WINTER ESCAPE
Brooklyn spots where you can pretend it is still summer
WBy Jessica Parks inter officially starts
this weekend, but we
are already dreaming of
warm weather. So here are three
summer spots in Brooklyn where
you can go to escape the winter,
and make those dreams come true.
Notes on Camp
A newly-opened toy store in
Brooklyn’s Downtown hides a
secret summer sanctum. Behind
a bookcase at the back of Camp,
you will find a space decked out to
resemble a New England summer
camp — including a painted lake
with projected ripples, log cabins,
trees stretching to the ceiling, and
a 1970s station wagon that evokes
memories of old school road trips.
Every shelf is covered in toys,
games, and kids’ clothing, but there
are also plenty of free campground
games to keep kids occupied.
Young campers can immerse
themselves in craft activities
that change each day, including
making masks or dreamcatchers,
and then can enjoy storytelling
events or kids’ comedy shows at
the “Campitheatre.”
Camp 1 Dekalb Ave. between
Albee Square W. and Fleet Street in
Downtown, (917) 310–2448, camp.
com/locations/5-brooklyn. Sun–
Wed, 10 am–7 pm; Thurs–Sat 10
am–8 pm. Free.
Tiki talk
Sip a drink from a coconut
shell and imagine that you
A little horseplay: The toy store and activity center Camp features an underground
forest decorated like a summer camp, where kids can forget about winter for a
while. Photo by Carlyn Thompson
are in the tropics, at Crown
Height’s tiki bar Super Power!
Fend off the winter doldrums
by sipping on summer cocktails
served up in beachy vessels,
including a mezcal Mai Tai, a
frozen Painkiller, and the fourperson
COURIER LIFE, D 54 ECEMBER 20-26, 2019
“Tea Punch” served in
an enormous conch shell and
decorated with tiny umbrellas
and tropical fauna. Outfitted in
neon lights, glowing pineapples,
and sculptures of pufferfish,
Super Power helps patrons feel
like wintertime is far, far away.
Super Power 722 Nostrand Ave.
between Prospect and Park places
in Crown Heights, (718) 484–0020,
superpowerbrooklyn.com. Mon–
Fri 5 pm–4 am; Sat–Sun 2 pm–4
am. Free.
Shuffle along
A Gowanus shuff leboard club
offers a helping stick for those
who want to feel that they are
cruising the Caribbean. Bring a
friend or three and sign up for
the game traditionally played
on board a yacht, and you can
send disks spinning across one
of the club’s 10 shuffleboard
courts. You will be surrounded
by plastic palm trees, pictures
of pink flamingos, and
bartenders rocking Hawaiian
shirts. Between matches, you
can kick back on the summer
patio furniture while sipping a
frozen pina colada from one of
the club’s two bars.
Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club
(514 Union St. at Nevins Street in
Gowanus, www.royalpalmsshuffle.
com). Mon–Thu, 6 pm–midnight;
Fri, 6 pm–2 am; Sat, noon–2
am; Sun, noon–10 pm. $40 for
shuffleboard court.
Bringing it back: Restaurateurs, from left, Ben Schenider, Sohui Kim, and St
John Frizell, are behind the second iteration of Gage and Tollner.
Second helping
Historic Fulton Street chophouse
is set to return in early 2020
By Bill Roundy 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 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.
The pair studied old menus,
preserved in the Historical
Society archives, when
preparing their new menus.
The new incarnation of the
restaurant will pay homage to
its past, said Kim.
“It’s going to be an oyster
chophouse, not a steakhouse.
Photo by Julianne Cuba
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 to
applause from the audience.
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.”
The downstairs bar will also
serve a “Brooklyn cocktail,”
Frizell revealed, using a recipe
invented at Gage & Tollner
in 1934, using Jamaican rum,
lime, and grenadine. Frizell is
tweaking the beverage for the
modern palate, he noted.
“We want it to be a
Cosmopolitan for the new
millennium — delicious and
totally crushable,” he said.
Gage and Tollner 372 Fulton
St. between Street and Red Hook
Lane Downtown, (973) 715–
5156, www.gageandtollner.com.
Opening in 2020.
Shaking things up: The Gage and Tollner bar, shown here in 1939, will soon
be restored to its former glory. Brooklyn Historical Society
TBy Bill Roundy hey 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, which will air
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, with the same
constraints,” said Dr. Jack Braha, a
Brooklyn gastroenterologist.
Speaking to a doctor can often
be intimidating, so Braha said that
he tries to give the show a more
relaxed, collegial tone, and to keep
its medical information at a level
that everyone can understand.
“I try to ask questions that, if I
was home watching, I would want
to know,” said Braha. “As a doctor,
it’s easy to get lost in the science,
but we try to make whatever we’re
talking about accessible to the
audience, who might not have a
medical or a science degree.”
“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.
Med talk
Talk therapy: Dr. Jack Braha talks with
Khari Edwards, from Brookdale Hospital,
on the latest episode of Medcast Plus,
debuting on Dec. 21.
/superpowerbrooklyn.com
/www.gageandtollner.com
/www.bricartsmedia
/www.royalpalmsshuffle
/www.royalpalmsshuffle
/www.gageandtollner.com
/www.bricartsmedia