Our Kind of Elk

Anyone who knows Harry well enough knows that he goes for the wild side; wild game of course. In the restaurant business the best "game" comes from free range farms rather than the neighborhood hunter. We have a long term relationship with Lone Hawk Farms, no relation to Harry. We source their super Elk Tenderloin for private parties; always tasty at $23.50 per lb (PLUS overnight shipping!).

During the recent tasting at LeNells for the Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery we taste tested some ELK Burgers (no fat added!) along with some 12, 15 and 20 year old Van Winkle bourbon. The 20 year old was best; we like to point out we are against drinking any hard liquor that is younger then the age of consent, but we made an exception in this case; We think the Elk burgers will, in particular, go very well with Jever and with DFH Chicory stout.

Check out the Lone Hawk Farms web site for more info on Elk.

This September we will be offering "single" Elk burgers for $3.00 each or in a Chef's Platter containing: 2 elk burgers, 1 pork & onion single, a smokey and spicy chicken tostada, and a small salad for $9.00.

Never Leave Brooklyn

Never Leave Brooklyn... Ok, some times you have too... One of the nicest places to go in London. I spent a few months there back in the mid 80's. Fond memories of cheap chips and expensive Indian food. The defend Star of Bengal being my favorite.

You might think about going over September 7 to 12th and Join Todd Deatherage who will performing some acoustic sets and working on the release of his up coming and yet to be named EP.

Quinn From Ypsilanti

Ypsilanti. That's in Michigan, near Ann Arbor. None of us have ever been there, but we had Quinn and his family including mom, dad, and the "grand-cat" in for dinner the other night. Apparently the road from Ypsilanti leads directly to Schnack. The grand-cat had to stay in the car, but everyone else came in and had an all-you-can-eat-and-drink Schnack FEST!

Whenever we do these "all you can" events, we open up the menu vaults and more or less cook anything in our "catalog" of good eats. A lot of our regulars use this method to get some of their favorite specials cooked to order. Sometimes we are known for even giving out a few of our secrets.

With Quinn and his family it seems the secrets flowed both ways. Let's be clear -- Brooklyn, without a doubt, got the better half of the deal. What did we get? YAM Fries with a special sauce. Horseradish and something like Schnack Sauce. That was easy to whip up, and it was very tasty. We also got leads on some good milkshake ideas for the fall and spring. We already do chocolate and banana. How about vanilla ice cream, peanut butter and banana? Or strawberry and peanut butter. We have yet to make these but we will keep you posted.

Thanks Quinn, and please send a big Meow to the Grand-Cat.

Hardball In Brooklyn?

Looking for some real baseball?

-----
Tired of Playing Softball?

MSBL, Men's Senior Baseball League.

28 & over league organizing now for Spring 2005. Contact JEFF by Email.

playMSBL20005@yahoo.com or call between the hours of 9am to 5pm, 718 266 6194 (and leave your name and #).

Would it be silly for us to suggest after game dining at Schnack?

Perry's Ice Cream

We sell more milkshakes then we ever thought we would, not to mention our beershakes which are popular every night and of course during brunch. Our Brownie Schnack Style also includes ice cream, and with our new menu coming out we will be offering our Schnack Banana Split with 3 scoops of vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

So you might be wondering what type of ice cream we use? It's Perry's and we serve it proudly. It's a regional brand that has been around for about 75 years.

Recently, we saw a mention of them in the NY Times, in "Misty About Niagara Falls" by SETH MARGOLIS, "We dried off and headed into town for lunch... The Misty Dog Grill, a quick drive from Goat Island, serves very satisfying food at low prices, including 25 varieties of hot dogs... Next door, crowned by a kitschy giant ice cream cone, Twist o' the Mist offers 50 flavors of locally made Perry's Ice Cream as well as superb vanilla custard."

Yummy! We think there isn't anything more American than Hot Dogs and Ice Cream! Except Schnackies and Beershakes!

Flavor 411

For the past two days, the 24th and 25th Discovery Networks have been at Schnack and in the Red Hook area filming an episode of Cookin' in Brooklyn called Flavor 411. Flavor 411 is just one of eight episodes that will make up the second season.

Of course Alan stars. But Harry is also in the episode, as well as some of our friends from American Stevedoring including our burger eating contest winner Nick, his buddy Anthony and our favorite stevedore, Angelo.

Garlic

We are not quite sure how it fights bad luck... but we figure having a Garlic special on Friday the 13th can't hurt. Get 2 large or 3 medium Jubilat Cherrywood Smoked Pork Ribs with our Garlic Apricot Glaze, Garlic Spinach and a Single with our Garlic Aioli all for $8.

