From the Nest

This just in, Reader...er...kinda just in. More accurately—this just being written about because we have day jobs, Reader, and have to pay the bills, Reader, we can't all be trust-fund-Readers, Reader, implied passive aggression intended, Reader. ...yeah. We'll stick with 'this just in.'

This just in, Reader: Maimonide of Brooklyn—the bizarre-yet-awesome new(ish) South Brooklyn vegetarian joint we wrote up back in January—after expanding their menu to include dinner entrées (vegan pumpkin seed pesto pasta, veggie burgers, and nightly specials) now serves an ultra-cute little slider version of their burgers for lunch (pictured above). 

Like its big papa, the 'lil guy is made of a surprisingly meaty crimini mushroom base and comes on a house-baked sweet potato roll with secret sauce (like a vegan thousand island, for reals), Brooklyn Brine's locally made pickles, charred onions, and a 'lil tomato. 

Pair all that with their delectable house yuca fries, a nice IPA, and a seat in Maimonide's tranquil backyard, and you get a lovely, raven + crow approved lunch. Get yo eat on, Brooklyn!

The Song

Holograms • Chasing My Mind First off, no—this is not Jem's backing band. Sorry, Reader. I was a bit bummed too.

In the real-life, non-80s-Japanimated world, Holograms is a band of four twenty-something Swedes who work in a Stockholm factory together and—when not hammering metal ores into giant cogs, let's say (who knows, it might be a kitten factory)—churn out highly energized, new-wave-inspired, melodic punk. 

Their songs are reminiscent of Wire and the Clash; the stuff of adolescent dreams, likely to inspire such frowned-upon choices as skateboarding, asymmetrical haircuts, ill-advised piercings, graffiti, and starting your own band with your not-so-talented but totally excited friends and playing tiny clubs to tiny crowds. Or, if you're in your mid-thirties and a little old for any of that this far on, it just reminds you of a simpler, younger, more rambunctious time, while still giving you something new and modern to remind you that this stuff's not coming from a band that broke up years ago; it's coming from kids who are just starting out and who—with any luck—have a long road of creative productivity and awesome music ahead of them.

Listen to the band's single, "Chasing My Mind," and be on the lookout for their debut self-titled album next month via Brooklyn's own Captured Tracks and some stateside shows in September at Mercury Lounge + 285 Kent. You can also order a limited edition clear vinyl 7" from the label that features the track "ABC City." Video for that one below.

Photo by Julia Persson.    

Note: Songs posted to this site are kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead. Buy music!

From the Nest • Pok Pok NY

Okay, we've said this before and we'll say it again—we love it when non-vegan restaurants throw the vegans a bone. Well...not literally throw the vegans a bone. That would totally make no sense. We would hate that. But you know what we mean, Reader. 

Places like Paulie Gee's in Greenpoint that have a clearly labeled vegan menu with house-made nut cheeses and Daiya dairy-free cheese for their wood-fire-oven pizzas; places like Family Recipe in the lower east side that serve modern Japanese cuisine and feature multiple vegan options; those kinda places make us wanna shake our groove thang...give them a virtual and/or literal high-five...even record yet another version of "Call Me Maybe" and cleverly insert their establishment name and our favored menu items (why is that a thing, by the way?—we don't quite get it). 

Don't worry—we have created no such version of "Call Me Maybe." We do, however, have yet another NYC restaurant for you that's very much vegan-friendly. AND it just happens to be one that's been much-hyped in the press of late—it's Pok Pok NY, the brand new eastern outpost of the loved Portland Thai street food eatery. 

We heard Pok Pok was had eastward-looking eyes last fall and—when we learned that their original location was pretty vegan-friendly AND that they planned on opening up the New York hub blocks away from our home—contacted them to urge them bring the vegan-friendliness to their Brooklyn home. Their cordial response assured us they would. So what kinda food do they serve? AWESOME kinda food.

