Friday, December 26, 2003

Round Up

Things are going well. We just had a great xmas off. We are getting ready to have a special New Year's (open til 3am, $1 PBR all day/night). We are also planning a 25 Singles for $20 delivery/pick-up special for the 31st and 1st.

We are running our Cream of Mushroom Soup this week. It's meat-free and great! It's super on Fries!

It looks like our New Year's Eve "party" may have some live music. We will know in a few days.
Either way, everyone is sure to have a good time as they drop in for some Schnacks before, during, and after their party plans!

Sunday, December 21, 2003

Cooking in Brooklyn

It's more than official. 8pm on January 5th on Discovery Home and Leisure it's Cookin' In Brooklyn!

Soups

Our Split Pea and Ham soup has been selling well. We have also had a number of reservations for parties. In fact we'd like to think of Schnack as the best place to host your next dinner party. You know @ Schnack it will be cheaper, very tasty and no clean up!

Next week we unveil our Cream of Mushroom Soup!!

Saturday, December 13, 2003

Schav

We are running Schav again. Our "base" for it is jars of sorrel made in Poland. We get them through Jubilat. We switched makers (on their advice) and it is a bit more tasty but it's also a bit more bits and pieces of the Sorrel in there. I'm not happy with all the bits and pieces but it will remain that way until we get a new batch of Sorrel in!

Friday, December 12, 2003

One Good Shank

We just ran our Lamb Shank special; we sold it out and now we have more. On a good sized Shank, a small bit of the veggies it was roasted with, some P.O.D., a small salad, and some Cranberry Mango Chutney for ust $7.50.   A friend said it was worth $15.00 someplace else, but I think for $15 you'd get a smaller portion and a lot more garnish! We just don't do $15 garnish. My idea of a good garnish is large Dentergems!

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Brooklyn Rules!

News about building a new stadium on Flatbush and Atlantic reminded me of when Marty (our borough president) came into Schnack. He has enough energy to certainly be Brooklyn's biggest cheerleader.

Of course as much as I love Brooklyn, a friend moving into the city still ended up living on the Upper East Side! You can wine or dine them in Brookly,  but you can't make them live here!

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

It's Soup!

It takes a long time to make a nice soup stock, but our first soup-of-the-week is ready! It's Lentil & Kale! Come in and enjoy!

Thursday, December 04, 2003

Alan's Soup of the Week

Jim's mom came into Schnack the other day and wasn't happy that we didn't have soup on the menu. So Alan has jumped into the fray with some of his special soups.

Currently we are running a Vegan Mushroom and Onion soup.

Starting next week (Tues Dec 8th) we will run the following soups, 1 per week in the order as listed. There are 7 soups in all (counting the Mushroom & Onion Soup). Every 6-7 weeks we will follow the same rotation (as long as they sell!!)

  • Split Yellow Pea & Ham
  • Cream of Mushroom
  • Lentil & Kale Soup (Vegan)
  • Polish Gumbo with Collards and Kielbasa
  • Chicken Leg Soup with Noodles
  • White Bean and Bacon


  • From time to time we will still run our Schav (Sorrel) soup as well!

    Wednesday, December 03, 2003

    LAMB Shanks

    Sttarting on Friday evening we will be running a special of braised lamb shank, garlic mashed, and cranberry chutney for $7.00.  The average raw weight on the Shank is just under 1lb.

    Friday, November 28, 2003

    It's a good time to THANK everyone who has helped make the first few months of Schnack a success! We hope everyone is enjoying themselves with friends and family this weekend. For those of you in NYC/Brooklyn, Schnack is open our normal hours and is serving up all our regular goodies + a few specials.

    We had a private party on Thanksgiving day and that went over really well. Our menu included:

    Vietnamese Spring Rolls
    Shrimp Cocktail
    Cheese Plate
    Turkey (wild)
    Stuffing
    Garlic Mashed
    Sweet Potato Mashed
    Mashed Squash
    Steamed Broccoli
    Kale with white vinegar and black pepper
    Roasted Fennel and Onions
    Gravy
    Chipotle Cranberry Sauce
    regular Cranberry Sauce
    Fresh Fruit
    Cheesecake
    Bread Pudding
    Assorted Pies
    Aunt Bertha's Fudge!
    Home Style Ice Cream!

    Tuesday, November 25, 2003

    Schnack

    Schnack will be open late on the 26th til 3am with  $1 PBR all day/night.

    Schnack will be closed for a private party on Tuesday. We will be open again on Friday.

    Thursday, November 20, 2003

    Specials Again

    We have a few current specials. We are running the last of the stuffed Cabbage. We have Judy's Sweet & Sour Beef Brisket with P.O.D. and a small salad ($6) or as a Hero ($5).

    A new dish, perhaps never before made anywhere before it emerged from the creative gnomes at Schnack, is Polish Congee, otherwise known as Rice Porridge. It's more on the thick and creamy side (no dairy) than as it's traditionally made; it's normally soupier and thinner. It contains Japanese short grain rice, water, Schnack Salt, Polish bacon, Kielbasa (both from Jubilat), onion, garlic and of course lots of Brooklyn water! + a secret ingredient.

    It's only our first attempt so it's likely to get better next time we make it, but it's pretty good already. We are especially thankful to Chef Alvin Koh who gave us a few suggestions to start us off, and to our business neighbor Mrs. Lee who had a few suggestions of her own. Also, thanks to Sally at CyberExpress for taste testing.

    Read more about Alvin Koh here and here

    Wednesday, November 19, 2003

    Specials and Soups

    For the remainder of the week we are running "Judy's Sweet & Sour Brisket" with P.O.D. and a small salad. We also have some special bread from Caputo's which should help soak up the sauce. Everything is available "while it lasts".

    Although Alan has been busy helping Jim get LaRosa & Son up and running (tonight is opening night. I'll be there at 5pm to get some!), we had a quick talk about adding some soups to the special menu. We are probably going to do one soup a week for the next few weeks. We will do more Schav, but also some more traditional soups like split pea (sez Alan).

    Tuesday, November 18, 2003

    LaRosa & Son

    A reminder that LaRosa & Son will open tomorrow at 5pm at 98 Smith St. (Smith between Atlantic and Pacific)

    Monday, November 17, 2003

    Menu News

    We have made all of the final adjustments to our newest menu. We had been using the new format for take-out for much of the last month but our in-house menu has been lagging behind as we searched for a suitable format. We will be changing format again in a few months, but the "new" current format is much better than the previous.  It's 8.5 x 11 and as such is easier to read.

    Most of the items on the menu remain the same. The Hippie Dog was reduced in price. The Egg Cream was removed (but we still make them!), and the Veggie Duck and the Bread Pudding have been added on a "full time" basis.
    Suzanne, a friend of Schnack and a recent mother,  let me know that having stayed home for the last 3 weeks following the birth, her first "outside" meal was at Schnack. We wish the parents and child good health and encourage everyone else to visit Schnack in your moment of "culinary need!"

    the Real Naked Chef

    Schnack had a visit from Alvin Koh, Chef/Owner of Singapore's Porridge King chain. He especially enjoyed our Spicy Pear Chutney. He also took time to do a photoshoot. Those pictures aren't available but he is well known for using his famous body in the promotion of Porridge King. Twice he was Mr. Asia ('92 & '93) in his weight class. Here is a link to some pictures of him. He did leave us a recipe which we hope to run some time in the future as a special. In the meantime if you're traveling to Singapore please be sure to stop by Porridge King.

