When it comes to Valentine’s Day, I’m firmly in Tim’s camp: it’s for suckers. Of course, I have a lot more to cry about than he does. Instead of doing that, I went to Fat Albert’s, the most wonderful department store in all of Bushwick, and shopped for all of you people. If you’re not familiar, Fat Albert’s is a giant, anything goes discount warehouse right by the Flushing Ave. J and M stop, described by a Yelp reviewer (the only Yelp reviewer, actually) as a place that “looks pretty beat up and does need an extreme makeover, but you can’t beat the prices.” Sounds like the perfect place to find a Valentine’s Day present! 
Hey hey hey: 99 cent lube, fake Ed Hardy and more romantic gifts from Fat Albert’s
Guitars, drums, cameras and more at big loft sale today
Loft sale? Bang your head!
You could troll Craigslist all day trying to find some cheap goods to put together your Quiet Riot video recreation project, or you could check out this giant-sounding loft sale at a yoga studio in Bushwick. From 12-4 today, Boutique Yoga Studios is selling guitars, drums, camera equipment, art supplies, an airbrush makeup, designer clothes, DVDs and more.
Boutique Yoga Studios, 1089 Broadway #3, Bushwick.
Salon offering free haircuts to job seekers
Donna's Hair Salon in Bed-Stuy offering free haircuts. Photo by Sarah Bradley.
Times are tough and finding employment can feel like a full-time job itself. Once you’ve managed to actually land an interview, don’t let the hours spent submitting resumes, writing cover letters and desperately refreshing Craigslist go to waste when you walk in with a shaggy DIY-do. Donna’s Hair Salon, at 481 Nostrand Ave. in Bed-Stuy, wants to help you impress potential employers with a fresh (and FREE) haircut. The generous salon is offering free haircuts on Mondays and Tuesdays between 10am and 1pm. It’s not clear what kind of haircut is best for doughnut-making or astronaut jobs.
Need a job? It’s time to learn to make the doughnuts
Photo via Flickr's Amanda McCormick.
While your friends are spending their underemployment days learning the intricacies of Excel spreadsheets and half-skim-frappa-mocha-chinos, you could be mastering the arts of donutry. Bed-Stuy shop Dough (home of tastes like the hibuscus, graham cracker cheesecake and lemon poppy donuts) is looking to hire a few good bakers to learn how to make and glaze doughnuts for a part-time position. Pastry chef Beth Costello tells us the job is not difficult and doesn’t require any experience: “You pretty much just get to hang out all day, listen to music and make doughnuts,” she says. The job is between 20-30 hours a week, midday and evening shifts, pays $10 an hour, you get a 35 percent discount at Dough and Choice Market, plus you get to taste doughnuts and French press coffee all day. To apply, email beatboxbeth@gmail.com. Dough is at 448 Franklin Ave.
Where to find the cheapest groceries in Bushwick
Bushwick. Same as always.
We’ve heard complaints about the situation out in Bushwick — bugs, grime, train follies, the fact that no one in the media can talk about it without mentioning the words “loft” or “desolate.” But there’s also the food desert problem: some grumble about the trouble finding decent, affordable groceries that don’t involve a ride to Union Square. Enter blog buddies BushwickBK who are back with their latest Supermarket Sweep comparing prices on basics (milk, eggs, beans) at 33 stores in the area. They determined Ridgewood (technically Queens) is the cheapest nabe, followed by South Bushwick. But which store is best? Head over to BushwickBK to find out, and see a map and full list of research!
Bar of the Week: It’s Project Parlor!
This is the 21st in our series on the venues featured in the second Brooklyn Beer Book. This week we’re featuring Project Parlor, whose ample backyard space and cozy interior is calling to us on these hot early summer days.
Photo via Project Parlor
PROJECT PARLOR
742 Myrtle Ave. Bed-Stuy
What it is: A charming and endearingly grungy Bed-Stuy watering hole with one of the biggest outdoor areas you ever did see, located on an otherwise desolate stretch of Myrtle Ave.
Bar of the Week: The Narrows
This is the seventeenth in our series on the venues featured in the second Brooklyn Beer Book. This week we visit a Beer Book newcomer, The Narrows. Perched in “Bushwick,” “East Williamsburg,” (or “whatever”), this long-styled drinkery is built around its copper bar, and pours out into the garden. It’s also the site of our next BeerUp (meetup + beer) this Thursday!
Lurking about The Narrows. photo by Amira al-Sharif
THE NARROWS
1037 Flushing Ave., East Williamsburg
What it is: In a time when “1930′s Speakeasy” is becoming a Brooklyn bar genre, The Narrows delivers everything you would want: funky, great drinks, and just crowded enough to have an excuse to move closer to your date (or talk to the guy on the barstool next to you).
This Thursday: a Brokelyn BeerUp at The Narrows!
The Narrows patio. Photo via Brownstoner
It’s a great week if you’re a Brokelyn reader who loves beer, and an even better one if you were lucky enough to nab a 2011 Brokelyn Beer Book: we’re hosting our second BeerUp (meetup + beer) at The Narrows in Bushwick on Thursday! The BeerUp is a chance to get together to have some boozy fun on a school night and revel in some spring-enabled patio drinkin’. The Narrows, which a Yelp reviewer describes as “Sexy. Sophisticated. Mysterious,” specializes in microbrews, custom cocktails and a lovely shot-and-a-beer special featuring jalepeno tequila (stay tuned for a full Bar of the Week feature tomorrow). Team Brokelyn will be there from 7pm until question mark (at least 11, but probably later). Come join us and use your Beer Book coupon, or just come say hi and have a drink with us! And stay tuned for more BeerUp events featuring our Beer Book bars throughout the year.
Brokelyn BeerUp at The Narrows (1037 Flushing Ave. at Morgan stop) 7pm Thursday May 5. We’ll be the ones in the Brokelyn t-shirts!
Quick tip: Unlimited free Bushwick yoga all week
via Jai Yoga Arts website
Reader Jessica Garro passed on this tip: new yoga studio in Jai Yoga Arts at 47 Thames Street in Bushwick (near the Morgan L) is offering unlimited free yoga through the end of the month. “We just opened and want to get to know everyone in the neighborhood!” the studio says on its website. Ten-year yoga teacher Ella Luckett opened the space last month. Check the full week’s schedule of events before you unroll that yoga mat.
Bar of the Week: Unleash the Black Swan
This is the fourteenth in our series on the venues featured in the second Brooklyn Beer Book. This week put the spotlight on Bed-Stuy’s Black Swan, a new entry into the growing Bed-Stuy bar scene that’s no one’s evil twin.
Black Swan photo by Ultraclay
BLACK SWAN
1048 Bedford Ave. (between Lafayette Ave. & Clifton Pl.), Bed-Stuy
What it is: Northwest Bed Stuy’s first legit gastropub, Black Swan manages to impress with its decadent design, but follows through on the comfort factor with its friendly neighborhood-bar mentality.
