(718) 260–2500 Brooklyn Paper’s essential guide to the Borough of Kings December 20–26, 2019
DINING
Second helping
The she-crab soup is on!
The famous 19th century chophouse Gage and
Tollner, which closed in 2004 after 125 years of
serving oysters and
chops to Brooklyn’s
Downtown residents,
will return
early next year,
the chefs reviving
the spot announced
last week.
Co-owner St.
John Frizell said
that he did not want to jinx their chances by
announcing an exact date, but if all goes well
the historic Fulton Street eatery will open in late
January or early February of 2020.
During a discussion at the Brooklyn Historical
Society on Dec. 9, Frizell and co-owner
Sohui Kim (pictured, with other co-owner Ben
Schenider, left) described their plans for the restored
Gage and Tollner, which is famous for
its landmarked interior, featuring brass chandeliers,
cherrywood paneling, and rows of gleaming
mirrors.
“It’s going to be an oyster chophouse, not a
steakhouse. We’re not so meat-heavy, but we’re
going to offer a little bit of everything,” said
Kim. “We’re nodding to the past, but looking
to the future.”
The restaurant’s famous “she-crab soup” will
return, as will the clam belly broil and the mutton
chop, she announced.
Frizell is designing original drinks for a second
floor tiki bar, but the cocktail list in the main
room will be filled with old school classics, including
the Manhattan, Sazerac, and Sidecar.
“Upstairs we’ll be able to get weird,” he said.
“Downstairs, it’ll be just like it was in 1944.”
For more info on Gage and Tollner, visit
www.gageandtollner.com. — Bill Roundy
MUSIC
The season marches on!
A musical holiday parade will strut through
Brownsville on the afternoon of Dec. 21, the
shortest day of the year. The Be Merry Music Parade
— one of three Brooklyn events in the citywide
Make Music Winter celebration — will be
the first of its kind for the
neighborhood, according
to its organizer.
“This will be the first
time that the community
will be the audience and
we’re performing for
them,” said Manuel Larino,
from the Brownsville
Community Justice
Center, the group hosting
the event. “In other parades, people are invited
to walk in the procession. This is going
to be more similar to the Macy’s Day Parade,
where people are watching from the sidelines
and singing along.”
The mile-long procession will feature eight
musical acts, cheerleaders, and elected officials.
Several acts — including DJ Collaborative, an
all-girl group of disk jockeys, and Sounds of
Brownsville, the Justice Center’s own music
collective — will perform on floats equipped
with stages and microphones. Between those
floats, marching bands will play Caribbean music,
and a choir singing holiday favorites will
bring up the rear.
The Brownsville parade is one of three Brooklyn
events happening in partnership with Make
Music New York — a group that organizes free,
outdoor music events on the winter and summer
solstices. The other two events are the Flatbush
Flatfoot, where dancers and fiddlers progress
down Flatbush Avenue in Prospect Heights
while doing a stompy Appalachian dance, and
the Kensington Plaza Sing-Along, where attendees
can belt out their holiday favorites with local
musician Deirdre Rodman Struck.
Be Merry Music Parade along Rockwell Avenue
between Pitkin and Dumont avenues in
Brownsville, www.makemusicny.org. Dec. 21;
11:30 am–1 pm. Free. — Rose Adams
2020 visions
Pick the perfect spot to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Brooklyn
By Ben Verde
Brooklyn Paper
It’s the end of the decade as we know
it!
New Year’s Eve is coming up soon,
and you need to decide how you are going
to welcome the Roaring 2020s! Whether
you want to spend this special midnight
at a dance party, a rock show, a fireworks
display, or a beer bash, Kings County has
got you covered!
Begin in Berlin
Celebrate New Year’s Eve early! Schnitzel
Haus in Bay Ridge will sync its celebration
to the date change in Berlin —
which means that it will be midnight there,
and 6 pm in Brooklyn! So you can bring
the kids, munch on sausage and schnitzel,
welcome the new year with a countdown
and noisemakers, and still go home
and get a full night’s sleep. Reservations
recommended.