According to Pok Pok NY's Web site:

"We serve food found at pubs, restaurants, homes and the streets of Southeast Asia with the majority of the food coming from Thailand, and specifically from the North and Northeast of Thailand. We do not make "fusion" food here; everything has been researched, eaten, and/or prepared in the country of it's origin prior to being put on the Pok Pok menu (exception: the Pok Pok Affogato which is an unabashed riff on the Vietnamese breakfast of coffee and fried donuts). If you'd like to see some of the dishes in their native land, please check us out on Facebook; there are a lot of photos there. Our menu changes seasonally, monthly or at whim. We do not serve staples like Phat Thai or Penang Curry, but the food we do serve is very accessible to most people. We use local product when possible and practical. We do not use MSG. While we are not specifically vegetarian friendly, all our vegetarian dishes are either vegan or can be made vegan, and there are usually about a half dozen of those on the menu."

See that last bit? It's right on their site. THAT'S the kinda thing we love—not having to worry about explaining to a server what is or isn't considered vegan and having them work vegan options right into their menu rather than potentially taking out of a dish the very things the chef planned his or her tastes around.  

We've talked about this before, but we love it when restauranteurs who have a passion for food and serving their customers creatively have the open-mindness to include vegans among their potential patrons. Yes, in our ideal world, every restaurant would serve only vegan food and every person would happily eat animal-friendly fare and the creatures of this planet would throw a big parade for us all because we finally 'got it.' We're working on that. And in the meantime, the more mainstream, non-vegan joints that work plant-based foods into their menu, the better, in our humble opinions. Especially when it's this good.

You can take a look at the full menu yourself, but our favorite offerings are the vegan Khao Soi (pictured above)—a Northern Thai mild curry noodle soup made with a secret curry paste recipe, house-pressed fresh coconut milk, tofu, meaty lotus root chunks (I think), and served with house-pickled mustard greens, fresh shallots, crispy noodles, and an awesome roasted chili paste—and Phat Khanaeng—insanely tasty stir-fried brussels sprouts with thai chilies, garlic, and a sweet soy sauce that induces insatiable cravings for days on end after. Be sure you get some sticky rice to sop up the sauce on the sprouts—best. We also recently tried their spicy forest mushroom salad, with rings of fresh lemongrass, cilantro, toasted rice powder, and chili-lime dressing (pictured below). It too was superb, with its surprising meaty, woodsy mushrooms and exciting combination of fresh citrus and peppery spice. Be warned though, it's not for the light of heart—when they say spicy, they mean spicy. Add to all that an admirable, fish-sauce-free (when ordered vegan) green papaya salad and an enticing-sounding (haven't tried it yet) herbal root vegetable salad, and you've got quite a few options. Additionally, though they have no immediate plans, Pok Pok NY reps have mentioned that they do plan to switch them menu up a bit over time, so stay tuned!  

And this needs its own paragraph, Reader—their kaffir lime leaf infused gin + tonic is mind-blowing. Katie doesn't even like gin and, not only is it her favorite drink so far on their extensive menu of creative libations, but we made our version of it our signature cocktail (pictured to the right) at her recent birthday shebang, and it went over like gangbusters. And yes, I have now started writing like I'm in a Dick Tracy comic for some reason. 

Pok Pok NY is located along the Columbia Street Waterfront—despite what is being written, that is not Red Hook, my friends; if it is, then Green Wood Cemetery's well within Park Slope—features indoor, outdoor, and kinda in-between seating, and does not take reservations, which is cool, but requires a little planning. Our advice—plan on a wait of an hour or two, depending on the night and time. It's worth the wait, and they make it easy on you with a bizarre text-paging system so you can wander the waterfront or head over to nearby bar, B61. Better yet, if it's not too packed, you can wait in a dedicated seating area in the back of the restaurant where you can order drinks and snacks and have them billed to your table. One last top-secret tip—get there a little before they open to stand in line for a table right away, though plan on people queueing up pretty early. Again, totally worth it.  

