The Brooklyn Beefsteak: for the love of meat

Sorry, no vegetarians allowed for this one.

On November 8, the Bell House presents meat lovers with The Brooklyn Beefsteak, a ode to the all-you-can-eat-and-drink beef and beer feasts of the Tammany Hall days, without the politics.

Experience the raucous atmosphere of the New York docks and saloons of yesteryear as you chow down on buttery beef tenderloin and gulp McSorley’s Ale. Communal singing welcome.

The event will be held from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets for the all-you-can-eat affair cost $40 in advance, $50 day of, and $35 each for groups of six or more. Come hungry, and with company.

For more information, or call 718-643-6510.The Bell House is located in Gowanus at 149 7th St.

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More Brooklyn Lager in the works

While Brooklyn Brewery no longer has its sights set on Red Hook, it is poised to expand in its Williamsburg location.

Brooklyn Brewery founder Steve Hindy tells our paper, "“Support like this is vital to growing manufacturing jobs in New York City. These funds will enable us to complete a six-fold capacity expansion, adding 15 full-time jobs with benefits, and further expanding the Brewery’s green initiatives.”

It's all part of the brewery's $6.5 million expansion of its 79 N 11th St. space. The $800,000 grant from the state government will go towards converting 13,500 square feet of vacant distribution space into a fermentation facility, and increasing their production from 8,000 to a whopping 50,000 barrels a year. That's a lot of lager.

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NYC Marathon coming; don't let this run right past you

Runners cross the Verrazano Bridge. Photo: Desperately Seeking Susan

This Sunday, more than 40,000 runners will hit the streets for the annual ING NYC Marathon.

While we most likely will be in our pajamas, the devoted will kick things off at 9 a.m. in Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island.

By Mile 2, they're in Brooklyn, crossing the Verrazano and heading north in Bay Ridge along Fourth Avenue, passing through Sunset Park, Park Slope, Fort Greene, Williamsburg and Greenpoint, before crossing the Pulaski Bridge into Queens.

Those looking to cheer on the runners, make sure to check out the map of the marathon (26.2 miles, 10 of which are in Brooklyn) and see where they might pass you by.

Those looking to make a morning of it, ING recommends Fourth Avenue and 7th Street in Park Slope, where Time Warner Cable will have video screens and access to the Race Day Tracker, so you can get an idea of where a friend or family member is.

Fourth Avenue and Lafayette, near BAM, also comes recommended, especially since there'll be an ING Cheering Zone, where you can watch as different streams of runners merge and the lead pack often begins to break up and, of course, cheer. Or, if you're in the neighborhood, relax indoors at Pacific Standard (Fourth Avenue near St. Marks Place), which will open early (9 a.m.) to host people as the marathon goes right by their bar. By lunchtime, chow down on hot dogs and burgers from their barbecue station on the sidewalk outside, and enjoy a Marathon Mary.

By Miles 10 and 11, the runners will be in South Williamsburg. Catch the run at McCarren Park, or station along Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, which is one of New York Times sports reporters Liz Robbins' favorite neighborhoods to watch. "I love Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, if not for its 1950s feel of shops and streetlights, than for its steamy blintzes in the Polish section of the block," she says.

As Sunday is typically big for brunch, Zagat recommends restaurants good for viewing the race and eating a bit to eat as well. For Brooklyn, that means the Med-Middle Eastern Tanoreen in Bay Ridge, Park Slope's Belleville, Chocolate Room (where you can warm up with some hot cocoa), Press 195 and Nana (good for groups), Fort Greene's Thomas Beisl (head to the beer garden) and Olea, and Williamsburg's Roebling Tea Room, and Fornino and Bonita.

Readers, where's your favorite spot for viewing the marathon?

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This week in 24/Seven

Each week we'll preview what you can expect in our 24/Seven print edition, out Thursday for you southern Brooklynites and Friday for the downtown neighborhoods.

Highlights include:

Music: The Osso Quartet makes beautiful music, based on Sufjan Stevens' "Enjoy Your Rabbit," at the Bell House November 7, the Brooklyn Museum does rock with bands, including Brooklyn's Crystal Stilts, playing the space Novembr 7, and Park Sloper Capathia Jenkins has a moment with a new album, run of shows at Joe's Pub beginning November 8, and a part in Nora Ephron's "Love, Loss and What I Wore."

Comics: Brooklyn gets its own Comic Con when “King Con,” a two-day comic and animation convention, invades the Brooklyn Lyceum in Park Slope November 7 and 8. Get a sneak peak at the event, which will feature some of the borough’s most high-powered comic book writers and artists, as well as a plethora of vendors, exhibitors, panelists - and, yes even aerialists.

Food: Find out what's on the menu at Carroll Gardens Italian favorite Casa Rosa and one of Brooklyn's best sources for authentic German cuisine - Schnitzel Haus in Bay Ridge.