    Sunday, November 16, 2003

    Saturday, November 15, 2003

    Stuffed Cabbage

    Our special this Saturday and Sunday will be Stuffed Cabbage. Also, a reminder that our brunch is now 11am to 3pm and 10pm to 1am EVERY Saturday and Sunday.

    Friday, November 14, 2003

    Another week

    Once again Friday finds Schnack increasingly busy. We do have one problem which is that our heater isn't heating as well as we would like... Alan is going to check in to it.

    Friday, November 07, 2003

    PBR One Dollar

    Each week we go through a few cases (sometimes more) of PBR - Pabst Blue Ribbon.
     I think we sold 2-3 cases on Halloween. That night we ran a regular holiday special we call "$1 PBR." Wednesday isn't the busiest day of the week, so we figured, trying to boost our mid-week numbers, we will introduce a new weekly promotion. Every Wednesday night from 10pm to close PBR is $1. The price for the rest of the week is $1.50

    Wednesday, November 05, 2003

    Schav

    We still have a few portions of Schav left and then it will be a few weeks until we have it again. This weekend we are planning on some kind of German stew. Details to follow.

    Monday, November 03, 2003

    Schav

    The Schav sold out in just a few days, but we made another batch late on Sunday and that is now ready to be served. Get it while it lasts. Also, we made a new Chutney this weekend. Getting into the "late fall" theme we have a cranberry, mango, orange and onion Chutney that is sweet and savory. We also have the last of our Pear Chutney on sale as well. A side of Chutney is 50 cents. We also have a Hero special for $5.50 -- Turkey, Cream Cheese & Cranberry Chutney!

    Saturday, November 01, 2003

    Halloween

    We wanted to especially thank the Deedle Deedle Dees and everyone else who helped make Halloween a big success. We stayed busy almost the whole day and we certainly handed out a lot of candy. More interesting, late at night we sold many cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) at $1 a can....a hefty discount from it's normal price of $1.50. I understand we sold a few beer shakes as well.

    Thursday, October 30, 2003

    Brunch Time

    Well, we "soft-launched" a new brunch menu this past weekend. We think it worked out really well. Five tasty selections all for $8.45, and at the same time the entire regular menu is available for someone who just wants a good $4.50 Chili Cheese omelet! This is really something that we have been wanting to do for a long time but it's really a big effort to introduce a new menu with entirely new ingredients that have to be sourced, purchased, stored and of course prepared.

    The Schnack partners meet last week and we decided it was time to "get on with it." It was really easy, now a few months into our operation, to pick the menu. A few things that we normally don't have like Smoked Salmon (we use Nova Tidbits (trimmings), and a few things we always have like lots of Jubilat bacon and vegetarian Duck.

    Only time will tell if this menu works well enough to bring out more people on Saturday and Sunday AM into Schnack, but that is our objective here. We are trying to stay within our basic "flavor range" but come up with a full brunch meal for a good price; we include a drink, unlimited coffee and/or tea, and plenty of food!

    Wednesday, October 29, 2003

    Soup

    This week until it runs out, we are serving Sorrell Soup. Also known as Schav, we are serving it warm with a few bits of cheese. In the summer we will serve it cold with some chopped hard boiled egg.

    Friday, October 24, 2003

    Special Ham

    We are going to have a Ham Special this weekend as well... Details to follow but I'm picking up a 6 lb Ham from Jubilat today.

    Weekend Brunch

    We are getting ready to do a test launch of our new weekend Brunch specials. We will have 5 special brunch meals priced at $8.45 including a Mimosa or OJ, Coffee and/or Tea. The specials will include French Toast, Smoked Salmon, Onions and Eggs, a vegan item, a hearty Polish breakfast and an all protein special (No Carbs)

    Thursday, October 23, 2003

    Time Out New York

    Time Out New York has listed us in their NYC "Best Of" Eating Guide! We are also still listed in their regular listings for Brooklyn as a "Critics Choice." Thanks, Time Out!!!

    Wednesday, October 22, 2003

    Party Time

    On Halloween we will have some entertainment from 5pm to 7pm... Here is the "press release."

    The Deedle Deedle Dees are a brand new rock group. For kids!

    Featuring the talents of Ulysses S. Dee, Innocent Dee, Valentino Dee, Friar Dee, and Gowanus Dee, the Deedle Deedle Dees sing songs about handwriting, historical villains, humpback whales, and other topics that need more songs sung about them. Country, punk, and traditional Mexican music all make their way into our sound, but the best way to describe our music is "catchy."

    Don't miss the Deedle Deedle Dees' debut performance on Friday, October 31st (AKA Halloween) at Schnack. Our show is interactive so if you have instruments of your own, bring 'em!

    Show starts at 5 p.m.

    Our website, www.thedeedledeedledees.com, is still under construction, but if you'd like more info on the band, please write to Ulysses S. Dee at lloydmiller@mac.com.

    Monday, October 20, 2003

    More Specials

    We have finished up the "spicy" Bigos, but we still have a bit of the Hessian Stew left. We have decided to make the extra spicy sausage part of the regular menu.

    Saturday, October 18, 2003

    This Weekend

    This weekend we are serving the last of our spicy Bigos and a Hesse region beef stew. In German it's "Hessisches Paprikafleisch."  It's from the New German Cookbook by Jean Anderson and Hedy Wurz. It's a wonderful stew of fresh lean chuck, mushrooms, and onions served with French bread and some grill roasted corn. The mushrooms were our idea, and it is traditionally made with green peppers.

    Friday, October 17, 2003

    Specials

    Specials serve very different purposes for chefs and restaurant owners. For some, it's an opportunity to charge a lot of money for a dish that is often more rarefied than that on the regular menu. Other establishments use it to get rid of ingredients that are approaching the end of their shelf life. However, when I was growing up the special was something entirely different. It was something not normally available on the regular menu and was offered at a good value, sometimes cheaper than regular menu items. In the NY dining scene, specials are also a way of catering to regular clients who might be bored with the regular menu, and of course foodies who are always craving something different.

    At Schnack we run specials for many different reasons. When we get in fresh ingredients as mundane as lettuce or as nice as turkey breast we often like to reduce the price a bit and sell as much as possible knowing we have enough in-house and will not run out of it. We also like to be creative within the context of our "palate" of flavors; this has led to dishes like Knockwurst in Japanese curry with veggies over Japanese rice.

    This leads to a question we get often, which is, "what type of food do you sell?" The answer we most often give is simply American or even Brooklyn, but in truth we throw in a bit of Eastern European, like Polish, and some German, and even a bit of NYC Jewish.

    For the last few weeks we have been running bigos, which is a very traditional Polish dish (Hunter Stew). We intend to be running German, Polish, and various other Eastern European dishes all throughout the fall and winter. When we get into the New Year, and Alan's TV show, "Cooking in Brooklyn" starts to air we expect to run most if not all the items from the TV show as specials.