New Year’s Eve at Schnitzel Haus 7319
Fifth Ave. between 73rd and 74th streets
in Bay Ridge, (718) 836–5600, www.schnitzelhausny.
com. Dec. 31; 5–8 pm. Free.
New Year’s Dance
Ring in the new year with a techno-bumping
rager at Elsewhere, a massive warehouse
turned- nightclub in Bushwick. You
can catch chillwave legend Neon Indian’s
spinning in its cavernous Hall, or enjoy
more intimate sets with local disk jockeys
in Zone One or the smaller upstairs
Loft room. The entire venue will join in a
champagne toast at midnight.
New Year’s Eve at Elsewhere 599 Johnson
Ave. at Scott Avenue in Bushwick,
www.elsewherebrooklyn.com. Dec. 31; 9
pm–4 am. $55.
Rockin’ Eve
You can bang out the new year with a
rowdy rock show of grungy guitars at the
Music Hall of Williamsburg. Pom Pom
Club’s snarling riot grrl punk will get you
ready to take on the new year, and Reign
Wolf’s sludgy, distorted grunge will take
it home for those looking to headbang ther
way into 2020.
Music Hall of Williamsburg 66 N. Sixth
St. between Wythe and Kent avenues in
Williamsburg, (718) 486–5400, www.musichallofwilliamsburg.
com. Dec. 31 at 10
pm, $35.
With a bang!
Celebrate the end of another year with
a spectacle of lights and fire! Head to
Grand Army Plaza for the best view of
the New Year’s Eve Fireworks over Prospect
Park, where you can join Borough President
Adams and thousands of your fellow
Brookynites in listening to hits from local
band Quintessential Playlist, followed by
fireworks at the stroke of midnight.
New Year’s Eve Fireworks at Grand
Army Plaza Flatbush Avenue at Eastern
Parkway in Prospect Heights, (718) 965–
8951, www.prospectpark.org/nye. Dec.
31 at 10:30 pm. Free.
The roaring ’20s
Ring in the 2020s with a trip back to the
1920s! Brooklyn Cider House will become
a roaring speakeasy for the evening, featuring
an open bar, delicious bar bites, a
cider-champagne tower, an anachronistic
vinyl DJ and a screening of the ball drop
from Times Square! Guests who show up
early for the $69 dinner can get $59 party
tickets. Don’t forget your flapper dress and
newsboy cap!
Roaring ’20s Party at Brooklyn Cider
House 1100 Flushing Ave. between Varick
and Porter Avenues in Bushwick, (347)
295–0308, www.brooklynciderhouse.
com Dec. 31; 10 pm–2 am. $100.
Brewery ball
On the other side of Brooklyn, the Coney
Island Brewery is also leaning into the
’20s theme, turning its newly expanded
taproom into a full-blown speakeasy, featuring
a raucous jazz band and sideshow
acts. Your ticket will get you four drink
tickets and some late-night bites — but
make sure you get the password, or you’ll
be left in the cold!
New Year’s Eve Party at Coney Island
Brewery 1904 Surf Ave. at W. 16th Street
in Coney Island, (718) 996–0019, www.coneyislandbeer.
com. Dec. 31; 8 pm–2 am.
$40.
Sweet and sour
You can dance the year away with a
groovy night at Lemon’s in Williamsburg,
the sixth floor bar of the Wythe Hotel. The
disco-soaked evening will be anchored behind
the decks by Nelleke, and well-heeled
partiers can revel in the upscale ambiance
— a late-night table reservation has a $100
per person minimum; or you can pay $20
at the door for access to the dance floor
all night long.
New Year’s Eve at Lemon’s 80 Wythe
Ave. between N. 11 and 12th streets in
Williamsburg, (718) 460–8006, www.lemonsbk.
com. Dec. 31; 8:30 pm–2 am. $20.
Merry melody
TV
Med talk
They are reaching out over the airwaves!
A local monthly medical television show explores
a campaign by a Brooklyn hospital to
spread health information to its neighbors in
Brownsville, Canarsie,
and East Flatbush. The
guest on the upcoming
episode of Medcast Plus,
airing on Brooklyn Free
Speech Channel on Dec.