Columns: Michele checks in on Park Slope boutique Flirt for all her accessories needs, while the Kitchen Klutz gets in the Halloween spirit with her Gummy Worm Mud Pie. Yum!

For these stories and more, pick up a copy in your nabe or check back here later this week!

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What's in a name?

With changes in store for the B61 route (the line will split in downtown Brooklyn, with the newly named B62 traveling south to Red Hook, to ease delays), there are lots of questions that remain: How much will service improve? Where will the lines break up exactly? When will this start?

One that sticks out in our minds, however, concerns a bar along the bus's route: Will B61, the homey Carroll Gardens bar directly under Alma that takes its name from the Columbia Street bus line, keep its name? Or, in keeping with the times and to remain a local bus stop fixture, become known as B62?

In the meantime, we suggest "The Bar Formerly Known As B61."

Photo: IndieBound

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Coming soon to BAM

The Fairy Queen. Photo by Neil Libbert

BAM released its spring schedule today, promising a diverse range of performances, from opera to dance to theater.

Some early highlights include:

Theater: Get double doses of Shakespeare with "As You Like It" (Jan 12-March 13) and "The Tempest" (Feb 14-March 13), both part of BAM's partnership with The Bridge Project, led by the Academy award-winning director Sam Mendes.

Opera: Opera comes to BAM, with a combined showing of Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Actéon (March 18, 20 and 21), Purcell's "The Fairy Queen" (March 23, 25-27), and two evenings of baroque cabaret (March 21 and 24), featuring music from an evening of arias and instrumentals by Purcell, Handel, Mancini, and Blow. Performed by members of Les Arts Florissants.

Music: The Sounds Like Brooklyn festival returns this February, showcasing the borough's best bands. Previous headlining bands have included Mos Def, The National, and Beirut. This year's complete lineup will be announced in late December. On April 17, Falla and Flamenco comes to Brooklyn, with a program of three works by Falla that imbue 20th-century music with flamenco’s ancient gypsy traditions.

Dance: Some of the best troupes around come to BAM next year, bringing innovative, compelling works with them. In February, it's the Mark Morris Dance Group (Feb. 23, 25-27), and, down the line, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (June 10-20). And from May 28-30, through DanceAfrica, African and American companies, including Brooklyn’s very own BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble from Bedford-Stuyvesant, will celebrate the cultures of Africa and its Diaspora.

Tickets go on sale at varying dates. For more information, go to www.bam.org.

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Straight out of Brooklyn

The Guggenheim's "It Came From Brooklyn" series returns this month, with more stellar local music acts and other creative types to entertain you.

The offerings have proven diverse, with the event kicking off in August with The Walkmen, High Places and the Brooklyn Steppers Marching Band, and last month featuring Julian Plenti and I'm In You.

Here's a look at what the series, returning October 30 to the museum, has to offer:

Genre-benders Yeasayer have toured with MGMT, Man Man, Beck, and Bat for Lashes, blending four-part harmony and tribal rhythms with big hooks and melodramatic vocal workouts. Known for their psychedelic shows, for the Guggenheim, they are planning a 3-D light show with cycles of color and animation projected onto the wall of the rotunda, for a “synesthetic experience of music and light,” much in the spirit of the current Kandinsky retrospect. The audience will receive black paper ChromaDepth 3-D glasses to experience the performance. Sounds like a trip.

Opener Tanlines make experimental pop that should seque nicely to the Yeasayer show. Comprised of Eric Emm and Jesse Cohen, the two are equally influenced by the overproduced, studio pop music of the 1980s and 90s and underground music cultures from around the world, blending these styles against a backdrop of pulsating psychedelic rhythms, hypnotic guitar lines, and bold melodies. Check them out on YouTube, where you can find original tracks and remixes accompanied by self-made videos, creating a bizarre and playful visual experience of its music.

In a cabaret spirit, the night will also feature a reading from Ditmas Park-based author Rachel Sherman, whose novel "Living Room" will be published this month by Open City Books. Her short stories have appeared in McSweeney’s, Fence, Open City, Conjunctions, and n+1, among other publications. Her first book, The First Hurt, was short-listed for the Story Prize and the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and was named one of the 25 Books to Remember in 2006 by the New York Public Library. She teaches writing at Rutgers and Columbia University, where she received an MFA in fiction.

Kicking off the festivities will be comedian Max Silvestri, hosting the evening as the MC. New York magazine recently named him one of the Ten Comedians People Find Funny, as he's been making people laugh as a podcaster for VH1's Best Night Ever, his "Say When" column with the Onion's AV Club, and various bits for Gawker and the Huffington Post. Each week, he cohosts Big Terrific at Cameo alongside Gabe Liedman and SNL's Jenny Slate.

Tickets are $40 for museum members, $45 otherwise. The event runs from 8 p.m. to midnight. The museum is located at 1071 5th Ave. and E. 89th St. in Manhattan.

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