    Wednesday, October 15, 2003

    Trick or Treat

    I think everyone knows we take our "treats" very seriously at Schnack. So we are very excited about inviting the local kids down to Schnack for Trick or Treating. On Halloween we will be welcoming Trick or Treaters between 3pm and 6pm. About 5pm we are expecting some special musical guests who will be performing for the kids and their parents. More information about our musical guests will be available here shortly.

    Wednesday, October 08, 2003

    Best Of

    Here's some press that I didn't see before. Perhaps that's why we were so busy earlier this evening...

    The Village Voice writes, "Red Hook's latest dive SCHNÄCK utilizes sumptuous Stahl-Meyer franks, pink and moist and salty and fresh tasting, more aggressively flavored than most. Their tiny hamburgers—the same size as White Castle but much better tasting—are also worth checking out."

    Halloween

    We are going to celebrate Halloween at Schnack. From 3pm to 6pm we invite kids (and their parents) to stop by and "trick or treat." We will stay open extra late until 3am (for food orders), and we will have Halloween-inspired specials like caramel apples. We will have $1 PBR's and many other treats, surprises, and specials. We will also be doing our soon to be famous "beer shakes!"

    Tuesday, October 07, 2003

    We have a few great specials for tomorrow. We have meatloaf, fresh roast beef w/ garlic, and a bit more bigos left.

    Beer Shake

    Well, it's official.  This month we are going to be offering a Beer Shake make with a strong stout from Dog Head Fish. We have Drunk by Chocolate and The Thriller in vanilla. The price will be $3.75 and as odd as it sounds, it's really great! Available to all Schnack customers 21 and over.

    Monday, October 06, 2003

    The best news is that we sold out of all of the hot spicy sausage from Jubilat in less than 5 days. We have prepared a new batch of hot pepper, even hotter than before, with a few other tweaks and we will be bringing it to Jubilat tomorrow so that they can get us the next batch of Sausage on Tuesday or Wednesday.

    We got a brief mention today in the NY Times in an article by Seth Kugel.

    We are working hard on drafting the next version of our menu. It looks like egg creams are going away and bread pudding will be added. The bread pudding will sell for $3.25 and egg creams will still be available upon request for the same old price.

    Tuesday, September 30, 2003

    Xtra Hot, Xtra Good!

    Well, we picked it up today...our Schnack/Jubilat Xtra Hot Pork Sausage.  After a few test bites from every available mouth, and a QUICK trip over to Pacific Street so Alan could get his taste in, we are ready to put the sausage up on the special board. We are selling it on a roll for $4.00, and stir-fried with veggies for $6.50.

    If you're into spicy food please come by and taste it! Please let us know what you think!

    Hot Keilbasa

    This Tuesday we will be picking up our first batch of Schnack Dogs, our version of the Spicy Kielbasa!

    Monday, September 29, 2003

    Sunday, September 28, 2003

    Hot Sausage

    With our friends, Chris and Stanley from Jubilat Provisions in Sunset Park, we are "customizing" our own special hot sausage. We will be adding our own custom blend of hot peppers and spices to their famously tasty garlic and black pepper Swojka Keilbasa. We hope to have version 1.0 of our sausage ready this week, and then depending on how well liked it is we may adjust our "special blend" to refine our newest sausage offering, "Hot Keilbasa."

    Friday, September 26, 2003

    Blogs

    A few more Blog mentions for Schnack...

    Here is one NYC Eats
    > We have blown out our most of stereo speakers and are now in the process of buying a new one. Also time to change the light bulbs? How many Schnack Partners does it take to change a light bulb?

    Friday, September 19, 2003

    WQXR

    I understand that WQXR radio did a piece on the air yesterday about Schnack. I don't have any more details than that. If anyone knows about the story they did, please let us know. Thanks.

    FYI we have our Boylan's birch beer in; it's great!

    Tuesday, September 16, 2003

    Boylan's

    For the last few weeks we have been rotating a selection of Boylan's soda through Schnack, in addition to the root beer and orange soda which are regular fixtures on our menu. We have tried grape, black cherry and ginger ale.  Next, we will be trying the creme soda and birch beer.  We have added their "pure" selzer to our regular roster.

    Monday, September 15, 2003

    At Night

    We are going to halt doing the DJ thing on Thursday nights. It's been fun and we will try to do it again sometime soon, but we haven't gotten as many people as we had hoped for. That said, our late nights have been getting more and more popular.

    Wednesday, September 10, 2003

    Sunday, September 07, 2003

    Wow

    It's Saturday all over again. Things have remained steady at Schnack over the last few days. We were closed Monday for Labor Day and then we ran a bit slow on Tuesday and Wednesday...but all of a sudden it's Saturday and we are. again, rather busy.

    We are starting to see a lot of really regular faces, both young and old, early and late into the night. People have also started to discover how good our desserts our. We only have a few: a brownie with ice cream, and cheesecake.  We usually have a bread pudding as well, and while it normally takes us 3-4 days to sell a batch, the last one went in 24 hours... if we have it when you come in, well, like we always say, "it's the best $3 dessert in Brooklyn."

    Sunday, August 31, 2003

    Mike Daisey

    Mike Daisey his wife, and some friends Schnacked out the other night, fresh from their trip to Edinburgh. Thanks Mike.

    NY Mag

    We certainly want to thank NY Mag for including us in the 100 Cheap Places to Eat in NYC. It was a great help to us in "getting the word out." Here is just one example of some people who checked us out because of the article.

    "Anyways, I'd picked up a copy of New York magazine at the airport, which had an article for "100 Great Meals under $25." One, Schnack, touted these tiny burgers that (a) definitely rival White Castle in terms of taste-for-the-size and (b) talked about homemade Orange Juliuses. When I hit Shan up with that bit of information, that was the clue-in for us to go.

    It's down in Brooklyn, the corner of Union and Columbia (or very close to it).

    Phenomenal food - we each ordered four burgers. Two of mine came with "Schnack sauce" (thousand island dressing with a lot of various spices thrown in, VERY good); we ordered the homemade onion rings and fries. The onion rings were lacking in batter, but that's what made them good. REALLY good.

    We each had beer - Shan had one, I had two -- and that was enough to get us succinctly plowed and ready for bed."

    Cooking in Brooklyn

    The word from Delicious Pictures, the producers of Cooking in Brooklyn, is that the show will now air in Jan 2004, I'm guessing as a mid-season replacement. This should also give them (and Alan) plenty of time to get the word out about the show.

    Thursday, August 28, 2003

    A Party

    We had a nice party tonight for a Schnackie Fan, Sue, who had 20 of her friends join us for an all-you-can-eat-and-drink Schnackie and Jever fest in her honor.

    We are also now serving a Dentergems and Grapefruit "cocktail," a refreshing and tasty combination of wheat beer, fresh grapefruit juice, and sugar.

    DJ Zebra Blood got his picture on the cover of... GO Brooklyn. Not exactly "Rolling Stone," but we hope he sends a copy to his mother.

    Friday, August 22, 2003

    Schnack @ Night was fun last night. Plenty of old friends dropped by, as well as some new ones. We kept the kitchen open until 1:15am and the drinks poured until 2am.

