

(Photo by mimi destiny)

The following are selected links from this past week on blogs and websites with discussion about Dumbo (and its neighboring areas):

• Summer Nights in Dumbo, 02Oct09, wormc
• Dumbo’s HAPPYBABY Up for Award, 02Oct09, VOTE Here
• Commandant’s Mansion, 07Oct09, by Iliana
• New Worries on Old Fulton Street, 06Oct09, Brooklyn Eagle
• One Brooklyn Bridge: On the Retail Hunt, 09Oct09, Brownstoner
• Gallery dedicated to book art opens in Dumbo, 05Oct09, Art Newspaper
• Dumbo on SoftMaps, 08Oct09, Brooklyn Based
• NOS Shoe Boutique Review, 08Oct09, TONY
• VH House: Great Vibe, Intimate, 05Oct09, kittenlounge
• Prices Drop at the Oro Tower, 07Oct09, Brownstoner

(Photo by BJ_H)

Forbes Traveler lists the world’s most beautiful sunsets. They are:

• Sicily, Italy
• Atacama Desert, Chile
• Tahiti
• Melbourne, Australia
• Fire Island, New York
• Ban Talae Nok, Thailand
• Srinagar, India
• Manuel Antonio Beach, Costa Rica
• Reykjavik, Iceland
• Santorini, Greece

While we can’t dispute the beauty of the sunsets on their list, for us, we experience the best sunset of anyplace in the world right here in Dumbo. From the Brooklyn Bridge Park, the sun sets just beyond the Brooklyn Bridge, and brings out vivid colors that bounce off the Manhattan buildings, the red brick of the Empire Stores, and off the white facades of former industrial warehouses. Every sunset seen in Dumbo forms brilliant reds, oranges, yellows, and purples and it’s difficult to capture the lighting vs seeing it in person. No two are alike. Wouldn’t you agree? Some photos from the DumboNYC Flickr Group:

(Photo by Josh Derr)

(Photo by Angel Salguero)

(Photo by EspressoMaker)

(Photo by spencerdallen)

(Photo by Josh Derr)

Filming today in Dumbo is The Beaver, a film due for release in 2011 directed by Jodie Foster (who also plays the role of Meredith Black), and stars Mel Gibson. According to the IMDB, the film is about “a guy walks around with a puppet of a beaver on his hand and treats it like a living creature.”

Filming will take place between 6am – 11pm on Washington Street between Plymouth and York Street, and on Front Street between York and Washington Street.

(Photo credit: Lee Wells, still from “Manhattan Bridge in Red, Green and Blue” for Bright Nights projection)

To commemorate the 100th birthday of the Manhattan Bridge, Random Number is presenting “Bright Nights” has “curated a program of digital artwork that celebrates the projected image, draws attention to the iconic architecture of the Manhattan Bridge, and electrifies the arts friendly DUMBO neighborhood.” Please join them tonight in Dumbo, Brooklyn to see the work of Burak Arikan, Motomichi Nakamura, Lee Wells, and Marius Watz projected onto the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage (Adams & Front Street side.)

October 7, 2009 / 7 pm – 10 pm

For more information on the artists and the event, go to RandomNumber.nu.

Our first night home after a week in Florida with the fam and we had no food in the house. Nada. Not only that but we came home to an oven on the fritz, and next TUESDAY is the first day they can come and repair it! Basically, we’ll be out of an oven for a week, so it’s going to be saute city in my house for a while.

But for tonight, we had CSA veggies and whatever was in the freezer to work with. Out came a bag of ravioli, and onto the cutting board went the fresh goods. We sliced up the beets really thin and added it to a sauce pan with olive oil and crushed garlic, salt and pepper. A splash of red wine was added and it cooked down for about 10 minutes. Next, we added a few chopped fresh Roma tomatoes and sliced carrots, the juice and zest from half a lemon, red chili flakes and a bit of chopped rosemary. It cooked for another 10 minutes and then we pureed it, adding a little pasta water to thin out.

While the raviolis were cooking I chopped up a simple salad of the Boston lettuce, carrots, and heirloom tomatoes. The dressing was a combo of olive oil, fresh chopped thyme, lemon juice, a little Dijon mustard, salt and pepper.

The raviolis were done and we topped them with fresh grated Parmesan and some thinly sliced white carrots. The sauce was sweet and complex with just the right hit of acidity, and the crunch and sweetness of the carrots on top went great with the creaminess of the raviolis.

Now, I have a bone to pick with you guys. As we were leaving the CSA I saw nothing but cabbage in the swap box. People, really? Do you even know how easy it is to cook with cabbage? Cole slaw… braised with apples and onions… I could go on and on! But today I followed a new recipe and made a bright and flavorful soup for lunches this week. Check out my blog mangiavita.com for the full report. Until next week, Brooklyn’s Belly signs out…

I was extremely excited to hear of a Southern Indian movie being filmed in Dumbo. I found out about this thanks to the Dumbo playground! When I was with my son at the playground, I met an Indian father with a daughter the same age as my son. He was the producer of the Telegu movie that was being filmed by the water in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Telegu is the official language spoken in the South Eastern state of India called Andhra Pradesh. I later attempted to scope out the filming, but had just missed it. I luckily came in contact with the mother of the main actor who arranged for me to meet with the hero and heroine.

“Maro Charitra” is the name of the movie which means “another life” or “another history”. The main actor is Varun Sandesh Jeedigunta and main actress is Anita Michelle Galler (both pictured above on Adams Street in Dumbo. (another pic)). They were extremely sweet and personable (played with my son while I spoke with them). “Maro Charitra” is a remake of the 1978 box office hit movie with the same name. This same movie was also remade in Hindi in 1981 and called “Ek Duuje Ke Liye” (directed by K. Balachander). It is basically a love story similar to Romeo and Juliet in that two families do not accept a love relationship because of opposing family views and try their best to keep the love birds apart. The filming was also taken place in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas,Niagara Falls, and Kansas City. Varun and Anita had a wonderful and unique experience in the Dumbo neighborhood. They hope to come back to work and play in Dumbo very soon!

Today’s guest blogger, Sabrina Ravindranath is a “passionate lover of people, places and events” and loves living in Dumbo. (Photo by Sabrina).