This special starts Friday the 13th and runs all weekend and week (while supplies last!!)

Growing something

At Schnack we have of course really gotten into growing our business as the area we call Red Hook grows... Here is an interesting LINK about growing something FISHY!

NY Post - 100 years of Burgers

We wanted to thank the NY Post for including us in their 100 years of Hamburger article this past Sunday.

They wrote, "Next time you sit down to eat a hamburger, say happy birthday - America's favorite sandwich turns 100 this year... If it's a slider-style burger you're after, you'll find an exemplary version at Schnack, on the western fringe of Carroll Gardens (122 Union St.; [718] 855-2879), where superb little 1.5-ounce "Schnackies" can be had for a buck apiece. The rolls are fresh, and the mustardy "Schnack sauce" adds a nice kick. Don't forget to order a side of their outstanding onion rings."

If you link to the whole article we are about 4 or 5 paragraphs from the bottom. In the actual newspaper article there was a nice photo of the outside of Schnack.

Time Out New York - Take a Republican to Lunch Week

BE A PART OF POLITICAL HISTORY!

JOIN TIME OUT NEW YORK AND AIR AMERICA
RADIO FOR THE FIRST-EVER Take a Republican to Lunch week!

With the Republican National Convention coming to New York for the first time in its 150-year history, Time Out New York has teamed with Air America Radio WLIB 1190AM to co-present Take a Republican to Lunch Week, a promotion to engage New Yorkers in political dialogue and to galvanize them into political action. The promotion will coincide with the Time Out New York Survival Guide to the Republican National Convention, on sale August 26.

Schnack will be taking part in this promotion. Check the Time Out New York website for more details.

*Source: Time Out New York is an ABC audited publication. Numbers are for 6 months ending December 31, 2003. Readership is based on 2.4 readers per copy (Time Out New York 2003 Subscriber Study, MRI Custom Division).

Great Company

"They" say that it's the company that you keep that matters most...

If you check out this link (we are at the bottom), you can see we are in GREAT Company...

Click Here.

New Delivery Zone

At Schnack we have been working hard to handle the delivery volume that we have, and serve our in-house customers as well. We think we have a good handle on that and so we are now expanding our delivery zone with the caveat that we retain the right to refuse deliveries if our dining room service will suffer.

Effective immediately, here is the new zone...

"Columbia St. to the Water above Pioneer. Van Brunt St. to the Water between Pioneer and Van Dyke. Plus Lilly's & Sonny's."

Comic Book Sundays

Schnack has in its short life, a rather strange attraction towards the world of comics. I'm of course referring to the work of Eric Shawn Cherry who, in 2003, not only wrote and inked a B/W Batman issue, but also inked and produced 3 coloring sheets for Schnack. He also created our fictional mascot, Zack Schnack.

Continuing with this "attraction" we are pleased to announce, "Free Comic Sundays." Read more below...

Schnack makes food fun for the whole family; now we are offering even more fun. Starting Sunday August 22nd and continuing every Sunday until Halloween (Oct 31st) Schnack (122 Union St, Brooklyn NY, 718 855 289) will be giving out Free Comic Books courtesy of Joe at The Baseball Card Dugout (453 Court St., 718 624 2527). For every $11 spent at Schnack, customers with KIDS (17 or younger) get one (1) Free Comic. This offer is good from 11am to 7pm and while supplies last. Fresh supplies and new books every Sunday.

Schnack offers a variety of food and fun aimed towards kids… We have 4 kid meals, each only $3.45. We also have our special Schnack Coloring Sheets created by local Red Hook artist Eric S. Cherry that depict our fictional mascot Zack Schnack and an assortment of actual Schnack customers. Our kids meals include O.J, Milk or a Coke, a kid sized French fries and one of the following: plain grilled cheese, single burger, a hot dog or a scrambled egg. Schnack also sells .99 burgers and $1.50 hot dogs.

The Baseball Card Dugout has been selling comics, cards and sports memorabilia to kids and those who are kids at heart since 1989.

Mike and Charles

Our favorite living monologist is of course Mike Daisey. The greatest American writer, living or dead, is without a doubt CHARLES BUKOWSKI.

On AUG 16TH it sounds like Mike and a few others will attempt to "channel" Charles, or at least drink some vodka and have some fun. I'm going to join and I suggest you do too..