    Tuesday, August 19, 2003

    Thanks Patty

    Happy to be mentioned in Patty's bio. Patty is part of Picky Tooth and writes (in part) about herself, "she is currently infatuated with Jubilat kielbasa, onion rings from Red Hook's Schnack."

    Monday, August 18, 2003

    Turn Off Your Cell Phone

    If the lights going out and having a banner weekend wasn't enough to keep us excited, we got a special surprise during Sunday primetime. Chris, who had recently shot an episode of Sex in the City, started getting phone calls. It turns out the episode aired! My online TV guide lists it as "No Shoes, No Service," but HBO's web site lists it as, "Episode 83, 'A Woman's Right to Shoes.' " His character has a restaurant interaction with "Samantha."

    Late Sunday, Chris's buddy, Pablo Schreiber (better known as HBO The Wire's Nick Sobotka), and some other friends stopped by to help Chris celebrate.

    Friday, August 15, 2003

    Wow

    Where were you when the lights when out? We were Schnacking. We pulled the tables out on the sidewalk and we cooked until the sun went down. We didn't cook that many meals, but we certainly helped some people who otherwise didn't have a place to eat. Interesting as well, a number of families used Schnack as their emergency meeting place. The griddle wasn't working but we cranked up the charbroiler and turned out the most amazing Schnackies!

    Today, Friday, we got power back early and we didn't lose too much "stuff." We did lose some fish and ice cream. I hit the food warehouse early, which got its power back at 4:30am.  I found them stocked to the gills and mostly empty of people, so I loaded up on everything we would need for the weekend. It turns out that was a good thing  With many people taking the day off, Friday was one of our busiest days ever.

    Pacifico Bar

    I can confirm that Pacifico Bar at 269 Pacific Street (at the Corner of Smith and Pacific, Brooklyn), will be opening this Wednesday the 20th for dinner, and opening for lunch starting Saturday the 23rd. I stopped by to check on their progress and it's looking really HOT!

    Tuesday, August 12, 2003

    Wow, 8 days or so since the last entry. 8 busy Schnack filled days.

    How fast can you eat a Schnackie? How about 8 of them? Some of the folks who are working on the rebuild of the Manhattan Bridge bought 170 Schnackies the other day and had a contest to find out. The winner ate 8 of them in 6 minutes.

    Zack, our single best customer (based on a 2 or 3 times a day Schnack habit), who has departed for a job in Maine, after eating dinner and having a few drinks managed to do 7 in 6 minutes as well.

    The Red Rail has closed, although rumored to be reopening as a bar; we picked up a small amount of brunch business from them (we think).

    Pacifico Bar, a new venture on 269 Pacific Street, will be opening in the next week or so. Think Mexican food and drink!

    Tuesday, August 05, 2003

    It would be an understatement to say that the last 3 weeks at Schnack have been busy. There are a lot of things I have wanted to mention here but haven't had the time.

    1) Our friends who traveled into Canada reported back saying French Fries there are served with a beef gravy. We will probably try a pork gravy based on the "jus" from our garlic roasted pork sometime this fall.

    2) Mike had an urge the other night and brought in a bunch of pork ribs which he braised and then almond crusted; they sold almost as well as the blueberry hotcakes we have been running for breakfast!

    3) Many thanks to the Schnack softball team, although they didn't win their playoffs they were all big winners in our book for both their love and devotion to the game and of course to post-game PBR's.

    4) We have catered a few parties in the last few weeks and that has gone well; special thanks to David and Company who we did our first catering job for.

    5) So many other people I'd like to thank; the most important are those who have come in when we are really busy and who have been happy and relaxed enough to sit back, enjoy a cold beer or milkshake, and wait for all of their food to be cooked to order!

    6) Also a big Schnack thank you to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle which ran a full-sized broadsheet page on us, me and my partners, and some of their various Brooklyn eateries we are associated with.

    7) Huge thanks to the owners and staff at Bagels by the Park (323 Smith) who have been so supportive in the last year of everything we have done!

    Saturday, August 02, 2003

    We had a discussion today about the financial requirements for building a second location; we will have to raise some $$, but it looks like we are well on our way to gaining a second Schnack location. Also, potentially on the drawing board is some type of truck that can sell Schnack at street fairs and do catering at birthday parties and such!

    Friday, August 01, 2003

    Another Thursday has gone by and Schnack at Night is doing well. Again, about 30 or 40 people stopped by between 11pm and 2am. The music was rocking. Special thanks to DJ Zebra Blood who left the gig at Schnack to go directly to another gig!

    Tuesday, July 29, 2003

    At Night

    Sometimes it takes more than 3 tries to get something right. On our 6th attempt our latest Thursday PM "Schnack at Night" really took off. Although mostly still populated by friends and co-workers of DJ Zebra Blood, the room was full and I think everyone was happy we abandoned $1 hot dogs for the "full menu." In fact, we have been getting more and more post-11pm business since we are now open every night til 1am.

    What else is new? The press we received from NY Mag has really had a great impact and we are even getting people traveling from outside of Brooklyn (e.g., Manhattan, Queens and LI).

    Thursday, July 24, 2003

    Schnack Invasion

    Since New York Mag has said such nice things about us, we have been busy. Yesterday we stopped doing deliveries and some take-outs so we could concentrate on keeping the quality of our cooked-to-order food top notch!

    We also had a visit from Mary Schnack (from AZ) and a contingent of Brooklyn Schnacks!  Many thanks again to Todd who has linked to us from his web site, www.schnack.com
    Are you a Schnack? Got ID? Get a free Beer! (Must be 21 or older and visit our "famous" Red Hook location ;) )
    People have asked whose ice cream we use?  It's Perry's.

    Monday, July 21, 2003

    New York Mag

    Try searching for Schnack here.. an nice review and a great picture by Ken Chen.

    or find us on this page..

    They write:  "Screw Mickey D’s. we ought to sue the pants off Alan Harding before we burst another seam. At his kitschy new burger joint, he’s created a kind of fantasy-junk-food camp for middle-aged Augustus Gloops. Just look at the evidence: the Schnäckie, Harding’s take on the slider. Cute name. Only 1.5 ounces of freshly ground beef on a house-baked minibun. Seems harmless enough, right? Wrong. You’ll want twelve, minimum. Need more proof? How about spicy fries, big fat onion rings, eight kinds of hot dogs and kielbasa, and a homemade Orange Julius for chrissakes, and nothing over eight bucks? And Schnäck’s Asian-inspired idea of diet food? Crazy-sounding specials like knockwurst and bacon in a Japanese coconut-curry sauce with rice. C’mon. If that’s not a class-action lawsuit waiting to happen, we don’t know what is."

    Sunday, July 20, 2003

    We had a fairly busy Saturday, but since more and more of our business is coming in later and later in the day, we have changed our hours again. We hope and expect to keep these hours through the end of the summer and then evaluate things at that point once we get firmly into the fall.

    Our new hours are 11am to 1am (that's when the kitchen is open and accepting orders). Last call will be at 1:30 and we will close at 2am.

    Many thanks to KG for coming in and ordering 12 Schnackies to go, and inviting the Schnack crew to his party.

