SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Nathan’s Famous Is Still Closed, Source: j. reed via wikimedia commons

Six months following Superstorm Sandy, businesses across Sheepshead Bay and Coney Island are still shuttered and the New York Times is reporting that local business owners are growing anxious over what effect the closures will have on the local economy as summer nears.

The Times report pointed to the large number of businesses still closed on tourist-friendly Emmons Avenue.

“Mambo Sushi, gone! Tzar, gone! Fusion, gone!” said Theresa Scavo, the district manager of Community Board 15, as she reeled off the names of destroyed restaurants on a single block of Emmons Avenue, where only a Greek restaurant, Yiasou, managed to reopen.

A block farther along the bay, a few restaurants and cafes where water reached the ceilings were also shuttered. In total, 14 businesses on Emmons Avenue are still closed, Ms. Scavo said, with a dozen more closed elsewhere in the neighborhood. With warm weather approaching, there is concern that tourists will not flock to the bay as they usually do.

“Everybody suffers, because if people are not coming to eat at your restaurant, they won’t shop at my clothing store,” Ms. Scavo said.

(It’s worth noting that the block of Emmons Avenue where they say only one restaurant, Yiasou, is open, there are actually three open restaurants – Yiasou, Baku Palace and Randazzo’s Clam Bar.)

The problems on Emmons Avenue also extend to Coney Island where, among other places, Nathan’s Famous and the New York Aquarium still remain closed.

Along a six-block stretch of Mermaid Avenue, a commercial street in Coney Island that caters to much of the year-round poor and working-class population, many stores are still locked — among them, a Chase bank, a McDonald’s, a bagel store, a Chinese restaurant, a check-cashing place and a Mexican deli. Edward Cosmé, head of the avenue’s trade association, said his 13-year-old beauty parlor, Hair For U, is open only because he spent $40,000 of his own money to replace hair dryers and salon chairs destroyed in the storm, and he received a $25,000 loan at 1 percent interest and $10,000 in cash from the city’s Department of Small Business Services. But the number of customers is down by more than a third, he said, because some residents displaced by the storm have not returned.

Business owners blamed the continued closures on failing to receive timely government assistance that would have made up for money not covered by flood insurance companies. To date, the city has doled out 45 loans to Sheepshead Bay businesses totaling $1 million with 13 grants amounting to $45,000. In Coney Island, 19 loans have been approved totaling $420,700 with eight grants valued at $40,000. According to a NYC Department of Small Business Services rep who spoke to Sheepshead Bites, this represents an 88 to 90 percent approval rate.

Still, the complexity of government forms have tripped up business owners from getting desperately needed assistance from other sources, like the U.S. Small Business Administration, as we’ve previously reported. (UPDATED: See below)

Jim Tampakis, a man who runs a Red Hook-based ship boiler and pump repair shop gave up on trying to seek federal help entirely.

“I became discouraged,” Tampakis told the Times. “There was a feeling that businesses were getting the runaround.”

The problem facing business owners like Tampakis has led Councilman Domenic Recchia, who is currently running for Congress, to urge the city to ease the process.

“It’s imperative that more businesses have access to this type of funding so that they can get back on their feet,” Recchia told the Times.

Whether or not the businesses that are still closed can clear the bureaucratic red-tape and conquer their financial difficulties before the busy summer season starts remains to be seen.

UPDATE (May 2, 2012 at 11:00 a.m.): A previous version of this article noted in the segment providing the loan totals that business owners have had trouble with paperwork for these loans. An SBS representative called us this morning to note that the link we directed viewers to regarded the U.S. Small Business Administration loan rates, which, at the time, was below 30 percent. The SBS rep said the numbers in this article, which are for SBS, actually reflected a much higher approval rate than SBA, at a rate of 88 to 90 percent. We regret any confusion caused by the link, and have separated it out from the paragraph and tweaked the language to more accurately portray the situation.

Photo by: BSH Shooter

Like many local business owners, Paul Randazzo, owner and operator of the world famous Randazzo’s Clam Bar (2017 Emmons Avenue), is rushing to reopen his doors to cash in on the upcoming lucrative holiday sales week. Until his desperately missed clams are back for sale, though, Randazzo himself refuses to indulge in any clam until they are served from his kitchen, according to a report by NY 1.

Since Superstorm Sandy closed Randazzo’s down in October, the clam bar has been doing all it can to reopen its doors as quickly as possible, but progress has been slow.

“I’m still not fully restored. I still have no register. I might be working out of the cigar box. As long as there’s money coming in and the doors are open. I just got my credit card machine,” Randazzo told NY1. ”I know it’s coming. I’ll be eating calamari Thursday at the latest,” Randazzo added, to the relief of those hungering for his delicious clams.

Despite the understandably less than speedy progress made by Randazzo to provide the city’s best clams, he considers himself fortunate compared to some other local businesses that share spots along Emmons Avenue.

