Kellog’s Diner at Risk; the Definitive Banana BookCobble Hill: Trader Joe’s seems to think it’s opening a store on Court Street, even if a bunch of local bloggers don’t. [McBrooklyn]
Dumbo: Finally, the map to area eateries we’ve all been waiting for. [Gridskipper]
East Village: Want to read a book about bananas? Dan Keoppel reads tonight at KGB from Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World.
Fort Greene: Neighbors are looking for a friendly bar to watch Super Tuesday results. [General Greene]
Gowanus: Vandals have opened up the Whole Foods site on 3rd Street again. [Gowanus Lounge]
Jackson Heights: Sweet tooths rejoice over Cannelle Pâtisserie on 31st Avenue. [Chow]
Park Slope: Komboocha, a fermented tea, hits the co-op, but not everyone is psyched about it: “It’s expensive, tastes like crap, and claims to cure everything. Thus, it appeals to the rich and those addicted to Park Slopish consumer culture.” [Daily Slope]
Williamsburg: According to renderings, Kellog’s Diner will be wrapped up by a heinous new condo at Metropolitan and Union. [Curbed]
Back of the House
Holy Grail of Japanese Knives Can Be Found Downtown
The conjunction in the last few days of a Salon article and a Discovery documentary about the greatest living Japanese knife-maker, Keijiro Doi, and his fiery arts has had chefs buzzing around town. Most all of them fetishize Japanese knives: The Salon article name-checks Thomas Keller, Jean Georges, Eric Ripert, and David Bouley. But the commanding figure in the article is Doi, and it so happens that the only place in America where you can actually buy the 80-year-old blacksmith’s legendary creations is here, at Korin Trading Company downtown. Korin sells a $4,720 yanagi, or sashimi knife, although it is so rare it isn’t even on the company’s Website, as well as a lesser yanagi, a bargain at $720. Korin founder Saori Kawano tells us that Doi inspired her to found the company, the premier Japanese-knife story in America, as a way to honor Japanese knife-smithing.