    Friday, July 18, 2003

    Last night was our first @ Night party on Thursdays.  It was more popular than those we had on Saturdays. Mostly, however, friends and fans of DJ Zebra Blood.. We will continue the parties throughout the summer.

    Starting Sunday our hours will be from 11am to 2am, with the kitchen open from 11am to 1am, last call at 1:30am.

    It's a bit of a long shot but we are working on a hot dog eating contest. We will require that the dogs actually be eaten!

    Thursday, July 10, 2003

    The final decision has been made. Starting July 20th, we are changing our hours... Currently we are open from 10am to 11pm. After July 20th we will try staying open a lot longer into the evening and see if people continue to come in. We will open at 11am and the kitchen will stay open til 1am, last call at 1:30, and we will close at 2am.  If it works we will stay open like that throughout the year.

    Friday, July 04, 2003

    More tidbits:

    Alan's TV show, formerly known as "The Real Food Show," is now known as "Cooking in Brooklyn." I have to update the website with the new show name.

    The "Schnack Partners" met on Thursday to review our status after almost 3 months in business. Things have been good and steady. Our current plan, however, is to nearly abandon breakfast and concentrate on the late night crowd which is the most growing part of our business. We have a lot of plans to work out and we have to communicate this to the team, but our current plans are by mid-July to be open and taking orders from from 11am to 1am, with the dining room closing at 1:30am. On Thursdays the dining room will remain open later with Schnack at Night.

    After more work by Mike and a taste test by Zack (who said he liked both of them), we have replaced our "old" curry mix with a new one. It starts off sweet and ends up spicy and it goes with everything! At 50 cents for 2 oz. it's a "bargain!"

    Curry Burgers
    Turkey Curry
    Curry Knockwurst
    Curry Tofu Ruben
    Curry Veg Plate
    Curry and Fries

    You get the idea!

    Thursday, July 03, 2003

    Pictures

    Over the last few weeks we have been taking pictures of people at Schnack. They will be posted soon on the main site!! Keep reading here for details!
    Super big Schnack thanks to Todd Schnack who just put a link to our site on his site, http://www.schnack.com/

    Schnack At Night

    DJ Zebra Blood and I decided that Saturday nights are not working for Schnack at this point. So we are going to try moving Schnack at Night to Thursday. So starting July 17th we will be open on Thursday nights from 11:30pm to 2:00am.....the same music, beer, and dogs!



    Saturday, June 28, 2003

    Wow, a bunch of time has gone by since the last entry. A lot of things have gone on. Most importantly our air conditioner was installed and I can report after several weeks that it is working well.

    We have run through a few of Alan's specials. The most popular seems to be the huge salad with two fennel sausages. The current special is a quad burger on French bread with mozzarella and marinara.

    We also had Mike work on the base for a curry sauce for us. It's not perfected yet. I want it a bit sweeter and less acidic but you can still come in and taste the "work in progress." We have been selling sides of it for 50 cents (2 oz). It's great on fries, Schnackies, and the turkey.

    We are also running a veggie special. Vegan duck with POD (Potato of the Day) and sauteed veggies with a choice of marinara or curry sauce.

    Friday, June 20, 2003

    Another week has come and gone so quickly I can't believe it... Our weekend special will be fried tuna cakes and a small mixed chopped salad and POD (Potatoes of the Day!).

    The big news is Schnack At Night, will be starting this Saturday!! 11:30pm to 2am -- Hot Dogs, Cold Beer and Music.

    Thursday, June 19, 2003

    We had a busy Monday, and a few glitches like a new waitress who showed up at 11am instead of 9am and had to leave by 12:30. Steve (the elder) stepped into the breach and pulled a double shift on about 4 hours of sleep. While I was off on Tuesday, Alan, our electrician, and with some help from Brent, installed a 35,000 BTU air conditioner above "table 5." It really cools the place down but it blows hard enough to make it difficult to put some specials up on the wall!

    We have been running a sloppy joe-like special called Sloppy Schanck, a huge spicy plate of beef and vegetable saute. Jubilat didn't make the Knockwurst for us this week so I'm running their "jumbo" knock; I took the last of the skinnier ones and some bacon and made Japanese style coconut curry special, served of course over Japanese rice. Now of course Curry, Knockwurst and Bacon may never have appeared in the same recipe before.. but they work well together. Besides, Mrs Lee at the market next door loves it!

    Saturday, June 14, 2003

    Shaun from RangeMaster showed up today about 5pm and fixed our oven. It has a new pilot and some other new parts and all is good in Schnackland. We had been forced to bake off some pork earlier today at the Red Rail. Starting tomorrow we will have Cheesecake with Caramel Lemon sauce! We may bake off another banana/chocolate bread pudding again as well.

    While it was a bit of a slow night at Schnack, we saw plenty of old friends stop by. Mitch and his mom, Rhonda, stopped by for dueling Reubens; one with tofu and one with Pastrami. Zack, known to many as the video guy at Pegasus, is off to NC for a week of consulting.

    The good news is we added a Chocolate Shake special with Banana for $3.75, and Alan's special for the weekend is a huge salad w/ two knockwurst! A great deal at $7.50; like many of our other specials, Zack was the first to try the salad knockwurst combination. He loved it.

    Tuesday, June 10, 2003

    Gravy and French Fries -- the true golden combination. In the full flush of my teenage youth (age 14) I spent 5 weeks biking through the Canadian Maritime, and on a treeless wind swept isle 8 hours deep into the North Atlantic near white sand beaches an older lady in a small shack of a building sold Fries with Onion Sauce. A light, creamy, runny, tan gravy filled with dark specs of carmelized onion. I've asked Mike to work on the Schnack version. Ours, if we ever make it, will be a bit more spicy and intense.

    Last night I was inspired to do all of this by a customer who ordered a plate of large fries and a side of Sausage Gravy! He is traveling into the Maritime and I've asked him to report back on whatever gravy he encounters.

    In the meantime, Brandon, who is a rather regular-regular has suggested we run banana and chocolate milkshakes -- I'm working out the details for that next week.

    Sunday, June 08, 2003

    Another day another link.. We are listed now in the Brooklyn Blog Directory. We are, as of today, one of the 5 most recently added Brooklyn Blogs and thus are mentioned on their main page The listing says, "It's A Schnack Life: At 122 Union St, is a small Hot Dog joint called Schnack; It sits on Union St, the "Gateway to Redhook." This is the Schnack Blog! | 6/5/2003 12:24:17 PM"

    It was a rainy day in Brooklyn which slowed us down a bit.. but we saw plenty of old friends coming in for some beer and burgers.

    We are currently running a few specials. We had some extra ground turkey and so we are doing some turkey schnackies. Alan made up some strawberry shortcake and with very minor help from Alan, Doug did a second batch of his "Sausage Gravy."

    Saturday, June 07, 2003

    Now they are saying the stove/oven repair guy will not be around until Monday. We made up a batch of brownies anyway and "grilled" them by covering the baking pan w/ foil and heating it on the griddle. They came out good! We still need to make another cheesecake but that will have to wait until the oven is ready.

