Seen on Water and Washington Street:
“Your Facebook status update can wait” Metropolitan Etiquette Authority

New York City artist Jay Shells posted a series of brilliant official-looking etiquette signs around Manhattan and Brooklyn under the guise of the “Metropolitan Etiquette Authority,” including the one above in Dumbo (along with others.)

Around the web:
{blogs.villagevoice.com}
{laughingsquid.com}
{animalnewyork.com}

(Photo by Michael Tapp)

The Creators Project, a two day art and technology festival in Dumbo, Brooklyn will be taking place on October 15-16.

On Saturday, there will be dozens of live music performances from bands like Florence + the Machine, A$AP Rocky, Atlas Sound, Company Flow, Four Tet and John Maus, to name a few. There will also be a slew of DJ sets, including the triumphant return of Justice, who will be playing their first NYC DJ set in two years, Juan MacLean, one of the most notorious artists on the DFA roster, as well as Nic Thorburn from the beloved indie-pop band Islands and the electronic duo The Golden Filter.

The event will be free and open to the public, though RSVP is mandatory and all venues will be subject to capacity regulations. In addition to the two outdoor stages and an indoor DJ hub, there will be a plethora of food and beverages from the Brooklyn Flea and a host of major art installations and films spread out over 11 different venues in Dumbo. Take the East River Ferry directly to Brooklyn Bridge Park for easy access to the event.

Free RSVP here and will be at various sites in Dumbo.

Vice and Intel are co-sponsors.

45 Main Street is closed today due to a fire last night, causing lost power, according to the Two Trees Management Twitter message above. There are reports of a water main break due to hydrant usage causing flooding as well. Tenants of the building are asked to call 718-625-5505 for more information.

[UPDATE: Two Trees phones are not working, so tenants are asked to access your Workspeed account for updated info.]

[UPDATE2: Starbucks on Front and Main Street is also closed.]

[UPDATE3: Starbucks has been reopened. Power has been restored and 45 Main Street will reopen at 8am on Thu, Oct 13.]

The underground dining scene is about knowing the right people and meeting like minded people to experience something unique. Part DIY, part enabler, and all serious-food-start-up site, Underground Eats gives you access to these professional chefs, food lovers, and unique dining seekers. Underground Eats provides diners keys to culinary experiences by offering access to exclusive and interesting dining events. Underground Eats enables chefs to generate new revenue while broadening their fan base and raising their profile in the industry. Diners enjoy specialty meals and events with the kind of access previously reserved for VIPs.

The NYT published an article about an underground dining experience aboard the L subway, where the diners had a thrill of a fine dining experience on a train. While Underground Eats may not (or may) have listings for a secret subway dinner experience, the site brings like minded people together for an experiential event. While for some, the location of a restaurant with a particular chef is important for dining, every diner and chef will treasure is the “WHO” they experienced with – and this is what Underground Eats facilitates.

We caught up with founder of Dumbo-based Underground Eats, Harris Damashek about his new venture:

DNY: We’ve been to a few ‘underground’ dining events in Dumbo in the past. If I hadn’t known the organizers or the chefs, I would never hear about them. Unless you work at or attend classes at Brooklyn Kitchen, The Meat Hook, or 3rd Ward, these culinary events aren’t very public. Do you see more events happening in Dumbo, and Brooklyn in general?

Harris: The amount of activity in this genre of dining is accelerating quickly, and with good reason – Especially here in Brooklyn. The borough is a hotbed of creativity in New York and as a result of the creative capital based here, and the energy they bring to their endeavors it is an especially hospitable environment for innovative dining. These experiences encompass so many categories: everything from one-night-only pop-ups, to regularly occurring supper clubs, to larger community and philanthropic events, to festivals, competitions and to smaller friends and family events. It is clear to us that the be-all and end-all of dining is certainly not your home or local restaurant.

DNY: What’s your vision for Underground Eats?

Harris: Our goal is to evangelize and empower chefs and diners to find each other and interact in new, exciting and experiential ways. Chefs don’t belong behind a swinging door to the kitchen. Diners want to interact. Food has always been, and always will be a galvanizing force among people. What we have seen is that Underground or Alternative Dining cultivates an experience that is so much larger than a meal. People forge bonds, find common ground and usually laugh. A lot. To us, this is the glue of civilization and humanity at its best. We want to lead by example and be the shepherds of a new era of dining — one that is more than the sum of its parts. But food is always the central organizing element, because at the end of the day, you don’t really get to know someone before breaking bread together.

DNY: UGE hosted a pop-up event on September 20, called BDGA Kitchen, a collaboration with the new visionary restaurant in Bedstuy Brooklyn, Do or Dine. It was a one-night-only exclusive experience celebrating the intersection of fine dining and the keystone of every NYC neighborhood: the bodega. Not only did Justin Warner, the brilliant chef of Do or Dine create a memorable 10 course meal, but he performed his signature rap about the wines (YouTube video from another event). UGE’s business model is not necessarily about hosting pop-up dining events, but encouraging others to push the envelope on how food is prepared and presented. How can you top this pop-up dining experience?