Mike Writes:
"NEW YORK CITY: On August 16th I'll be performing in A TRIBUTE TO
CHARLES BUKOWSKI at Fez on the occasion of Mr. Bukowski's birthday.
Joining me will be Jonathan Ames, One Ring Zero, Amy Sohn, Miss Bunny
Love, Vincent Gallo and a cast of thousands. Expect stories of sodomy,
pederasty, deviant behavior and unexpected moments of human contact,
all done while the participants drink a liter of vodka apiece. Hooray!
Bukowski!

The show is at 8pm at Fez, Lafayette and 3rd Street, at 8pm. Cover is
$10, and reservations can be made at 212.533.7000.

Wherever you happen to live, take care and have a great summer"

Best Rings

Last year NY Mag said we had the best Onion Rings in NYC. This year, Time Out New York compared our to those made at a "fancier" place.. Ours $2.75, his $8.50... Ours won!

Read about it

Thanks

Thanks to LeNells for the great dessert wine!

Red Hook - Roode Hoek

Let's be clear. Hoek in Dutch means Point.. Not "Hook." In the 1800's the Brooklyn Daily Eagle referred to the area as Red Hook Point.

That said, I've been researching more about Red Hook. There is some good information to be found here
 
"The Dutch established the village of Red Hook (Roode Hoek) in 1636. Red Hook was one of the earliest areas in Brooklyn to be settled. The area was named for its red clay soil and the hook shape of its peninsular corner of Brooklyn that projects into the East River. A map from the 1760s shows a developed village at a time when there was little else in Brooklyn. In the 1850s the Atlantic Basin opened and Red Hook became one of the busiest ports in the country."
 
My only issue is that the modern Dutch translation service at Altavista translated Roode Hoek back into English as Red Angle. They translate Red Hook as Roode Haak. I'll see if I can get to the bottom of this!

Burger Contest

It took me a while to find it but here is a nice write-up of a burger contest we held in early May.

Burger Contest

"Nick DeSilvio took home the “Schnackie Award” this week when he devoured nine mini-hamburgers in six minutes, beating out his fellow longshoreman at the first-ever hamburger-eating contest on the Red Hook waterfront.
 
The 23-year-old Bensonhurst native and eating contest rookie said he prepared for the big day by not eating breakfast.“It’s not as easy as it looks,” said DeSilvio, who beat out co-worker Danny Drew by just one bite."... click above for the whole story.

Summer Specials

Here are our specials for the remainder of the summer:
 
Cheap but COLD. Schnack is running a special through Labor Day (til Sept 5). We are doing PBR for $1. After Labor Day PBR returns to its $1.50 price except on Wednesday when it's always been $1 all day/night.
 
Keep away bad luck with Garlic! On Friday the 13th of August for the weekend of the 13th, 14th and 15th and through the week while supplies last, we are running our Festival of Garlic special - Jubilat Cherrywood Smoked Pork Ribs (2 large or 3 medium sized ribs) with Garlic Apricot Glaze, Greens Sauteed with Garlic and Sesame Seeds, and a single burger with our hot & spicy Garlic and Jalapeno Aioli . The Festival of Garlic special is $8.
 
Cheap Surf, Great Turf - Labor Day Weekend, Sept 3rd, 4th and 5th (and through the week while supplies last) we will be running two specials. All-You-Can-Eat fried Pollock & Chips $9 (includes 16 oz. Fountain soda with free refills). Also for $9 we will be serving a 10 oz. charbroiled rib steak marinated with Harry's Special Sauce, served with spinach sauteed with garlic and potato-of-the-day. For $3 you can add any dessert to either special.

Fine Living

It doesn't cost much to live fine.. and we are very thankful for the mention and link to Schnack by Fine Living...

Click here...

Photos & Photos

Over the last year we have taken a bunch of photos of customers coming into Schnack. We have posted some of them on the website, but updating the site was difficult. We have some new software on our site (PHP based) and so we will be revisiting our whole photo section and hopefully uploading all the older pictures and start taking new ones again as well.

Link

Here's a nice link to Schnack from daltonrooney.com, a site with some interesting and excellent photographs.

Knife Knowledge

Have you ever wanted to know about the different materials used to make Knives? The following link seems highly informative.

Knives Knowledge.

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who stopped by Schnack over July 4th weekend. It was a pleasure serving all of you!

Red Mills? or Rode Haak?

I'll still stand by the older residents of the area calling much of we now call Carroll Gardens, Red Hook... But according to this Village Voice article, which has some nice things to say about Schnack, the area we are in was called Red Mills by the Dutch. Any one know how that would translate?

According to Babel Fish Translation it would be called, Rode Molens! Red Hook would be Rode Haak.