21, said that Brookdale
Hospital has increased its
disease prevention efforts
in recent years.
“Education is the first line of prevention, and
that’s where we’ve stepped up our communication,”
said Khari Edwards, the hospital’s vice
president of external affairs.
Informing people of serious health symptoms
helps people to take care of their problems before
they become dire, he said.
“Our prevention pieces — what are the signs
of stroke, what are the possible signs of diabetes
— make people think ‘Let me get ahead
of these things so I don’t wind up in the emergency
room,’ ” said Edwards.
The tactics used by Brookdale could apply
to any health provider in Kings County, said
the show’s host.
“Any time we talk about health in Brooklyn,
it applies to the county as a whole. All the hospitals
are in the same boat,” said Dr. Jack Braha, a
Brooklyn gastroenterologist (pictured).
“Medcast Plus” airs on Brooklyn Free
Speech Channel 3 (Channel 56 on Spectrum,
69 on Optimum, and online at www.bricartsmedia.
org/3). Dec. 21 and Jan. 4 at 12:01 am,
8:30 am, and 2 pm. Free. — Bill Roundy
Light entertainment
Hanukkah comedy show returns to Union Hall
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
This show is a gelt-y pleasure!
An annual comedy show featuring
all Jewish performers will
return this weekend to put Hanukkah
in the spotlight. The fourth annual
“Chanukahstravaganza,” at Park
Slope’s Union Hall on Dec. 21, celebrates
the festival of lights during a
time of year when Santa Claus and
a baby in a manger tend to hog all
the attention, according to one of the
show’s founders.
“People mostly think of Christmas,
and other holidays like Hanukkah
and Kwanzaa become kind
of sidebars. With this, Hanukkah becomes
the main event for one night,”
said Lana Schwartz.
During the show, subtitled “Brighter
than Ever,” a half-dozen comedians
will perform standup focused on the
eight-day holiday, which lends itself
to laughs more than other, more somber
COMEDY
events in the Jewish calendar, according
to Schwartz.
“This is one of the more uplifting
holidays — you don’t have to fast,”
she said. “A lot of Jewish holidays
are kind of downers.”
Schwartz and the event’s cofounder,
fellow comedian Ilana Michelle
Rubin, will emcee the show and
perform short sketches between the
acts, including a recurring segment
about “Forgotten Heroes of Hanukkah”
— lesser-known characters involved
in the miraculous eight nights
of oil.
The founders will also act out a few
Hanukkah rom-coms — a Jewish spin
on the many romantic Christmas specials
that air this time of year. Previous
years have also featured “Hanukkah
Carols,” according to Schwartz.
For the audience, there will be
plenty of chocolate gelt to snack on,
along with a dreidel-spinning competition
and a raffle, with prizes that
include two VIP tickets to a taping of
“The Daily Show,” and a signed copy
of performer Josh Gondelman’s book
“Nice Try.”
All proceeds from the raffle and
ticket sales will go to the Center for
Advancing Holocaust Survivor Care,
said Schwartz.
The annual event has become a great
place for participants to share their different
experiences of Hanukkah, said
Rubin, who added that people of all
faiths are welcome at the show.
“What’s most important to us is
making people laugh and share this
holiday with people who are or aren’t
Jewish,” she said.
Founders of the fest: Ilana Rubin and Lana Schwartz will host a
night of Hanukkah-themed comedy on Dec 21. Photo by Mindy Tucker
“Chanukahstravaganza: Brighter
Than Ever” at Union Hall 702
Union St. between Fifth and Sixth
avenues in Park Slope, (718) 638–
4400, www.unionhallny.com.
Dec. 21 at 7:30 pm. $12 ($10 in
advance).
Photo by Azikiwe Aboagye
Give me an N-Y-E: (Left) Pom Pom
Squad is clearly very excited to play
New Year’s Eve at the Music Hall of
Williamsburg. (Top) The fireworks
at Prospect Park draw thousands of
spectators each year.
Photo by Michael Todaro
Photo by Julianne Cuba
Photo by Make Music Winter
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