Harris: Our launch event was a revelation. After months of preparation and going to all kinds of food events, and gaining some girth in the process, myself and the team went to dinner one night at Do or Dine. For someone reason, we just knew these were the guys to create our first experience with. They were new enough, fun enough and visionary enough to match our goals. We settled on the BDGA Kitchen concept not only because we thought it was a somewhat irreverent and intriguing concept, but also because one of the facts of city living, particularly in nabes like Bed-Stuy, is that people often shop at bodegas out of necessity. It isn’t bad or doesn’t have to be, I guess was the commentary. We had Colt .45s, paired cocktails like the Gin ‘n’ Juice, canapés and six courses of insanity that the team at Do Or Dine dreamed up. We had Uni on Plaintain Chips with orange soda and Slim Jim gastrique, Hamachi TiraDoritos featuring Cool Ranch Doritos and Scallops with Cherry Brown Butter, crystallized vanilla and Lime Cool Aid. We had a DJ, a bodega photography exhibit, a custom-made bodega fully-stocked with candy and loosies and a video installation, not to mention a rousing rap rendition of Chateau Neuf du Pape by Chef Justin Warner (to the tune of “Drop it Like it’s Hot), which was as much history lesson as alcohol-fueled hilarity. We had journalists, bloggers, chefs, foodies, friends and fiends. All I can say is we ran out of Colt .45 in the first hour and ran — where else? To a bodega to restock!

For our next events we’re thinking of all kinds of things and talking to all kinds of chefs. I think for now, all we can say we are “bullish on castles.”

(Photos of the BDGA Kitchen event courtesy of Underground Eats)

Congrats to the team at Underground Eats! We’re looking forward to the formal launch of the website in early 2012. To get access to innovative food events when they launch, sign up on Undergroundeats.com.

Construction has been completed and the Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO) for 109 Gold Street (NYC DOB record), has been issued by the NYC Department of Buildings. 109 Gold Street is a new residential development located in Vinegar Hill Brooklyn (and being marketed as a Dumbo and Vinegar Hill condo on 109gold.com). The seven-story, 33 unit boutique condo development is comprised of studios and one- and two-bedroom units ranging in price from “$325,000 to $1.075 million” and in size from 478 to 1,269 square feet.

There are currently 10 active listings, according to Streeteasy:

Previously:
{109 Gold Street Rent vs Buy Seminar, 14Sep2011}
{109 Gold Street Debut, 16Mar2011}

 Dumbo Streetart (Photo by petroleumjelliffe)

According to an announcement today by AT&T, it has added or upgraded cell sites in Brooklyn this summer, including sites in Borough Park and Sunset Park, and earlier this year in Greenpoint, Brooklyn Navy Yard, DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, Red Hook, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Flatbush, Bushwick, Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy, Canarsie, Brownsville, Cypress Hills and East New York, “as part of its 2011 initiative to deliver the nation’s most-advanced mobile broadband experience. AT&T has spent $200 million improving its wireline and wireless networks in New York State the first half of this year alone.”

AT&T was a sponsor during this year’s Dumbo Arts Festival and of course Apple launched their new iPhone 4S last week, so there’s anticipation on the customer’s part to see improved mobile network service in Brooklyn.

“Our goal is for our customers to have an extraordinary experience. As part of the Brooklyn community, we’re always looking for new opportunities to provide an enhanced customer experience, and our investment in the local wireless network is just one way we’re accomplishing that,” said Tom DeVito, vice president and general manager for AT&T in New York and New Jersey.

Have you seen an improvement in AT&T’s network in and around Dumbo?

Press Release: AT&T Invests in Brooklyn Network to Deliver Most-Advanced Mobile Broadband Experience, 10Oct2011

(Photo by deana rae)

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

• Brooklyn earns dining distinction, 08Oct11, Victoria Times
• DUMBO, creative center of Brooklyn, 07Oct11, BK Daily
• Bike Lanes Along River, 06Oct11, LMag
• Walt Whitman Moves Back to DUMBO, in Statue Form, 30Sep11, LMag
• Brooklyn Agencies Aren’t Trying To Rival Madison Ave, 04Oct11, HuffPo
• Walt Whitman’s Back At His Old Loafing Spot In DUMBO, 01Oct11, Gothamist
• “Stop the Virgens” at St. Ann’s Warehouse, 04Oct11, BK Paper
• Brooklyn gastropub screening rooms like reRun latest trend in film-watching, 06Oct11, NYDN
• Esquire: DUMBO is man at his best, 06Oct11, BK Paper
• Esquire Names 1 Main PH as its Bachelor Pad, 05Oct11, BK Eagle
• Wild Rise Pizza, 30Sep11, BK Exposed

The First Thursday Dumbo Gallery Walk is tonight, Thursday, October 6, 2011, between 6-9pm. The gallery walk is free.

This weekend, PowerHouse Arena is hosting an event titled “Nonfiction for Kids: A Triple Reading about Subway Trains, Heroic Dogs, and Science Experiments.” The event will feature three titles: 11 Experiments that Failed, Subway Story, and The Incredible Life of Balto (ages 4-8).

What happens to a subway car when it’s too old to carry passengers? Can a kid live off snow and ketchup for the rest of her life? What became of Balto, the celebrity dog, after the flashbulbs faded? Julia Sarcone-Roach (Subway Story), Jenny Offill and Nancy Carpenter (11 Experiments That Failed), and Meghan McCarthy (The Incredible Life of Balto) have all created picture books that answer one of these questions, and they’ll be reading and signing them at powerHouse.

Sunday, October 9, 2011, 4–5 PM
The powerHouse Arena, 37 Main Street (corner of Water & Main St.), DUMBO, Brooklyn
For more information, please call 718.666.3049
RSVP: kids@powerHouseArena.com