    Last night was the second Friday night in a row that we did a great late night business. Last Friday at 11pm we had 20 people in the room. Yesterday we had even more. So we kept our doors and phone lines open until 11:30 and the last people left around 11:50. If this keeps up we will change our hours on Friday and stay open til Midnight.

    DJ Zebra Blood and Alan finally got a chance to meet last night; this completed the circle of bringing everyone into the loop on "Schnack At Night."

    Thursday, June 05, 2003

    We are still having some problems with our oven and I've asked Mike to work on an alternative dessert if we are unable to bake more cheesecake and brownies.
    More notes about us on the web..

    From the May section of http://www.manhattani.com, we find, "Schnack 122 Union St., Red Hook Brooklyn, 718-855-2879 : Owned and operated by Alan Harding of “Patois” in Cobble Hill, this casual spot serves beer, milkshakes and burgers."

    Wednesday, June 04, 2003

    Not much else to report. We moved forward more on our "Red Hook Disco Road House." We are working on a special menu which will cover the regular menu so there isn't any confusion, and we are also thinking about making a "Schnack At Night" sign for the window so that everyone can see it isn't just the regular old Schnack..

    A lot of "drama" at Schnack in the last few days.. The biggest is our new menu is out and we have thousand of copies ready to hand out to those who want to take them home so they can get Schnack take-out.

    One of our waiters has been going through a rough time and he didn't show up for work today. I was set to cook a double shift but I had to move in to fill the waiter position.  But Doug, on a few hours of sleep, (not expecting to work until Thurs or Fri) stepped up to the plate and worked the double for me. I did the morning table waiting until Chris took over at 4:30.

    We also got in the first 10 lbs of our new Fennel Sausage. It's being made for us by our butcher to our specifications. I wanted something that's not like every other Italian sausage in the area, and Alan wanted it to be thin. I had been planning on baking the sausage until it was par-cooked but the oven was in need of repair (more drama). I par-boiled some and it tastes great, although it does have some "spice" to it.. for me a medium amount. In the process of cooking it and making our portions of it, we ended up with some trimmings.

    Taking full advantage of Doug's time spent in The South and on oil rigs, I jumped at his suggestion that we use them to make a sausage gravy, thus creating our first special of the day for our new menu.. Two thin Fennel Sausage links over white bread toast with Sausage Gravy (with a side of "potato of the day.")   Yummy pork fat, spices, and starch!!

    I'm hoping that Mike runs it tomorrow over grits or something like that.

    Tuesday, June 03, 2003

    We are testing the new page for Schnack At Night... I'd love your e-mailed comments if you like this test page:

    http://www.schnackdog.com/atnight

    We had a great Monday. Doug, who has been training with us for a while on the grill/griddle did his first solo run with breakfast/lunch today. He rated himself as doing a C+ job but it was better than that for sure. Everyone was happy. Also, Steve, who had a recent death in his family was back at work today working the evening shift.

    We have been selling the bread pudding and it has been going really fast, and everyone seems to like Mike's Caramel Lemon Sauce!!

    Our new menus will be ready to be picked up at the printer's tomorrow, so we should have them ready to be handed out by Wednesday when we switch to that menu.

    We taste tested our new "fennel" sausage made for us specially by one of the butchers we use. It's heavy on the fennel with some added imported cheese and a nice spicy kick at the end. We let about a dozen customers try it as well and they liked it... They are currently making up a batch of 10 lbs for us for Wednesday.

    Sunday, June 01, 2003

    We had our busiest morning ever at Schnack, in part to a large take-out order and a rather full dining room of people in search of BRUNCH.

    Tomorrow we are putting some banana/chocolate bread pudding on as a special; we are expecting to serve it with a lemon caramel sauce.

    What else? We are briefly mentioned in an article about food in the St. Petersburg Times.

    They say, "Throughout the city, the hip hunger for simpler eats further down the price chain has foodies crazy for sandwiches. One chef won attention last year for closing a gourmet restaurant to give New Yorkers cheese steaks in the style of Philadelphia and south Jersy. Now there are foodie ventures such as Grilled Cheese or Peanut Butter & Co. and hot dog specialists at Crif Dogs and Schnack"

    Saturday, May 31, 2003

    Hi to everyone who made it to Thursday's "grand opening" of the Gowanus Yacht Club. I had fun there.

    I've spoken to Jim and it looks like we are moving forward w/ Schnack AT Night starting June 21st. Since there will be only owners working (e.g., no employees) that means that we may be able to allow smoking as well. Not sure about that yet.

    Wednesday, May 28, 2003

    Another link to us from another BLOG..

    Check out http://www.davebgimp.com/whatup.htm

    He wrote:
    "Yesterday, I went out to Red Hook to visit some friends. Red Hook is like the world's nicest neighborhood. We drank a lot of alcohol, and then hit this place called Schnack, where they serve all these various forms of German sausages and beer. They even had kid's beer for a dollar. It was cool, the place even has it's own blog."

    It's a child's portion of beer of course for adults only.. On the new menu it will be called, "taste 'o' draft" ; any draft beer for $1
    This Thursday, supposedly no matter what the weather holds, the GYC, Gowanus Yacht Club will open. I'm planning on being there and seeing what happens. We had some confusion today when they picked up our order from Jubilat and I had to go over their and sort things out.

    Things at Schnack have been great. I still need to get final permission from all the Schnack Partners, but pending final approval we are going to be hosting Schnack At Night -- Saturday nights in the Summer featuring Hot Dogs, Cold Beer and Deep Disco with DJ Zebra Blood. We hope to kick things off June 21st from 11:30pm to 2:00am; if all goes as planned we will feature a hot dog ($1) only menu + cold beer from $2 to $5. Well, it's not a done deal yet, but keep watching this space for more details.

    Sunday, May 25, 2003

    And other link to Schnack is from www.pokeythedog.com/pinkynicejuice/.

    Pinkynicejuice wrote, "schnack -- on union between Columbia and hicks. yummmmmmmmmmy!!! highly recommended: the single schnack burgers (order at least 2); vanilla milk shake, and the sjwoska sausage with sauerkraut and mustard. and cheap too...."
    I finally found the link to the NY Press mention of Schnack. Here is what they wrote in their summer guide listings for Eat's and Drinks Hot Dogs section.. They wrote, "Schnack, 122 Union St. (betw. Hicks & Columbia Sts.), Carroll Gardens, 718-855-2879. $. No credit cards. WA. You’re as likely to find a pair of junior high-schoolers on their first date as you would a townie downing hot dogs and beers at this back-to-basics joint. Unwind with an import and a couple of Schnackies—the signature mini-burgers with special sauce—and try to figure out if the kids will make it to first base."

    Saturday, May 24, 2003

    I finally found the Time Out write up on us:

    "Schnäck -- Expanding their Carroll Gardens restaurant empire across the BQE, Alan Harding and Jim Mamary (of Patois and the Gowanus Yacht Club)—along with partner Harry Hawk—have gone back to basics with Schnäck. Their motto is "hot dogs, cold beer—it's not complicated." Feel free to stick with just that (beers include German imports Dentergems and Jever), or branch out with the fish po' boy or Polish sausage. The diner decor, low prices and tasty shakes may take you back to your youth, but the spicy pear chutney will snap you right back into 21st-century Brooklyn." Time Out!

