Who's your crawdaddy?

By Dan MacLeod

If you’ve never had the singular pleasure of diving face first into a bucket of boiled crawfish, head to Sycamore Bar & Flower Shop in Ditmas Park on June 4 when the tavern hosts its second annual boil.

At co-owner Justin Israelson’s party, three pounds of the crustaceans will be cooked in a secret family spice blend (seriously, it’s a secret. We tried!) and served in a bucket boiled with garlic, oranges, potatoes, andouille sausage and corn with a pint of NOLA’s own Abita beer.

“They’re very sweet, but the spices give them a big kick,” said Israelson, a Texan. “They’re like little mini lobsters.”

The event was so popular last year that shell-shocked partiers spilled onto the road, necessitating this year’s twin tasting times. But still, you better get your tickets soon if you want to chow down on some crawdads.

Crawfish Boil at Sycamore [1118 Cortelyou Rd. at Westminster Road in Ditmas Park, (347) 240-5850], June 4 at 2 and 5 pm. Tickets $25. For info, visit www.sycamorebrooklyn.com.

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Bank on this

By Meredith Deliso

When The Inner Banks take to the Sycamore stage this Friday, don’t feel bad if you expected more than two people.

The husband-and-wife duo creates a lush, layered electronic folk sound that belies the fact that it’s only David Gould and Caroline Schultz making all that noise.

It helps that Gould is a multi-instrumentalist who can play banjo with the best of them, as well as bass and guitar. Their recordings also have been known to incorporate such diverse sounds as field recordings from Coney Island, distressed tape loops, Wurlitzers, an antique Californian harpsichord and lap steel — an unlikely hodgepodge so well-produced, in other hands it wouldn’t sound quite as organic.

The band’s first album was mostly instrumental, but since then it has started to smartly incorporate Schultz’s hypnotic, soothing voice.

After two albums, the Windsor Terrace-based couple is at work on a third, which it hopes to share at Sycamore when they play the Ditmas Park bar’s basement space. Just don’t expect the harpsichord.

The Inner Banks at Sycamore [1118 Cortelyou Rd. near Westminster Road in Ditmas Park, (347) 240-5850], Jan. 28 at 10 pm. $10. For info, visit www.sycamorebrooklyn.com.

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Something's brewing at Sycamore

Justin Israelson and Gary Jonas aren’t so great at homebrewing.

“We always complicate the matter,” said Israelson, who operates Sycamore Bar and Flowershop with Jonas. “Instead of just doing what you’re supposed to, it’s, ‘Let’s add this ingredient in,’ and, of course, it messes it up.”

To avoid that problem, the duo has invited 20 “beer professionals” to show off their stuff in the first ever Brooklyn Wort competition on Aug. 21 at their Flatbush bar (the competition takes its name from the term for pre-yeasted brew).

“When you usually do these competitions, you’re mailing the samples to the judges. It takes months,” said Israelson. “We thought it would be fun to get a competition going where it’s live and see how creative people can be.”

Like a U2 concert at Madison Square Garden, the sign-up list filled up almost instantaneously.

“There’s tons and tons and tons of homebrewers in Brooklyn,” said Ben Granger of Park Slope’s Bierkraft, who’ll be one of six judges deciding the $800 prize. “That, combined with the fact that there’s actual money involved.”

Israelson is expecting Belgian-style bitters, pale ales, and IPAs at his first competition. And beer lovers won’t miss an ounce, either, as the tickeet price includes samples of all 20 concoctions, as well as a plate full of barbecue.

You might even pick up a tip or two for your own homebrewing experiments.

“I’m hoping to learn something from these guys,” said Israelson.

So start perfecting those homebrews now.

Brooklyn Wort at Sycamore Bar and Flowershop [1118 Cortelyou Rd. near Westminster Road, (347) 240-5850], Aug. 21 at 5 pm (the 2:30 pm tasting is sold out). Tickets $20. For info, visit www.brooklynwort.com.

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