The Jakewalk

What's not to like about a bar with good wine, great cheese and velvety antique wallpaper? The folks behind Stinky Brooklyn and Smith & Vine have ventured into the bar scene on Smith Street with The Jakewalk - a stylish and trendy fusion of their areas of expertise.

Sitting at the bar with a friend, I watched the bartender crack big cubes of ice with the back of a long handled spoon for retro-inspired cocktails. These cubes had obviously never seen the interior of an industrial ice machine - just an extra touch to ensure a drink unfouled by freezer burn or unpleasant aftertastes.

We ordered a lot of food - two cheeses, pork rillette with mustard and cornichons, pickled beets (from WheelHouse,) Jamon Iberico, and raclette melted over potatoes. The cheeses were both from Italy - Robiola a Due Latte - a sheep & goat's milk soft-ripened brie, and Pastore, an aged sheep's milk cheese. The former was soft and creamy, perfect spread on the baguette slices, and the later was semi-firm, with a nice nutty flavor. The pork rillette was delicious, but I couldn't wait to try the Jamon Iberico. Only recently available in the US, it is made from a pata negra, or "black-hoofed," Spanish hog. It wasn't cut paper thin like prosciutto - The Jakewalk hand carves theirs to order from a hoof-ended leg mounted on a special device. It was pretty amazing, with a deep red color and a lot of snowy white fat. I think it might have benefited from a slightly thinner cut than we received, but I'd definitely have it again. The one dissapointment was the raclette, and the only problem was that it was a little boring - but how can you really go wrong with cheese melted on top of potatoes? As for the rest of the experience - the wine suggestions from the server were helpful and service was totally unobtrusive but available. I've heard that it gets very crowded at night so maybe try a mid-afternoon visit; we had a very pleasant and leisurely meal.



The Jakewalk
282 Smith Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231

dining al fresco

My friend william is house sitting in park slope and invited me over for dinner. I should have known he'd have a picture perfect setting in the lush backyard. It was idyllic - the three house cats came and went as the scent of grilled boar sausages distracted them from their bird hunting. We snacked on green olives, shards of parmesan and genoa salami while he grilled long slices of yellow squash and bread brushed with olive oil and rubbed with fresh garlic. We finished our meal with sliced tomatoes drizzled with white truffle oil and cucumbers in a light vinaigrette. It was my favorite kind of meal - flavorful ingredients prepared simply and accompanied by red wine, good conversation and the beautiful greenery of a new york yard in full summer swing. After a few icy glasses of del Capo, an herbal liqueur, we took a walk and each got an ice cream cone. Mine melted faster than I could keep up with and made a gloriously sticky mess. Summertime is on!

Brooklyn Based

Have I mentioned lately how much I love getting the Brooklyn Based newsletter delivered to me twice or so weekly? It's an insider's guide to events, restaurants, art, culture and general mayhem in my favorite borough. Well, I like it so much that I emailed them and asked if they needed any photographers. And they did. And today's email has two of my pics in it! Check it out - and if you live in brooklyn, sign up!

Here's an outtake from my shoot at Peaches Market Cafe:

The Splendid Table, How to Eat Supper

A few weeks ago, one of my best girlfriends came to visit from Seattle. We covered a lot of territory in the week she was here, visiting new restaurants and markets and hitting old favorites that she's enjoyed on previous visits. (99 Miles to Philly!) She's a pastry chef and big fan of the eating and the drinking of wine and the cooking stuff. So I'll have some further reports from our stops in posts to come, but for now here's what I purchased on our stop by Kitchen Arts & Letters.

I'm not sure what I think of the book so far. It's a little on the busy side as far as design - lots of different colors and fonts and font sizes. But I trust Lynne Rossetto Kasper and I love the Splendid Table podcast. I guess technically, it's a radio show, but I just stream it directly from their site. There are lots of archives to check out, too.

I haven't cooked anything from the book yet, so that will be the real test. I saw a recipe for fish tacos that looked good and I've got corn & cojito cheese at home. (I know, I know... corn isn't in season yet, I'm sorry! I only bought two ears.) This guilt trip has been brought to me by:



Yes, this is my current carry around and read book. I'm not that far into it, but it's pretty depressing. Now every time I buy a peach (or corn) that rode here on a truck from California, I can't help but imagine all the fossil fuels it took to get here to me, how much pollution that trip added to the environment and how little the migrant worker was paid to pick and pack it for its long journey. In "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore brought us all way, way down, before offering a bright and shiny hope at the end of his high tech PowerPoint presentation. I'm going to forge through this one and hope for Barbara to give me that same pick up at the end of her book. In the meantime, I'm trying to eat as close to home as possible - at least now I can get grapes from California instead of Chile!