    Thursday, May 22, 2003

    I was hanging around Brooklyn last night and stopped into Robin des Bois for dinner. (195 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 718.596.1609) -- I know the cheft there, Michelle.  She used to work for Alan at Uncle Pho. I had a great dinner and then on the way out I ran into Mike Daisey, his wife, and some friends! I always enjoy talking with him (He is as lively and entertaining in person as he is in his show!)   I had also seen Mike a few days earlier at Bagels by the Park, and he mentioned he is working on a few new projects. Of course, I invited them down to Schnack.

    Wednesday, May 21, 2003

    Tuesday was another fun day at Schnack. During the day Delicious Pictures was shooting video at Schnack for several episodes of Alan's TV Show, "The Real Food Show." It was very exciting for everyone and lots of friends of Schnack who stopped by. Of course, Alan's mom, Nancy, stopped by and she had several scenes. Maybe it was all the excitement generated from having the film crew around, but as soon as they left the place got very busy rather quickly. Thanks to everyone who made Tuesday very special!!

    Saturday, May 17, 2003

    Another great week is almost over. We have been training a new line cook, Doug. Not sure if he will work out yet, but he has been fun to have around the place.. I just left a few minutes ago and he and other other cook, Mike, were planning on a quick set of drinks after work, which is always a good sign.

    I was able to speak to a lot of people this week who visited us for the first time. I also spoke to a lot of people who know about Schnack because they went to the Gowanus Yacht Club last year. When you come into Schnack there is almost always an owner around so please don't be shy about asking to say hello. Our #1 goal? Consistently good food!

    Thanks for a great week

    /hawk
    Re: our baseball team:

    "Hey all you Schnackers,
    For those who played on Friday, we don't need to be reminded of the game's outcome, you may skip to the next paragraph. But for those of you who didn't make it, here's the game recap: Schnack went down fighting in the second game of the season to last seasons division champs Angry Wade's (He must have been Pissed about something, because they scored 23 RUNS against us!). But to Schnack's credit we kept on fighting and scored 18 runs of our own. We started out the 1st inning right where we left off in Game 1, scoring 8 runs. Unfortunately some unlucky bounces, bobbles and drops started to open doors for the opposition. Later in the game someone from Wade's must have switched one of our player's gloves for one with a big hole in it. The loss hurts but we will bounce right back.

    Next Game: Monday May 19th 6:30 PM against B61. This should be a great game. We will be playing against some former teammates from the Red Rail and many of our neighbors. Combine that with the close proximity of Schnack to B61 and I smell a Rivalry! This game is being dubbed as the Gowanus Parkway Series!!

    Practice: We don't need no stinkin' practice! And the game is Monday anyway.

    I hope to see many of you on Monday. Meeting place outside Schnack at 5:45- 6:00PM. GO SCHNACK!!!!
    Jeff."
    Alan's TV show, The Real Food Show, is going to be taping again this coming Tuesday at Schnack. That's May 20th. They are shooting the opening night scene for one of the episodes. If you're interested in being an extra, dress causally and show up at 1:30pm.

    Tuesday, May 13, 2003

    Today they are taping an episode of Alan's TV show at Schnack.!!

    Monday, May 12, 2003

    There is another link to us at this BLOG.  They mention us on the May 4th listing, which can be seen here. Otherwise it's been a rather slow week at Schnack, although Saturday was nice and busy. It was an expectedly slow Mother's Day at Schnack.

    The first 6 episodes of Alan's TV show start taping this week. On Tuesday (this week and next) they are at Schnack!

    Tuesday, May 06, 2003

    A few days ago (well actually in the late evening at about 10:40pm), Gabriella Gershenson from NY Press stopped by to learn a bit about Schnack. We fed her a single Schnackie and she liked it. At some point Schnack will be included in a round-up of hot dog or burger joints. I wasn't familar with her column, but I've gone back and read a few. Gabriella has a nice point of view on interesting food in "the city." You can find some of her older articles here. We would also like to point out that she liked our PICKLES!


    More LINKS to the Schnack site:

    Great Tuna

    And New Burger Joint

    Thanks guitarman

    Saturday, May 03, 2003

    We just finished a record Friday night.....we are happy the weather held even though there were forecasts of heavy storms.

    We also worked out an arrangement with a few of our customers who wanted Schnack to sponsor a ball team in one of the local leagues. The details will follow but we agreed to do it!

    Friday, May 02, 2003

    Another really quick week has gone by. The director for Alan's TV show, The Real Food Show, has confirmed that two of the shows will be shot/filmed at Schnack.

    I understand we are in this weeks Time Out New York, but I don't have a link to it.

    Also last night we had a big group of Yacht Club Fans come in for dinner! I hope they had a great time!

    Sunday, April 27, 2003

    On Friday the Daily News did a nice write-up on us. You can see it here.

    Wednesday, April 23, 2003

    A great new week at Schnack. We are working on our next "new" menu. The pork chop is going away and we are adding a side salad.

    We are seeing lots of familiar faces come back again and again, including old friends. We also had a visit today from the family who appeared in the picture The Brooklyn Paper took of Schnack. You can see the picture here.

    A few members of the family that owns Bagels on the Park and the Gowanus Yacht Club stopped by for dinner tonight; it was really great to see them. They got to pick the records they wanted played (we welcome everyone to pick through our record collection).  We are also seeking record donations! Give your old records a new and happy home!

    The past few nights has seen a spike in our post-9pm business, which is really perfect. We encourage everyone to come in late if they want, right up to our 11pm close. Had a few folks come in just for dessert and we welcome that as well. Try a Schnack Brownie with a milkshake, coffee or beer!

    Tuesday, April 15, 2003

    A couple of new web links..

    Go-Brooklyn just wrote about us.  You can read it here:
    http://www.go-brooklyn.com/index.html?html/issues/_vol26/26_15/26_15guide.html

    And we have been getting lots of hits from this web forum. It's interesting to read what people are saying.
    http://forums.dealmac.com/read.html?f=1&i=1147034&t=1147034

    Wow! It's been a few days since I was last able to post. We just came through our second full weekend and our second Monday of operations. We were really busy but we have been working hard in the kitchen to keep the quality high.  Let us know how we are doing when you come in. Let us know if you are reading this!

    We did make a major decision today that after 3pm we are not going to be serving the breakfast items,  although I'm not sure how that will translate during the weekends. We are also working on updating the menu. We may delete a few items if they are not popular, and basically work at fine-tuning things.

    Thursday, April 10, 2003

    Well today marks the 7th day we have been open. In many ways it seems like a lifetime! We are now doing delivery with a minimum order of $10, and we are starting to run a few specials as well. It may not last long but Alan has made a spicy pear chutney that is incredible! It's great with veggies, pork, or turkey! Ask for it if you like your food spicy!

    Tuesday, April 08, 2003

    Today was a good start to the week. It was snowy and rather bad out, but people found their way to our door and we did rather good business all things considered.