Pok Pok NY is located at 127 Columbia Street, near-ish to the Bergen Street F/G.     

The Song

Trummors • Over and Around the Clove Reader, we've learned over the past ten or so years that there are many, many perks that come along with living in New York City. Obviously there are detrimental or not-so-lovely things about this bustling city as well—for instance, grocery store aisles are not only bizarrely narrow but are also being stocked day and night, making it impossible to actually purchase foodstuffs; in high summer the city smells of putrid trash and dying dreams and radiates an impossible amount of heat and humidity; and, finally, it's not exactly easy on the emotional psyche to be surrounded by concrete, speeding cars, and a great lack of nature constantly (I think the most we've seen of wildlife in recent times was when a pigeon carrying a rat landed on our studio windowsill...it was terrifying).

So another thing we've learned is that, to live healthily in this city, you need to leave it on a fairly regular basis. Step out of the non-stop flow that, while it fuels the very energy that makes this city what it is, proves exhausting at times. 

But it's not always easy to get out of the city, which is one of many reasons that we like the debut album from Trummors, Over and Around the Clove. It provides a kind of aural day trip off the cracked asphalt sidewalks of the city that plops you down in the middle of the upstate woods, walking stick in hand. Simple, seemingly familiar guitar lines, politely quiet rhythms, and voices that sound older than they should guide you through a virtual folksy spa, gently massaging away your emotional urban baggage. Ahhhhhhhhh. Or, as Alternative Press' recent review puts it, "(a)n album made for listening while you stare from your back porch (or apartment window) as the sun sets, Over and Around the Clove is the latest proof that the well of traditional American music is truly bottomless." 

Give this week's Song—the title track from the album—a listen and, if you like it, check out the full album over at iTunes or, if you're in this shifting, growing, heaving metropolis this week, come on over to the upstate New York band's record release party at The Oracle Club in Long Island City Friday night. It'll feel like being in a terrarium.  

Photo by Amy Cargill; cover art by Keegan Cooke.    

Note: Songs posted to this site are kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead. Buy music!

Hide Your Papier-Mâché Valuables

Taking the week off, Reader, in the wake of Katie's birthday to lend some real-world presence to our professional and personal lives. We'll be back next week with some new music and a review of a much-hyped new NYC restaurant that's surprising vegan-friendly. 

Pictured above, the remnants of the celebratory cat piñata our friends Kristin + Rimas sent from Austin and which Katie promptly smashed the hell out of. Rest in peace. Es.

Happy birthday, Katie.

The Song

Kindness • House Reader, I may be gradually coming down off of a social high brought about by a weekend full of Indian stick dancing, power-karaoke, and time well-spent with good friends, old and new, but I seriously love the creator of this week's Song, Kindness.

Not only does London's Kindness—AKA, Adam Bainbridge—create some of the most smoothed out, catchy electronic tunes you'll have a chance to hear these days, but he also seems like a genuinely cool—I'll say it—kind guy.

Wonder what he thinks about ravens...

Give his track, "House," with it's simple, endearing message a listen and see what you think. I'm warning you now, though—it's one of those songs that creeps into your psyche and settles in there, keeping you coming back again and again. You can pre-order Kindness' debut LP, World, You Need a Change of Mind, and listen to another great track from it, "Cyan," over at Terrible Records, Chris Tayor of Grizzly Bear's label. You can also download the e-version now over on the iTunes.

Still not convinced? Take a look at the kind of adorable video below, where Bainbridge briefly discusses his take on house music and then explains to a cute 'lil chap how to use a drum machine before they embark on a musical adventure and awesome little dance number. As both Passion Pit and tUnE-yArDs have shown us in the past, kids + indie = gold. Especially, it turns out, little kids with British accents.    

Note: Songs posted to this site are kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead. Buy music!