When Williamsburg got a Toms shoe store and cafe last year, you knew a Warby Parker couldn’t be far behind. Well, here she is: Warby came to 124 North 6th Street just this past weekend. Outside is a mural by Stephen “ESPO” Powers; inside, an array of hipster-friendly glasses— including Warby’s new $195-and-up collection— and a tastefully curated selection of books by authors like Zadie Smith and David Rakoff. Naturally, you can purchase the 33 1/3 treatise on David Bowie’s Low. More →
If you noticed that Tim Heidecker has a new movie coming out and thought, “But I want Tim & Eric,” well: You can haz both. Not only is Heidecker starring in Mister America, opening Oct. 9, but he’s also doing a string of live shows with his longtime comedy partner Eric Wareheim. The Tim & Eric 2020 Mandatory Attendance Tour kicks off Jan. 15 in Australia and comes to Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre on Feb. 11. More →
The single most elucidating moment of my very expensive liberal arts education was the time my sociology professor popped a VHS in the VCR. He didn’t do a word of teaching that day; whether he was hungover, hadn’t prepared a lesson that day, or just wanted to watch us trip out, the film he played blew my mind. It was Koyaanisqatsi. More →
This is nuts! Mr. Peanut and his Nutmobile have taken over Astor Place and are dishing out free cheese balls. More →
The email from Rooftop Films came hours before last night’s screening of Desolation Center at Green-Wood Cemetery in Sunset Park: “No standing, sitting, or leaning on any gravestone (no matter how sturdy it looks).” Apparently Lee Ranaldo didn’t get the memo, because during a post-screening performance involving an electric guitar suspended from a crane, the Sonic Youth member hopped onto the edge of an obelisk and ran his instrument across the stone to produce a howl that sounded all the more unholy under the full moon. More →
The East Village lost a sprawling Asian grocery when M2M closed two years ago, but now, just a block away at 39 Third Avenue, the NYU area has gained H Mart, a Korean-American supermarket overflowing with imported Asian delicacies. The first H Mart opened in Woodside, Queens in 1982, and the chain now has dozens of locations across the country. Like its Koreatown outpost, this one boasts an entire aisle of instant ramen and entire freezers packed with frozen dumplings. There’s a kimchi corner, shelves upon shelves of obscure candies and crackers, and, for the connoisseur, multiple brands of preserved duck egg. Here are some of the delightful finds we encountered as we browsed the aisles to the soothing sounds of K-pop.
It’s not quite as Insta-trendy as a jade roller, but the package makes a convincing argument: “Let’s care for your body in the everyday bath room!”
Unlike Mister Softee cones, which fill you with calories and regret, these lil guys are about the size of your thumb.
The last time I encountered these critters was at Jumong Pocha in Fort Lee, New Jersey. I had to eat a family-size portion because my dinner companion was unwilling to help. Her loss! They snap and crackle in your mouth, kind of like giant, dirt-flavored Rice Krispies.
This has been called a “Korean corn ice cream novelty fail,” but I couldn’t disagree more. Where sweet-corn ice cream covered in chocolate smut is concerned, a faux-cob wafer beats a cone every time.
A wise man (Anthony Bourdain) once said that durian tastes “as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother,” and the popsicle version is no exception. Refreshing though it may be, it’ll still stink up an office (apologies to my coworkers, if they’re reading this) and it still tastes like an onion that’s been sitting in a dumpster—albeit a dumpster on a snowy day.
Add these tapioca pearls—made from tapioca starch, water, corn starch, guar gum, and a chemistry lab’s worth of additives— to boiling water and, after they’ve floated to the surface, cook them for two or three minutes. After 20 seconds in cold water, they’re ready to be plopped into your drink of choice. Conveniently, H Mart has an entire tea section stocked with boba powder and Thai iced tea bags.
Yes, the name of these matcha and chocolate cookies translates (in Flengrish) to “ass cookies.” But they’re actually quite delicious, making them the perfect conversation piece at your next dinner party.
Too much tuna? Not for this stud who is totally feeling his tuna in canola oil. Clearly, the spokesman for this Dong Won product is a Dong Won don juan.
This rubbery faux beef jerky is made from soybean curd that’s slathered in a spicy Sichuan sauce. Curd this be love?
H Mart’s sushi fridge includes several varieties of fish eggs. Squirt a little bit of Kewpie mayo on this combination of flying fish and herring roe and you’ve got some seriously low-rent caviar service.
Sorry, coffee dweebs, I’m not about to waste precious minutes grinding beans and waiting for the “bloom” atop a Chemex. Pop one of these pouches full of ground coffee onto your mug, pour hot water in, and boom, you’ve got your morning cuppa.
Squeezing a pouch and sucking ice cream out of a plastic nipple is seriously addictive, and that’s why I had to use a stock photo of Snow Ice instead of buying it and photographing it myself. I cannot be trusted around this stuff. The manufacturer, Lotte, promises “countless moments of heart fluttering,” and that is not overstating it, particularly when it comes to the Milk Shake and Cookies & Cream varieties. The pouches come in bags of five that you tear open like a desperate animal.
Described by the world’s best-worst competitive eater, LA Beast, as the “spiciest ramen noodles in existence” (be warned: the above video does not end well), these noodz are no joke. Slurp them down and the snot will be flowing within seconds; your lips will feel like they’ve been rubbed down with sandpaper slathered in Mala sauce. Seriously, the last time I ate something this punishingly hot was when I made the mistake of ordering a “Thai spicy”-level papaya salad at Thai Rock, in Rockaway Beach, and was told there would be no refund if I couldn’t finish. If you attempt this, keep a few of those miniature soft-serve cones handy.
“I just hope that all of you that take antidepressants have taken them,” said Debbie Harry after she took the stage at Club Cumming last night, “and those that don’t, have had a nice drink.” More →
Hot on the heels of the Brklyn Film Festival, which continues mostly in Williamsburg-Greenpoint through June 9, comes the Lower East Side film festival, across the water. Running June 6 to 10, the fest will premiere shorts and features at Village East Cinema, with “Queen of the East Village” Rosario Dawson and other local fixtures as judges. More →
The Schamonchi, aka the Bushwick Boat, might be one of Brooklyn’s best-kept secrets: a former 650-passenger ferry docked in Newtown Creek, tucked behind a lumber yard, that’s used for Burning Man-style parties and other word-of-mouth events. Now the creatives who consider the 6,000-square-foot, 130-foot-long boat their community space are trying to raise money to fix up the ailing, 41-year-old vessel. More →
As has happened in media, white collar employees in arts institutions are rediscovering the power of organized labor, as efforts to unionize the Tenement Museum and the New Museum show. The latest cultural institution in the city to see employees organize is the Brooklyn Academy of Music; its administrative workers are seeking to join up with the UAW, in a move they say will ensure stable careers with the arts academy. More →