Paulie Randazzo vows to reopen the battered restaurant before Thanksgiving.

Rosemary Randazzo watched helplessly as her restaurant, the near-century-old Randazzo’s Clam Bar at 2017 Emmons Avenue, was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.

Through cameras that streamed to her computer, Randazzo, 54, sat safely in her Mill Basin home and witnessed as the front doors broke and water rushed in and tormented furniture.

“The place looked like it was shaking,” Randazzo said. “It was terrible. I watched it until the electricity went.”

Randazzo’s Clam Bar, a five-generation community staple, was so badly damaged that it remains without power, heat or hot water more than two weeks later, but the owners are poised to have the neighborhood icon make a comeback in time for the holidays.

Keep reading, and see photos from inside Randazzo’s.

Arbuz on Sheepshead Bay Road

The past week or so has seen a couple of major New York City papers snooping around Sheepshead Bay’s restaurants, including a pretty hefty score for a newly-opened Manhattan location of a Sheepshead Bay original.

That’d be the New York Times talking about Treat Petite, the Greenwich Village spinoff of Arbuz (1706 Sheepshead Bay Road). A while back we broke the story of Arbuz’s expansion. Treat Petite (61 Grove Street) is now open, specializing in frozen kefir, and appear to have impressed the Times.

“Their soft serve, called Treat Petite, is refreshing and not as sweet as many brands of frozen yogurt. The store offers six varieties: plain, and five others subtly flavored with fruit purées, including pomegranate and caramelized pineapple. There are also smoothies and concoctions with various toppings, as well as coffee, crepes, waffles and some pastries.”

It seems to me that the wider world is finally waking up to the wealth of tastes and flavors our corner of the city has to offer, and what’s even better is that those business pioneers that took risks to start here in Sheepshead are finding success and expanding outward.

In addition to the New York Times story, local restaurants are also getting a huge shoutout in the Daily News. The paper launched a series – which we’ll say is inspired by The Bite, since they’re all in our coverage area anyway – showing off great restaurants along the Q line. So far they’ve covered:

• Tatiana’s in Brighton Beach
• Varenichnaya in Brighton Beach
• Coney Island Taste Peruvian Restaurant in Sheepshead Bay
• Randazzo’s Clam Bar in Sheepshead Bay
• Totonno’s Pizzeria in Coney Island

Randazzo’s Sandwich Spot, the newest outpost from the family that brought us the legendary Randazzo’s Clam Bar, is setting up shop just a few blocks from the Emmons Avenue staple, at 1520 Sheepshead Bay Road.

An employee on site said the sandwich shop will open within a week or so, assuming there aren’t any permit problems with the city.

Randazzo’s Sandwich Spot will feature cold cut sandwiches, paninis, wraps and salads alongside a handful of hot subs and breakfast items. The location’s “signature sandwiches” heros are priced at $8.50.

Bay News was the first to report on the planned location back in January, saying it was slated to open then.

The location was previously occupied by Grill Master, which closed up shop in August 2011.

The sinkhole before repairs.

Long covered by an upside-down traffic cone, a sinkhole approximately two feet wide and five feet deep has existed for several months at the corner of Emmons Avenue and East 21st Street, near Randazzo’s. After months of complaints from neighbors, the city is finally fixing the obvious danger to both pedestrians and drivers, and repairing the faulty sewer line that caused it.

The crater sat just a step off of the pedestrian curb cut on the northwest corner, large enough for a person’s leg – or even an entire child – to fall into. That threat had some locals concerned.

“I’m scared that maybe one day I forget to look down as I walk, and step into this hole,” Tanya K., an employee at a nearby boutique, told us before repairs began.

The safety concerns spurred at least one good Samaritan to shove a traffic cone inside it in an attempt to plug the hole. At various times over the last several months, other cones were seen around it, and, eventually, a broken construction barricade.

“I’ve walked past it a couple of times these past few weeks and even though they have this caution barricade on top of it, the city still needs to get this thing patched up soon,” nearby resident Marc Schwartz told us last week.

But despite the appearance of construction, all the items were cautionary – until this week.

City workers are currently on Emmons Avenue between East 21st Street and Ocean Avenue, tearing out the sidewalk and repairing a broken sewer line underneath – the source of the sinkhole, according to one of the workers.

The repairs came after months of complaints from nearby business owners. One who requested to remain anonymous said he put in multiple complaints to 311 over the past four months. However, the 311 service map only shows one complaint – placed on February 24. It was referred to DOT, even though the DEP is the agency responsible for sinkhole repairs, which might explain the delay.

The entire project should be wrapped up in a day or two, a worker at the scene told us.

- with additional reporting by Ned Berke.

Source: BSH Shooter/Flickr

There is going to be beef on this block. Roast beef. And maybe corned beef. Probably pastrami, too.

