The restaurant formerly known as W – located at 2812 Ocean Avenue and Avenue X – has changed its name to Le Bouchon. It’s got new owners to boot.
We’re not quite sure why the old owners decided to bail, and calls to the restaurant went unanswered. But from what we can gather with a little online research, the new guys bought into the place at the end of 2009. They kept up with the W brand until just a few weeks ago, when the new sign went up.
Just as W did, they’re pushing French and steakhouse food at upscale prices. Though we haven’t tried the food there, our favorite thing on the new menu is the “Galamâ” – a gussied up spelling of the Brooklynese pronunciation of calamari. Cute.
Thanks to Arthur Borko and BrooklynQ for the tip.
We received these photos and report from reader Eitan K.:
At about 9:30PM on 8/23/10 I was in the waldbaums parking lot getting ready to leave after shopping when I heard the all too familiar screeching of tires and a crashing sound. The sound was loud and startling, and I looked over to the intersection trying to locate which two cars were involved. Only when I saw the bicycle laying in the middle of the intersection of Voorhees and Ocean Avenue did I realise the horror of what had just happened.
Luckily for the victim, as the accident took place an ambulance with its lights and sirens on was passing through the intersection, possibly going to another call. Passerby ran in front of the ambulance to flag it down and the victim recieved immediate medical attention.
The driver of the black cab remained at the scene, and his windshield had a pizza tray sized bust on the driver’s side where apparently the bicyclist impacted. I wasnt able to tell if the bicyclist was wearing a helmet, but he was conscious when he was placed in the ambulance.
Just a month after we corrected naysayers and pointed out this spot is doing just fine, the final commercial tenants of the residential-retail development on Ocean Avenue and Avenue Z are either open or gearing up to open.
The latest to welcome customers is Voyage Unisex Hair Salon, another in a long line of spiffed-up Sheepshead Bay hair salons offering the works (including manicures, pedicures, waxes and all kinds of stuff I don’t know anything about). To celebrate their grand opening, they’re doing all haircuts for the supremely mediocre price of $15. They’re also hiring, so if you have good hands and a penchant for taking aerosol fumes to the head, give a call.
The other new business, which is not yet open and is only heralded by a cardboard sign in the door, is Chipp Neapolitan Pizza (and thank you, BrooklynQ, for catching this and sending the photo). With two buses stopping in front of the store and no other pizzeria for several blocks, the business should do very well.
Good luck to all the new businesses of the now totally booked development.
… but a clogged basement?
Kings Highway, near the corner of Ocean Avenue.
Shopping cart in search of a locksmith to let him back into his home. (Photo courtesy of Stefanee Rivera))
A reader, Stefanee Rivera, sent us this photograph of a lost shopping cart and gave us the background story.
This poor little guy was found early Saturday morning seeking assistance from the locksmith inside. Apparently he got locked out of his house (Walbaum’s) and couldn’t find a neighbor to help. He wandered over to the locksmith on Ave. X and Ocean Ave. for some help getting back inside. The nice locksmith who works there called his parents and told them he was waiting for them at the shop. They said they would be “right over” to pick him up. However, according to the locksmith, at 3:45PM, the lonely little shopping cart was still there waiting for his mom and dad. I suggested he call the Administration for Shopping Cart Services (ASCS) if they hadn’t come to pick him up by closing time.
Hearing the news that the shopping complex where the Waldbaum’s store is located has been sold for $10 million, may have made him a little nervous about his family’s future.
After we wrote up Friday’s piece about the car accident, in which a police vehicle slammed into a lightpole, reporter Ray Johnson got there to snap some quick photos. But, by the time they were in my inbox, it was officially my weekend. And I had a lot to do.
So, belatedly, here are some more photos of the accident.
View more photos of Friday’s accident.
Shopping cart and pillow bed mattress. (Photo courtesy of nolastname, 2010)
Roaming the streets of Sheepshead Bay all day with these bags of cans sure can be tiring.
I guess it’s not as bad as some have it. At least I have some shelter (the Belt Parkway overpass at Ocean Avenue) and a place to rest my head at night or day or whenever the mood takes me.
Now, if I could only get me a pillow and some sheets. Oh, yeah, and some earplugs, ‘cuz that Belt Parkway rumbling and bridge renovation sure does keep me awake!
Last July, when we reported that the development on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Avenue Z was nearly complete, a couple of commenters began laying into this project and many others along Ocean Avenue. One called these developments “nondos,” and they all pointed out that the area’s new units appear to have problems selling.
Well, scratch that for the Avenue Z spot.
The mixed-use building that once housed John J. Healey Funeral Home looks like it’s just about booked up, and in less than a year after its completion. All of the residential units up top look occupied, and a handful of businesses have moved into the ground floor.
Most notably, perhaps, is the new 99¢ and Up store. The business is taking up two of the five storefronts, including one on the side of the building (pictured), which wraps around the interior to a front entrance. Next to that, an oral surgeon has put up signage. The remaining storefronts don’t have “For Lease” signs up, and it looks like some work is going on inside, so it’s possible they’re already booked as well.
Not bad for a corner everyone said would be doomed to emptiness.
Well, hello there! It’s such a nice night out, and I’m just cartin’ about, enjoyi–
Who the heck am I kidding? My name is Red Jerke. I’m a very… freakin’… tired shopping cart. You see, I haul about 30 bags a week. Thirty bags! And that’s not just moving them around. It’s marketing them; it’s trying to sell things to go next to them; it’s spotting the bits to fill future bags with…
And that’s not to mention my other duties. I’ve got to be all friendly to people who like to push me around; I’ve got to listen to old people tell me about the kinds of bags they think I should carry; I’ve got to find other carts and tell them to fill some bags for me. Jeez! It’s exhausting work!
But on top of it all, my cohort Nay Bohnson, she goes and takes a vacation and skips town on the one bag a week she promises to carry. One bag! And she needs a vacation. Oy vey!
Thanks to Boris G. for the photo, taken underneath the overpass at Ocean Avenue and Shore Parkway.
UPDATE [10:21 p.m.]: By the time we got to Avenue Y there were no police present. We then got a call from another reader saying he saw heavy police activity at Ocean Avenue and Avenue T. He said he overheard an officer say, “He didn’t throw the gun in the bushes.” It seems like the two incidents could be related, especially if someone was making their way by car down Ocean Avenue, and then tried to get rid of a weapon before being caught by police. We’ll see what we can find out.
We just got a tip that “something major is going down” on Ocean Avenue and Avenue Y. The tipster said about eight police cars were on the scene and all he heard was “he had a gun in his hand.” We’re going to see what we can find out. Anyone with information, please send it to us.
