AOL's City's Best Guide to New York gave top honors to Randazzo's Clam Bar (2023 Emmon's Ave.) in its seafood category.

The neighborhood staple beat out such elite eateries as Le Bernardin and the Aquagrill in Manhattan, as well as other sea critter cookers around the city. Around since the 1920s, Randazzo's is a relic of a waterfront that was once lined with world-class seafood restaurants, so if you haven't already, make sure you hit it up at least once before it's turned into a condo.

AOL City's Best wrote:

Since 1920, this unpretentious clam bar has been dishing up fresh seafood raw, fried or cooked under its famous spicy tomato sauce. The giant plate of lobster pasta -- chunks of pinky-white sweet meat, royal-red sauce and slithering noodles -- can feed two people for less than $20. Beloved by locals, Randazzo's even has a to-go window facing busy Emmons Ave. Order a half-dozen raw clams or oysters -- plucked from the avalanche of shaved ice and pried open before your eyes -- and eat them on the canal's pedestrian bridge. Hearty chowders and fried calamari pile on the flavor, while the old-school Brooklyn-ese waitstaff piles on the other kind of flavor. Are you still in NYC? Yes. Are you still in the 21st century? No way.

[Via SB/PB Civic Association]

We noted a few weeks ago that renovation of the Lundy's space is underway; now we're happy to bring you confirmation of the new tenant.

And the business that will be operating in the iconic building is... [cue drumroll]... Cherry Hill Gourmet Market, a local food market with a storefront currently on 2278 86th St, between Bay 32st street and 23rd Ave. in Bensonhurst/Bath Beach. It is expected that Cherry Hill-Lundy's will open its doors in the next 2 to 3 months.

(Cherry Hill Market in Bensonhurst/Bath Beach)

Read on after the jump to see some of the business' plans for the space, as well as reviews of its current storefront.

Read more »

How's that for catchy headlines? (Probably not very good.) Now here's a pic!

And some info:

Grillin' On The Bay
New York City's Original Barbecue Contest

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Open to the Public - Free Admission

St. Mark School
Corner of East 18th Street and Avenue Z
Brooklyn, New York

New England Barbecue Society
Sanctioned Grilling Contest
Chicken Breast, Fish, Pork and Chef's Choice

And, just to show that I can do reporting, here's some MORE info I got from the event's organizer, Robert Fernandez:

The competitors will start arriving at 6:00 and the first food turn-in will be noon. The public is welcome anytime, but we plan on selling food from about 10:00 am on. We’ll have pulled pork, beef brisket, chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs. Beer will be sold by butternuts ale. The event has been running for 3 years and is sanctioned by the New England BBQ Society. It has always been a fund raiser for St. Mark School. If you want more info, please check out the website, http://whitetrashbbq.blogspot.com.

That's Robert's website. If you want the event's, click here.

Ta-da! A blog post!

Garden Bay Café, the Armenian restaurant on Sheepshead Bay Rd. between Shore Parkway and Emmons Ave, has not only failed its inspection, but has garnered the most violation points of any restaurant in the area: a startling 41.

The violations listed include:

1.) Pesticide use not in accordance with label or applicable laws. Prohibited chemical used/stored. Open bait station used.
2.) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to vermin exist.
3.) Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.
4.) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility's food and/or non-food areas.

According to the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, the violations requiring immediate action were remedied appropriately. But the 41 violation points was still a huge jump from its previous scores of 11 (11/9/06) and 9 (1/17/06). The new high score puts it just ahead of Anyway Café on Oriental Blvd. (37), La Sorrentina Pizzeria on Sheepshead Bay Rd. (36) and - can you believe it? - Kennedy Fried Chicken on Ave. X (33).

Way to go, guys, nice hustle. But maybe next time you should remember the point system in this game is a little more like golf.
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