Randazzo’s Clam Bar (2023 Emmons Avenue) is opening up a sandwich shop on Sheepshead Bay Road between East 15th Street and East 16th Street, putting the shop, set to open up this month, within a five block radius of several key sandwich places in the area.

“People will be able to get a quick bite to eat [at our sandwich shop], but it’s still going to be high quality because the products are going to come from Randazzo’s,” said Joey Randazzo in the Courier’s Life Brooklyn Daily article.

The famous seafood restaurant is hoping to target the commuters along Sheepshead Bay Road.

“There’s a lot of people coming and going [along Sheepshead Bay Road],” said Randazzo. “We think it’s a great location.”

Sheepshead Bay already has Jimmy’s Famous Heroes, Bassett Deli & Caterers, Roll-N-Roaster and Brennan and Carr, but Randazzo sees it differently.

“There’s no place to get a good hero in Sheepshead Bay,” he said.

Even with Randazzo’s expansion and the owner’s fighting words, some in the community are willing to accept the challenge.

“As long as the quality remains the same, our customers will keep coming here,” said Frank D’Antonio, a manager of the Bassett Deli.

Tell us where you guys are planning to eat at. Let us know where you’re loyalty lies!

THE BITE: Winter arrived big time yesterday and as the mercury dropped and old man winter nipped at my nose, my stomach craved some hot warming soup. I wanted comfort soup; not some whimpy, thin, watered down “soup and sandwich” soup, but a soup that would qualify as a meal on its own.

As a child, thick homemade soups were common meals in my house. Anything from potato cheese, to white borscht (I have no idea why we never had the more common red beet borscht. Got a problem with that? Take it up with my mother), chicken noodle, split pea with ham to beef barley; all manners of soups were served. Little did I know that most of these soups were simple meal stretchers made from the leftover meals of the week.

The flavors and ingredients may have varied, but these soups were composed as meals. Not starters. That’s what I craved.

Randazzo’s spicy crab corn chowder soup ($8 small, $11 large) satisfied all my requirements. Thick, with an amazing amount of crab meat, this creamy soup is hearty enough to be a meal on it’s own.

Continue Reading »

We all know about Roll-N-Roaster’s commercials; after all, the same commercial has been airing since the 1980s alongside late-night cable programming. And there are some of the old ads we’ve featured in the past.

But over the weekend, the above commercial for that other legendary Emmons Avenue eatery – Randazzo’s Clam Bar – surfaced on YouTube.

Produced in the 1970′s, the ad captures some awesome footage of not just the existing Randazzo’s Italian Restaurant – “known the world over for seafood at its best” – but also some blasts from the past. There’s the original location of Randazzo’s Clam Bar, Randazzo’s Sea and Turf Restaurant, as well as the old Randazzo’s Fish Market, where “most seafood and fish are delivered fresh daily from right across the street.”

All of the businesses were located on Emmons Avenue between Ocean Avenue and East 21st Street, but only the corner location still stands.

Bonus points? The video has a heck of a lot of mustaches and tight-fitting jeans, proving, once and for all, that Brooklynites are the original hipsters. Today’s Little Wisco freakettes are 40 years too late.

Posers.

City Councilmembers Lew Fidler and Mike Nelson, and Borough President Marty Markowitz with Sheepshead Bites founder Ned Berke. (Photo by Randy Contello)

If you missed A Taste of Sheepshead Bay on Thursday night, you missed history being made.

Whereas, Brooklyn is most justifiably lauded for the rich array of culinary splendor that awaits residents and visitors alike, and everyone, from the comfort food seeker to the most finicky foodie is bound to encounter everything that will wow his or her palate, it is most fitting that we recognize those wonderful purveyors of decadent delectables, whose excellent taste and hard work help create the unique and fanciful flavor for which Brooklyn is widely known; and

Whereas, all of Brooklyn joins the owners, staff and supporters of twenty one of the best restaurants in Sheepshead Bay as Sheepshead Bites – Sheepshead Bay’s only independent news blog and winner of the L Magazine 2010 best local blogger distinction for Brooklyn and Manhattan - presents “A Taste of Sheepshead Bay,” an evening of eclectic food sampling and sumptuous entertainment, pronouncing Sheepshead Bay as Brooklyn’s premier culinary destination once again

So begins the proclamation issued by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz as he declared,

Now, therefore, I Marty Markowitz, President of the Borough of Brooklyn, do hereby proclaim, Thursday, October 27, 2011, 1st Annual Sheepshead Bites, A Taste of Sheepshead Bay Celebration Day in Brooklyn, USA.

Approximately 350 people attended the first Taste of Sheepshead Bay. They braved the elements to feast on the best that Sheepshead Bay had to offer as we celebrated the best damn neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Keep reading the event roundup, and to view more photos.