Hi all,
Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend! I was out of town for the grand opening of Urban Market, so I especially appreciated all of your reviews in the Gazette chat and in my DMs (consensus: the AC is excellent, the prices... are up for debate).
My next act of service journalism will be creating a neighborhood supermarket price comparison tracker, so stay tuned for that.
In this issue, Cheryl’s future is in jeopardy, Gazette readers weigh in on the new Urban Market, a Park Slope brownstone gets a dramatic redesign, the local dad behind the World Cup anthem, a new affordable housing lottery opens in Crown Heights, World Cup themed cupcakes in the neighborhood, and neighbors share their favorite salads in the neighborhood.
One of Prospect Heights' most beloved restaurants is asking the community to help keep its doors open after 20 years in the neighborhood.
Cheryl's Global Soul owner Cheryl Smith said the restaurant's future is in jeopardy as she negotiates a costly new lease for its longtime home on Underhill Avenue near Eastern Parkway.
"We've been here 20 years, and it's been brilliant," Smith said in a video posted to Instagram. "I'm in the middle of renegotiating a new lease, and it looks like we have to come up with quite a sum to secure our space here."
Smith, who was already a well-known New York chef with her own Food Network series Melting Pot before opening Cheryl's Global Soul, has launched a GoFundMe asking customers to help keep the restaurant in business.
"I'm asking all of you—big or small donations," Smith said. "If you can help us continue to stay here, I would greatly appreciate it."
Smith said in the fundraiser that soaring operating costs and changing dining habits have made it increasingly difficult for independent restaurants to survive. She pointed to dramatic increases in the cost of staples like eggs, butter, milk and potatoes, explaining that Cheryl’s uses nearly 1,000 eggs each week.
“We have already weathered the storm that was Covid-19 and kept our doors open at a time when it seemed much easier to close,” Smith wrote. “But even in this ‘new normal’ things aren’t the same as they once were.”
Since opening in 2006, Cheryl’s has become as much a destination for visitors to the nearby Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Botanic Garden as a comfort spot for neighbors returning for their french toast and omelettes.
Even comedian Caleb Hearon has singled out Cheryl’s as one of his favorite spots. On his podcast, he recalled having “one of the most magical nights” at the restaurant after stopping by First Saturdays at the Brooklyn Museum.
Hearon described the restaurant as “so warm and cozy” before recounting how Smith unexpectedly bought every table a round of shots and raised a toast. She told diners: “These shots are on me tonight for no other reason than we’re celebrating friendship and being alive. What a gift it is to be on this earth at the same time.”
“The whole restaurant—I’m going to cry—does a shot together,” Hearon recalled. “Then they just turn the music back up and everyone keeps eating.”