There aren’t words to describe the video above. It was filmed yesterday at the Seaport Buffet at Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza (2027 Emmons Avenue), and it’s the number one reason I hate going to buffets in Brooklyn.
I went with a friend of mine from New Jersey. I spent a good 25 minutes prior to going to the buffet explaining the tong takedown that occurs when crab legs hit the table. You see, I needed to explain it because in New Jersey they don’t do this. They don’t do it in Pennsylvania, either. Or any other state in which I’ve been to a buffet. You go to buffets there and people take just a couple at a time, and there’s always some left in the tray. It’s called civility, and it’s enough to make a fat Brooklyn boy cry.
And so I explained it. In detail. He geared up, excited to see it. To him, it sounded like a gladiator match for the morbidly obese. But I warned him my words didn’t do it justice, which he couldn’t imagine. And so we arrived, and we went for our first plates of appetizers and just then the woman came out with the steaming tray of critter limbs.
I made him watch. I counted to fifteen. The crabs were gone, and so was my friend’s appetite.
Yes, it’s like this all over Brooklyn. But the Seaport Buffet is the most competitive of all the places I’ve been to, and it’s disgusting. People even take the tongs back to their seats (watch the guy in the top right). They trample children. They leave nothing for no one.
After much waiting by frustrated bargain seekers, it looks like Loehmann’s Sheepshead Bay location is opening this Thursday, February 11, and we’re happy to see that one of the pillars of the Emmons Avenue economy is getting back on its feet.
Still, the two other businesses on the second floor of Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza remain closed – probably for good. Fire damage at XO Creperie spills out onto the patio’s ceiling, and Passage looks abandoned (which didn’t stop amNY from recommending a meal there last week).
We’ve been getting a lot of e-mails about the status of Loehmann’s department store at Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza (2027 Emmons Avenue). We were surprised to see that they’ve stayed closed so long, and calls to Loehmann’s corporate offices went unreturned. We were lucky enough to stop by last week as a contractor was at work. Though he didn’t want to say anything officially, he told us Loehmann’s planned to reopen in early February, but judging from the progress he didn’t think that was a likely goal. On the upside, Loehmann’s is using the opportunity to totally renovate its location, and you can see in the photos that carpeting, ceiling tiles, and other accoutrements are being torn out to make way for some new flash.
The early-morning fire that ate through a Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza restaurant may have been arson, FDNY officials said this week.
An FDNY spokesman said that fire marshals are treating the fire at XO Creperie, 2027 Emmons Avenue, as “suspicious” as they try to determine how the blaze was sparked.
Firefighters were called to the restaurant at 5:30 a.m. on November 21 after the flames triggered a fire alarm inside the restaurant, officials said. The blaze was put out within 50 minutes.
No one was inside the eatery when the fire broke out, although a firefighter suffered a strained shoulder as he doused the blaze.
Following the weekend’s fire at XO Creperie, Loehmann’s in Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza has announced they will be closed throughout the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Signs at the store previously said they’d open today, but these mailers went out to “Loehmann’s E-mail Insider” subscribers, leading one Sheepshead Bites reader to write in, “ugh this bums me out. they were having a sale. 50% off already reduced!”
Bummer. The store will stay closed until further notice. The ground-level businesses remain open.
UPDATE: We’ve heard that management is telling people that they’re rushing the cleanup to try and reopen in time for Black Friday. It’s still uncertain.
Reader Lisanne Anderson spoke to one of the workers who was involved in the cleaning operation at XO Creperie in Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza after yesterday’s fire, who said that he didn’t believe that that there was much damage to the restaurant. Much of the damage was caused by putting out the fire, which included breaking the windows. Apparently the fire occurred when no one, including workers, was in the restaurant at approximately 5:30 a.m., rather than 6:20 a.m. as we reported earlier. He acknowledged that investigators were there yesterday, but doesn’t believe that they’re sure yet of the origin of the fire. Loehmann’s will be closed through Monday for cleanup, as there is still water residue and a pervasive smell of smoke on the second and third floors. The businesses on the ground floor, such as the Seaport Buffet, are open today.
We just got word from a tipster that XO Creperie, located in Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza (2027 Emmons Avenue), has burned down. The second-floor restaurant has been in the building for several years and is one of the oldest, continuously-operated businesses in the plaza. The tipster says crime scene investigators were at the building earlier today, and that Loehmann’s was closed due to the fire. Based on the blurb from Gothamist Maps, it appears the fire occurred around 6:20 a.m. today. We’ll let you know as we find out more.
Either someone felt guilty after stealing the silverware or a sidewalk patron lost a fork.Either way, this lone fork somehow made its way onto the XO sidewalk menu display.
I’ve never dined at XO Creperie or New Cats Cafe, but if I do, I’ll keep a close eye on the fork.
If any of you have eaten at either establishment, let us know what you thought.
XO Creperie
2027 Emmons Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11235
(718) 368-4477
New Cats Cafe
2027 Emmons Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11235
(718) 332-4850
We first reported three weeks ago that the Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza (2101 Emmons Ave.) was sold for a record-breaking $24 million. In response to the news we heard a lot of concern from the community that the building might be torn down and replaced with – you guessed it – condos. Well, The Real Deal is now reporting that the new owners – “a group of local and European investors” – plan to keep it a retail center. One less fear, I guess, for a building that already has quite a sordid history (more on that later).
In the largest Sheepshead Bay real estate deal of the last twenty years, Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza on Emmons Ave. has reportedly been sold for approximately $24 million.
The three-story, 280,000 square foot retail center closed on Friday, with its former owner, the Bayrock Group, selling to a still unknown buyer. A source with knowledge of the deal provided the sale price of $24 million, but that number is still unconfirmed. He also said the buyer is a local Russian businessman.
Observers of Sheepshead Bay real estate transactions are surprised by the deal, as the property was not known to be on the market. However, Bayrock Group may have been happy to unload the property when approached by the mystery buyer, given that the group probably has its hands full with the beleagured Trump SoHo Hotel Condominium, which it is developing alongside the Trump Organization and the Sapir Organization. The site has recently been plagued by a number or controversies, including a lethal construction accident, accusations of misleading the public towards its final use, and mob ties. Of course, the mobster accusation is a given, considering one of Bayrock’s own principals was revealed to have quite a shady past.
The Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza deal marks the second largest sale in Sheepshead Bay history, coming just $1 million shy of breaking the record set in 1988, when the Atlantic Towers Apartment Corp. on Ave. Z and East 13th street was sold for $25 million. It’s also notable for being the second record-breaking deal in less than a year; the first being last November’s sale of the site at 1600 Sheepshead Bay Road and 1501 Voorhies Avenue for an all-cash transaction valued at more than $20 million. This means that two of the three largest deals in Sheepshead Bay history were ushered in within the last 8 months.
Tenants of the Loehmann’s building are still unsure of the identity of the new owner, but expect to receive that information within the next two to three days.
Either way, this lone fork somehow made its way onto the XO sidewalk menu display.
