the Q at Parkside: Get Healthy Rogers!

The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Get Healthy Rogers!

Ding. That's another ring of the groovy "new business bell" for Rogers Avenue. This one's at 642, just below Parkside, not a hop, skip and jump from the Winthrop train station.

Granted the Q just rode by a new joint on Flatbush on his way to work this morning on Flatbush - "Green House" - in the old BlueRoost/BFruitee spot. More on that when I sample the wares (looks awful cute).

It seems only right that as we mark a New Year for the Jews that we celebrate a New Year for the Juice. Seems you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a healthy eatery these days specializing in frothy fruity beverages. It's as if the whole world has conspired to convince the Q, as if by intervention, that it is time to give up the starches and sugars and give in to the green goodness. Why doesn't anyone open a shoppe called 'Nilla Wafers? Using organic 'nilla of course.

The latest entry, and perhaps the first to brew its own alcoholic ciders, is called House of Juice. Run by husband and wife team of Danii Oliver and Kevin Braithwaite, a local couple who embraced the "garden to cup" lifestyle after the birth of their daughter awhile back. And it won't just be juice. Kevin sent me a picture of brunch that looks quite delightful:

House of Juice is a “Garden to Cup” made in Brooklyn juicery and brewery. House of Juice crafts organic cold-pressed juices and smoothies along with small batch ciders and jun kombucha. House of Juice offers superfood boosters, shots and special drinks for nursing mothers. House of Juice’s organic ingredients come from gardens in Brooklyn so, juices stay organic, local and seasonal. In this manner, House of Juice has found a way to be more local than everyone else by actually growing our produce in the garden. House of Juice literally serves “garden to cup.” Also, House of Juice is the first juice bar that will serve its own freshly brewed alcohol ciders, making House of Juice both a juicery and brewery.

The couple's sure to nail their Sorrel-style drink; Purple Heart" they call it. For those not of the West Indies, I like to think of sorrel as spicy iced tea. I quite like it, regardless of how you describe it. In a largely West Indian neighborhood, it's a sin not to try it.