    We have decided to start delivery first for lunch and then expand into the evening hours, reserving at first the right not to deliver if we are too busy. But if you live within the few blocks around Schanck and can't stop by for take-out, call and ask if we can deliver.  If we can, we will!

    Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. We have had a lot of friends and customers from the Gowanus Yacht Club and Beer Garden stop by, say hi and order a few Schnackies. That's been really great. Also, we have started to see the same faces coming back day after day!

    Monday, April 07, 2003

    We are now open full-time 10:30 am to 11pm!

    Well, we opened 5pm to 11pm on Friday and Saturday, and all day on Sunday.   Many, many thanks to everyone who came in. It got really busy and Alan worked to make sure the dining room was running smoothly.  Jimmy's brother, Paul, and Alan's brother, Jeff, stopped by to visit and got press-ganged into service!! Thanks!!

    After 3 days we seem to have a handle on most things. The burgers are selling really well, and the Schanck Cubano has been popular as well. Last night we even did a large takeout order:  12 Schnackies for Lilly of Lilly's Bar. It was the first time we made 12 Schnackies for one order! We have been selling a lot of Milkshakes and Root Beer!

    A few other changes -- after a taste test we opted for Mrs. Harding's Cheesecake over Juniors!

    Thursday, April 03, 2003

    Open

    The NY Times was in today to interview us and lots of people stopped by to see if we are open..

    The good news, today, Friday, we open... :)

    Wednesday, April 02, 2003

    Everything is in motion at this point. We had a write up today in the NY Times. "Alan Harding, the chef and an owner of Patois in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, is to open Schnack on Friday at 122 Union Street (Columbia Street) in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, serving beer, milkshakes, and burgers."

    We completed almost all our shopping and ordering. Things are still coming in, such as the root beer and some of the buns.

    Tomorrow (thurs) we are doing our final prep cooking and on Friday we open!! No party, just open the doors and see who comes in!

    Ed Raven of Raven Import Co. stopped by today to make sure the beer taps were working perfectly, and Brent came by to work out the last few items on the punch list. Tom Russo came by to show his support for our new venture! John Lippett was in to paint a sign on the door.

    Sunday, March 30, 2003

    Shopping

    Like all things, restaurants go through a cycle from concept to reality and the change along the way. Alan just announced that it's time go food shopping and that is a sure sign that we are about to open! The only thing left is for Jim and I to learn how to use the deep fryer!

    Saturday, March 29, 2003

    Jubilat

    I wanted to mention Jubilat, which is one of the best Polish butchers anywhere, and they happen to be located on 5th Ave. in Brooklyn. I really urge every to stop by their shop if you enjoy hand crafted sausages and other meat products, as well as loafs and hard sausages. But interesting enough, I was searching on Google to see if I could learn anything more about them and I ran across an online Journal housed by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with the SAME name!.

    "Jubilat delivers the best in contemporary poetry along with art, interviews and prose... In addition, Jubilat re-introduces lost or neglected talent that may have been passed over by the standard canon."

    At least for us at Schnack, sausage is an art form! Especially the lost art of hand made kielbasa! If anyone knows more about what the word Jubilat means in Polish or any other language, please let us know :)

    Thursday, March 27, 2003

    Big Day

    It was a big day today and we got a lot of paperwork done!! But more importantly, we got the sign up. It looks amazing. It uses the logo that Jason Oranzo designed for us, and then printed out in a very large size. Alan and our sign maker, John Lippett, then traced it in wood and made it into a 3D sign. In other good news, our new dishwasher is in, too! It's state of the art and cleans and sanitizes in 90 seconds! Also confirmed today is that we will have Jever and Dentergems on the Beer menu, along with an American beer called "Schwag!" There is one more we are not yet sure of!

    Tuesday, March 25, 2003

    Got the Lic.

    I just heard yesterday from Jim that we are all set with our Beer and Wine Lic. That means we will be opening up very soon :)

    I also saw that Jim got our Carling Black Label billboard up. It takes up a whole side of the dining area. You can read more about Black Label here

    Friday, March 21, 2003

    Alan's field trip

    Not much to report. Alan left on a quick trip to Germany last night. Our website work continues. We have settled on the final design, and the graphics are now being cut and the initial HTML produced. The same team that is doing the website might also do the design for the menu but we are not sure yet. If not, we will do it ourselves next week.

    Saturday, March 15, 2003

    Our handyman Brent ended up in the hospital today for a few hours. He's ok, but I wasn't able to get into Brooklyn to work on the menu as I was trying to find out where Brent was and make sure he was ok! He is!!

    I did get to spend some time online and I was able to find this link about Schnack and some of Alan and Jim's other projects. Also, Alan's TV show has been picked up for the fall season on Discovery Home and Leisure. They are currently running some video of him off of their home page, which can be seen here, but I'm not sure how long it will last!

    Friday, March 14, 2003

    We have been meeting about the menu for the last month. Hopefully tomorrow it will be more or less final, and then we have to decide if we are going to make it super fancy in Quark or just publish it directly out of MS Word. The good news is that we are going to be using Jubilat as one of our major suppliers. They make hand crafted Polish sausage and deli meats and are located in Brooklyn. We used them last year at the Gowanus Yacht Club; the "Yacht Club" was famous for the "Polish," which is a garlic enhanced Kielbasa called a Swojska. We will be serving Swojska along with a more basic Kielbasa and their Knockwurst. Along with regular store bought bacon we will be serving Jubilat's slab bacon, which is meaty, ham-like and not overly salted (ok it has salt but not as much as cheap store bacon which seems to have ONLY salt!; if you're on a low-salt diet stay away from the Bacon!!)

    We want to get some other Brooklyn products on the menu. We are hoping to get a great NYC cheesecake like Juniors; I hope we can get it!

    What else? Well you'll have to wait until the website is ready, or until you can come into the store, but the menu will also include Schnackies, our version of "sliders"....small grilled hamburgers for a buck (or so). We will also do double and triple burgers that contain multiple Schnackie patties. And of course we will have lots of Beer! Four types on tap plus a few bottles and cans, and for those who enjoy it, Root Beer as well (probably Boylan's).

    Thursday, March 13, 2003

    We are trying to get the new web site up and running. It's going to be a few more weeks.. BUT the address is set! http://www.schnackDOG.com/

    Monday, March 10, 2003

    We have been hoping to get open by March 15th, but it now looks like we will not be open until the last week in March or maybe even the end of the month. The good news is the physical space is all ready!  The walk-in refrigerator is running, and we have all of the decorating done, including a 4ft x 6 ft baseball card and a huge beer billboard (approx. 8 ft x 16 ft). A friend of Schnack, Phil, donated some cool stuff including a nice sound system.

    Friday, February 14, 2003

    Schnack is ready to open!

    It's been a long road since the Fall of 2002.  About half past Halloween we decided to open up Schnack (Alan picked the name!). We found a great location at 122 Union St, in what I call Red Hook, and what some call Carroll Gardens, and what the real estate people call the Columbia Street Waterfront area of "BROOKLYN!!" The location has been a restaurant for a number of years and had a lot of what we needed built in from the start. But it took Alan, our handyman Brent White, and a small team of electricians, plumbers, and so forth a few months to really get the place up to snuff.

    We hope to be running by the end of March!