January 20, 2007 / Brooklyn Heights–Downtown / Perspective / Heights Lowdown

Winter weather forecast? Check Water Street

By Christie Rizk

The Brooklyn Paper

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Dining: Chocolate war in DUMBO: It’s mugs at dawn for Jacques Torres and old pal

Dining: Hot chocolate smackdown

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Some people read the thermometer to judge the temperature. In DUMBO, we just check to see which end of Water Street is busy.

The weather outside — which is supposed to be frightful this time of year — has been lousy. It’s been so hot, in fact, that not only are people quoting Al Gore without irony, but the cherry blossoms at the Botanic Garden are opening up faster than a stripper’s bra at a bachelor party.

But on one end of Water Street, the hot weather has been good news. At the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, business has been booming, said soda jerk Leo Camacho.

“We’ve made about two to three times as much money this winter than last winter. It’s been excessively ridiculous,” he added with a grin.

A few more hot days like we’ve been having and the parlor will lend its voice to the Bush administration’s global-warming-isn’t-so-bad chorus.

But when the mercury finally took a dive these last few days, so did the factory’s business. Only two other women, besides this intrepid reporter, braved Wednesday’s 20-degree temperature for a taste of the best chocolate chocolate chunk outside of Waterbury, Vermont.

The other tables were empty, and even the employees were surprised to see anyone walk in the door.

But one man’s storm cloud is another man’s silver lining. On the other end of Water Street, things couldn’t have been better for the hot chocolatiers at Jacques Torres.

“It’s been crazy,” said Christine Collins, the store’s manager. “As soon as it got cold, people started coming in for the hot chocolate almost immediately.”

Unlike the tables at the Ice Cream Factory, Jacques Torres’s were packed (two girls were even sitting in each other’s laps).

For Collins, it was a dramatic change from a few days earlier, when she stood helpless as t-shirt-wearing tourists walked right past her shop to get their treat at the Ice Cream Factory.

But now that it’s cold, Collins’s shivering customers are back, guzzling the store’s rich hot chocolate (how rich is it? It’s so rich that it doesn’t pay taxes, that’s how rich. Bada-bing). A cup of this stuff makes you feel like you’re wrapped in wool — from the inside.

Like a groundhog who sees his shadow, Collins is hoping these “super spikes” of customers will last for a few weeks at least.

“We want winter to stick,” she said, admitting that the store only has itself to blame for not capitalizing on everyone’s seasonally affected disorder: Jacques Torres makes ice cream sandwiches, but the store doesn’t serve them in the winter, so it hasn’t been able to cash in on the tropical winter weather (did I just write that?).

Temperatures are expected to rise and fall like Britney Spears’ hemline for the next few weeks, so we DUMBO insiders will be staking out Water Street instead of the Weather Channel. At least Water Street has ice cream and hot chocolate.

The Kitchen Sink

When the cat’s away the mice will play. But will the cheesecake suffer now that Junior’s owner Alan Rosen is away on vacation? Email The Stoop if you taste a difference in the world’s most-famous artery-clogger this week while Rosen is on R&R. …

We’ve been hearing rumors for weeks that Greens, a kosher vegan Chinese joint on Montague Street, would soon close. A friend went to the restaurant to book a private party in March, but was told it couldn’t be done. We’ll miss the hot and spicy tofu. …

Looking for a healthy way to start the New Year? Visit Long Island University’s new nursing center for free treatment. The center, on the Downtown campus at 161 Ashland Pl., offers weight-loss counseling and HIV testing, while other services, such as mammograms and anti-smoking programs, will start in the spring. …

Now that they’ve got their street trees, folks in DUMBO are agitating for a better subway station. The DUMBO Parents’ Organization is demanding renovations to the York Street F-train station and is gathering signatures on petitions at the DUMBO General Store (with its amazing coffee) and Half-Pint.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper