There’s plenty of food news to get excited about this week — beyond the return of the ice cream trucks.
There’s nothing better than pizza and a movie, and on Tuesday, June 17 at 8 pm, the New York Food Film Festival will be screening three saucy flicks — “Brooklyn Pizza,” “Pure and Simple” and “In Pignata: Calabrian Fireside Cooking” — in the lot next to world-renowned DUMBO pizzeria Grimaldi’s.
“Brooklyn Pizza” director and film festival organizer George Motz told us that the festival is not to be missed.
“I call it pizza porn,” the South Slope resident said. “[‘Brooklyn Pizza’] is a work in progress. I decided to go out and shoot my favorites, which are Grimaldi’s, DiFara’s and Totonno’s. Those are the three great classics in Brooklyn. I wanted to shoot the pizza-making process from the beginning to the end.”
Motz said his pizza project should expand by next year. After his last film, “Hamburger America,” turned into a book, we wouldn’t be surprised at anything this pie guy does.
For more information, check out www.nycfoodfilmfestival.com.
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On Tuesday, June 3, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy will host its eighth annual Sunset Sizzle, an evening of live music, art and, of course, food.
Manhattan-based catering company Food in Motion will be serving spicy Argentinean steak, crab cakes with curried apples, North Carolina barbecue and miniature pizzas with spicy sausage and fresh mozzarella cheese.
But no summertime celebration is complete without a specialty cocktail, which in this case is the “French 75,” a mixture of gin, Prosecco and fresh fruit, served in glasses rimmed with Pop Rocks.
“The theme is sparkles,” said Lloyd Zimet, owner of Food in Motion. “So I tried to make everything very zesty. It was kind of a challenge, but I used a lot of spice. They’re all fun taste sensations.”
Wine from Heights Chateau, beer from the Brooklyn Brewery and Fizzy Lizzy sodas will also be available to quench your thirst.
The tastiest tidbit of the evening, however, just might be the guest of honor. Gov. Paterson is expected to join the festivities, which — chocolate cups with raspberries and vanilla mascarpone notwithstanding — certainly sweetens the deal.
For tickets, which begin at $125, call (718) 802-0603 or visit www.brooklynbridgepark.org.
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Beginning Wednesday, June 4, Carroll Gardens Italian mainstay Marco Polo Ristorante will begin a month-long celebration of its 25th anniversary.
Through June 30, the restaurant will offer two three-course, prix-fixe meals: the lunch is $19.83 — to honor the year it opened — and the dinner is $25. The meals will include dishes like homemade pastas with spicy sausage and “guanciale” (cured fat from a hog’s jowl), caprese salad, grilled octopus and “fegato alla Veneziana” — calf’s liver sauteed with onions and black peppers served over polenta.
Dessert choices include gelato with fresh cherries and aged Balsamic vinegar and, of course, Marco Polo’s famous Italian cheesecake.
To make reservations, call (718) 852-5015.
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Former Schnack master Harry Hawk, whose Columbia Street Waterfront District burger-and-dog Mecca was recently shuttered, is still riding high. On May 20, Hawk won the first “Burger Battle of the Boroughs” with a classic, freshly ground Schnack burger. The only catch? Hawk was representing Queens!
“We had to represent Queens, which we’re proud to be part of,” said Hawk, who owns Harry’s Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City. “But the burger was born in Brooklyn.”
Since Hawk flew the Brooklyn coop — he’s not currently working in the borough, but has “a few things in the works” — he said he’s definitely felt some culinary pangs of nostalgia for his old chomping grounds.
“I very much miss pizza from Grimaldi’s and Lucali,” he said. “Last year, I ran the beach [at the floating pool] in Brooklyn Heights, and I miss that.
Hopefully, the pool and Hawk will both be back in Brooklyn by this time next year.
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The Center for Kosher Culinary Arts in Midwood has taught Brooklyn cooks to make everything from challah bread to chocolate, but beginning July 7, the Center is teaming up with Kingsborough Community College to offer a professional course in “Kosher Culinary Arts.”
Jesse Blonder, the school’s director, told GO Brooklyn that those lucky enough — or rich enough — to nab one of the class’s limited seats — the six-week course runs $4,500 — will be “taught proper kashrus techniques for preparing meats and checking vegetables” in an “intensive, accelerated program in culinary artistry.”
To apply for the class — which will fill up on a first-come, first-served basis — call Blonder at (718) 513-9934.
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Finally, if you’re like GO Brooklyn and you’ve been dreaming about the lobster roll — up a dollar from last year, but still a deal at $8.99 — at Fairway in Red Hook all winter long, there’s no better time to go grab one (or more) than Friday, June 6, when the mega-store will open “Hungry For Art,” an exhibit of paintings and drawings that will beautify the market’s indoor and outdoor dining areas.
The show will be up through June 12, so whether you’re craving more crustaceans or more culture, you can drop by again and again. For store hours and information, call (718) 694-6868 or visit www.fairwaymarket.com.
