Rich Mintz  

From the Brooklyn Paper via Curbed: downzoning fever is  coming to my old neighborhood Boerum Hill.  The worst of the sore-thumb inappropriate development is probably over for a while, given that the money stopped flowing 18 months ago, but it will still be good to have clearer rules in place.

I’m sitting in the office listening to the kind of review (from a colleague) of the newly reopened Pies ‘n’ Thighs, in Williamsburg, that makes me want to take the rest of the day off and go get two chicken biscuits (“hot sauce,” “honey,” “mountain of fried chicken,” “best biscuit of my life”), eat them, then sit on the Brooklyn waterfront all day and watch the boats go by. This after reading this salivation-inducing review yesterday. So I’m making plans for dinner in Williamsburg next week…

Had another Montreal smoked meat sandwich from Mile End, and this time I was thoughtful enough to snap a photo before I gobbled the thing down in four minutes. (Half-sour by Ba-Tampte; plate by Fishs Eddy.) A perfect sandwich.

I found myself in Boerum Hill about 9pm Sunday and decided to walk 2 blocks to check out the famed Mile End, which has allegedly brought Montreal-style smoked meat to New York. I’ve had this clipping stuck up on my refrigerator for 6 months, so it’s about time.

Amazingly, 5 nights a week Mile End is open until 10, and they dispense take-out sandwiches right out a window onto the street. I took one home. The claims are true: the slow-smoked, peppery slices, thin and a little fatty, are almost buttery in their smoothness, infused with the smoke flavor you only ever find in the products of barbecue joints in the middle of nowhere, piled onto good rye bread with mustard. Best eaten with a half-sour or two contributed from your refrigerator, and maybe a seltzer. Sorry, no photos of the sandwich, it didn’t last.