Around Brooklyn: Many bars now sell raw pantry ingredients

April 29, 2020 Editorial Staff

A view from Sunset Park. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle

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Many bars now sell raw pantry ingredients

Where there was once a collection of plants and a dart board above the wooden counter at Glou + Glick, a wine bar in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, there is now a shiny new shelf stocked with pancake mix, kosher salt, tomato paste and hand soap, according to the New York Times. Glou + Glick is not alone. Many restaurants in Brooklyn, most of which have ended full-menu takeout services, are continuing to order raw ingredients and pantry items from their suppliers to resell them to locals. “I saw firsthand the experience of needing one staple, waiting in line and then they don’t have the hand soap, they’re out of yeast and flour, they don’t have any eggs,” said Jef Diesel, the owner of Glou + Glick.

The nurse who came by sea

New York magazine’s “Intelligencer” recently featured a young ICE nurse from Virginia who had just sailed from her home to Brooklyn Bridge Park. The nurse, Rachel Hartley, came with her husband, Taylor, and was ready to make the boat her home for the next two months. She is one of thousands of out-of-town professionals answering the call to provide reinforcements to the city’s hospitals. When the coronavirus pandemic started, her hospital began to cancel all but the most urgent surgeries. Then, she was constantly called or emailed by nurse-staffing companies seeking people with intensive-care experience for locations like New York. Hartley is one of about 600 nurses her agency has placed in critical care locations.

Roommates’ defection gives rise to financial woes

The novel coronavirus pandemic has made life problematic for many young New York City renters whose roommates have moved back home or taken shelter in second homes, according to Curbed. As a result, some of the New Yorkers left behind have found themselves suddenly living alone. To many, that leads to financial woes, since they depended on their roommates to help them make the rent. In some cases, says Curbed, roommates who defected continue to pay their share of the rent from afar, but with no guaranteed return date. Some roommates who have left have suggested subletters, and in other cases roommates known as “co-tenants” are thrown together in a lease together.

De Blasio commits to 100 miles of open streets

Mayor Bill de Blasio recently said he’s committed to opening up 100 miles of streets for socially responsible recreation, according to Streetsblog. “The City Council came forward with a vision for how we could open up more streets and do it in a way that’s responsive to the core concerns of the NYPD over safety and enforcement,” the mayor said. “Over the next month, we will create a minimum of 40 miles of open streets. And as the crisis continues, the goal is to get up to 100 miles.” The mayor also said the city would look to “expand sidewalks” and create more temporary bike lanes.

Brooklyn social studies teacher succumbs to COVID-19

The sister of Brooklyn social studies teacher Rana Zoe Munging announced on Twitter that the 30-year-old teacher lost her fight against COVID-19 six weeks after she developed a fever. Mia Mungin, a registered nurse, had lobbied to get the best care possible for her sister, who had underlying medical conditions like asthma and hypertension. The teacher was turned away from emergency rooms twice after developing a fever before she was finally admitted to Brookdale Hospital on March 20. She was quickly intubated and put on a ventilator, an attempted life-saving measure that has unfortunately not worked for 88 percent of the COVID-19 patients put on one.

Developers buy Park Slope supermarket for $59M

Developers Billy Macklowe and David Welsh have closed on the acquisition of a Park Slope Key Food site for just over $59 million, according to The Real Deal. The William Macklowe Company and Welsh’s newly formed Senlac Ridge Partners completed a deal on Friday for the purchase of a Key Food grocery store from Avery Hall Investments, according to sources. The firms will jointly develop the property at 120 Fifth Ave., which is about five blocks south of Barclays Center. The large store and parking lot, bound by Gregory Place, Baltic Street and Fifth Avenue, is likely the largest development site in Park Slope.

Female jumper found dead near NJ shoreline

A 19-year-old woman who reportedly jumped from the Verrazzano Bridge on Saturday night was found dead on the New Jersey shoreline on Monday morning, according to the Staten Island Advance. The woman, identified as Kristy Shi, was seen by witnesses exiting a vehicle in which she appeared to be a passenger. A source told the Advance that Shi had gotten a cab ride and left the vehicle on the lower level of the bridge.

Five-story, mixed-use building planned for Bushwick

Permits have been filed for a five-story mixed-use building at 150 Noll St. in Bushwick, on a site currently occupied by a one-story commercial building. The site, located between Wilson and Central avenues, is a short walk from the Morgan Avenue subway station on the L train. Yechiel Stern is listed as the owner behind the applications, and RSLN Architecture PLLC is listed as the architect of record. The building is slated to have 78 residences, most likely rentals, as well as 44 enclosed parking spaces, according to New York YIMBY.

Charge virus spread at Metropolitan Detention Center

Workers at New York City’s largest federal jail, the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, are saying that officials are undercounting the number of guards that are falling ill with coronavirus and that supervisors aren’t doing enough to protect them from the bug, according to the New York Post. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons said on Thursday that 26 employees out of about 500 have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks. But according to required reports to Brooklyn federal Judge Roslynn Mauskopf, the BOP had not conducted any testing at MDC for more than a week as of April 23 — and employees tell the Post that the facility’s officials aren’t organizing tests, instead depending on workers to get tested on their own and report back to their bosses.

Mayor, NYPD break up Williamsburg Hasidic funeral

Hundreds of people lined the streets of Hasidic Williamsburg for the funeral of a local rabbi, a move that prompted the NYPD and Mayor Bill de Blasio to break it up. De Blasio said the city has “zero tolerance” for such events at this time. Tipsters said the funeral was for Rabbi Chaim Mertz, who died on Tuesday from COVID-19, according to NBC New York. Rabbi Isaac Abraham, a community leader, said the city knew about the funeral beforehand and had mobilized five police precincts to handle it. However, the mayor later took to the streets himself with the police to break up the gathering.

Downtown Brooklyn restaurateur dies

Jonathan Adewumi, the co-owner of the Amarachi restaurant in Downtown Brooklyn, has died of COVID-19, according to NY1 News. The 57-year old was the person many called when they needed to make a business and personal connection. “He was a wonderful person. He treated people as he wanted to be treated. No matter how big. No matter how small. Jonathan took the time to make a connection with you,” said Adebayo Adewumi, Jonathan’s brother. Jonathan helped to introduce African fabrics into the city’s pop culture in the 1980s and 90s with the creation of Nigerian Fabrics and Fashions, a company he started with two siblings. Their high-end clothing and wedding designs were seen in magazines and on television after becoming a huge hit with celebrities like Stevie Wonder and Wesley Snipes.

MTA bus driver strikes cyclist in Brooklyn

An MTA bus driver fatally struck a cyclist on Tuesday afternoon, according to the New York Post. The cyclist was heading north along Rogers Avenue in Flatbush when he attempted to make a left turn onto Clarendon Road. Police said the cyclist was traveling near the border of a bus lane while the bus was traveling outside its line when they collided. When police arrived, the cyclist was taken to Kings County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Compiled by Raanan Geberer.