Win dinner for 2 at Mai House cooked by Lisa of Top Chef Season 4

Time Out is offering 5 lucky(?) winners the chance to have dinner prepared for them by the ever-amusing Lisa Fernandez of Top Chef season 4 at Mai House, the Manhattan restaurant where she works. See the video below where she takes the TONY challenge to make a four course meal for less than $20:


The food actually looks damn tasty, if simple. I've been looking for an excuse to head out to Queens for the (supposedly) best Thai restaurant in New York. Now I can multi-task by hitting Hong Kong Supermarket to pick up the same ingredients Lisa did for her menu. Here's a link to the recipes on Time Out.

Happy Birthday, America!

Three day holiday weekend! I was s'posed to go to Jersey City for a bbq on Friday. Thursday night, however, I had a date. My job closed early so I got home and took a nap, showered, applied perfume to most of my body, curled my eyelashes and otherwise prepared for my first time out with this particular gentleman. After getting ready, it was almost time to head to the trusty G train. I hadn't had any dinner, but I was nervous and not really hungry. I got to the bar about 20 minutes early and ordered a Sauza Hornitos straight up with a water back.

Now, as I learned from my Tips in Alcohol Management classes (from when I was a bartender,) there are certain factors that can affect how quickly you become drunk. There's this little valve between the stomach and the small intestines that closes when you eat food. The valve stays open if you drink carbonated beverages, or if you are anxious. Since most alcohol absorption takes place in the small intestine, the faster it gets in there, the faster you get drunk. Instead of cutting someone off, you can slow down the drunk train by getting them to eat something, which closes up the valve - fatty, salty food works especially well.



I sat at the bar, totally nervous about my date's arrival, sipping my tequila shot and sucking on a pathetic lime wedge. I don't know why I was so worried about this particular date - for some reason I just really wanted it to work out. He arrived and we ordered a few more drinks, this time I got a vodka and 7-up. They were unfortunately out of cider, which was my first choice. I loooove cider, especially since I'm allergic to beer - don't ask, it's just a curse. Ok, so. We went outside and found a picnic table to ourselves and to my surprise and delight - he was nice, and funny and sweet and confident and sort of cute, but not in an intimidating way. Fun!

We went back in for drink number 3 and he started to make some moves - nothing obnoxious, just a hand on my back at the bar and then a really gentle kiss. Back at the picnic table I was starting to feel pretty buzzed. I KNEW that I needed to eat something, and it seemed that I needed something soon. I'd only had 3 drinks so far -so I was pretty sure that I was safe - just needed to get to the snacks.

We went to the Alligator Lounge. If you're not familiar with it, it's pretty awesome. A bar that gives you a free pizza with every drink. Every drink! A small cheese pizza that actually doesn't taste bad. So I ordered a cider and got my pizza and ate about half of it. My date was getting more bold and planting more kisses on me. Every time I'd close my eyes I'd get dizzy and pull away. My stomach was bothering me and I was feeling too drunk. Damn. Not fun.

We left without finishing our drinks. I apologized and told my date that I felt ill and had to go home. I asked him to get me a water and while he was in the deli I accidentally threw up my 1/2 pizza. Oops! He came back and said, "Oh shit!" I told him that I felt better, and that I didn't understand what was happening. "I don't feel drunk, I just feel sick!" I insisted, drunkenly. He walked me into the subway station and went off towards the L. I walked down to the bastard G platform alone, sick and if I remember correctly, crying because I wanted my ex-boyfriend who wouldn't have left me there with all the other G train misfits and losers. He would have helped me get home safely and taken care of me like I did for him more than once back when. Sigh. Dating can be hard.

I got home safely. I threw up some more. I swore that I would never drink again, and knew I didn't really mean it. I cursed the good date gone bad and realized that I was the definition of "hot mess." I slept off and on for about 12 hours. I didn't go to jersey and didn't care. I finally ate a piece of toast. Later, I joined my roommate and her guy friend for grilled meats, cole slaw, baked beans (home made with pork belly!) and a really strange tribute to 60's style desserts - the Pretzel Salad Jell-o Thing from the land of sugar. Sorry, too hung over to take pics.

My apologies to those of you who might be queasy after reading this. It was just so ridiculous that I had to share. I can't believe that I ruined a perfectly good date by getting sick from a measly 3 drinks! In case you're wondering, I emailed the dude and he actually does want to see me again - so I get a second chance. I wonder how I'll manage to top that first impression?? Stay tuned.