Posted by Jenn Sit, July 23, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Meeting up with friends for food and drinks in the city always seems to end with me bemoaning the state of my ATM balance the next morning. Last weekend, my solution to going out without going broke was to skip the wine bars and take advantage of the beautiful weather by having a wine and cheese outing in Central Park. With wine from Trader Joe's and cheese and bread from East Village Cheese, it was a great way to catch up with friends, people watch, and most of all, relax.
Trader Joe's love is not an unknown sentiment on the pages of Serious Eats, but you can never sound enough praise for their three-buck-chuck. If you've never had it before, go out and buy a case—now. It goes for cheap, but doesn't taste like it, and will put your $10 Barefoot wine to shame. I met my friend in front of the NYU dorms on 14th Street, conveniently located next to the Trader Joe's Wine Shop. After picking up a bottle or two, we turned the corner at 3rd Ave and headed down to East Village Cheese to complete our Friday afternoon picnic.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 29, 2008 at 9:15 AM

Please don't let this be the end of Red Hook Rye. Photograph by cocktailian
LeNell Smothers is "dazed and bitchy beyond normal." The lease on her Wine & Spirit Boutique is up at the end of May, and she has yet to find another suitable storefront in Brooklyn. Is this the end of Red Hook Rye?
This morning, a sad email went out to her customers where she dishes about landlords, liquor licenses, and vacant lots. Excerpted after the jump.
"Everything I've worked so hard for is hanging in the gallows."
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 12, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Edible Brooklyn is having its second-annual Brooklyn Uncorked tasting party this Wednesday, May 14, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the BAMCafé (30 Lafayette Avenue; Fort Greene, Brooklyn). Tickets are a reasonable $50.
Offering tastes will be 30 Long Island wineries, a half dozen local craft brewers, and a line-up of delectables from favorite Brooklyn restaurants, sorbeteers, cheesemongers, and more. Among the participants: Blue Point Brewery, Brooklyn Brewery, Heartland Brewery, Sixpoint Craft Ales, and Southampton Publick House. Cheese from Stinky Bklyn and Whole Foods Market, Long Island potato chips, palate-coolers from Wine Cellar Sorbets, freshly pressed coffees from Bodum, and natural sodas from Grown-up Soda (GuS). Restaurants attending: Bonita, Flatbush Farm, iCi, La Maison du Couscous, Little D Eatery, Palo Santo, Smoke Joint, and Stonehome Wine Bar
Tickets are available via Brown Paper Tickets, and if you enter the code SERIOUS, you get $10 off the $50 face value.
Win Tickets to Brooklyn Uncorked
But that's not all. Thanks to the generosity of the Edible Brooklyn folks, we're giving away three pairs of tickets. Enter to win by telling us what your favorite Brooklyn foodstuff is in the comments.
Three winners will be chosen at random from among eligible commenters. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply. Comments will close at 6 p.m. ET Tuesday, May 13.