south slope eats

south slopers had few choices when it came to food last year, there were a few taco spots on 5th avenue, an el salvadorian restaurant (which is rumored to be one of the better ones in the city), the forgettable kitchen bar and it's better neighbor bar bq--both on 6th. there was more of a selection up on 7th after you passed 16th street heading north. one of my favorites along that stretch was tost, which sadly closed it's doors earlier this year. i have to suspect that it was because it was mainly a sandwich/salad place and it wasn't open during the day during the week- which always seemed like a mistake to me. the good news is that another restaurant is currently working on renovating the space.



the new restaurant is, as i'm told, going to be a german restaurant/bar which will specialize in esoteric german beers and small plates. hopefully they will have our favorite german beer, kostritzer, on tap.

the other two tidbits that i've heard about come from chowhound. where a commenter speculates that a sushi bar is going in where the diner coffeeshack used to be, which is on 5th ave. between 17th and 18th street.



the commenter "fat hot" also notes that "where Aaron's used to be will be a, and here I'm just reporting what I heard, a "Southwestern French" place. That's Southwestern as in Southwestern American, not Southwest France..." very interesting, considering that the space would have to be seriosuly subdivided as it currently is a whopping 7,500 square feet. although according to the sign, the owners are very much willing to do just that. my favorite rumor that i had heard as of yet was that someone was going to turn it into a music hall in the spirit of southpaw. that would be really amazing and i'll bet you that it could do a thriving business.



another active pit of speculation has been the new restaurant that's rumored to open on 5th ave. between 19th and 20th. when i walked by it appeared to be true, however still very much in the renovation phase. the DOB signage read that they were adding an extension to the back and the permits had been filed for an eating and drinking establishment.



more on the snacks at quarter and kb:pizza bar after the expansion

finally, the snacks at quarter are pretty good too. we had the meat and cheese platter ($8) which was tasty (and giant) the other night for dinner and last night sampled one of the curry vegetable pies, which reminded me very much of a samosa. in total, they also carry three types of DUB pies including steak and cheese, shepard's pie and curry vegetable for $5 each.



oh and lastly, the kitchen bar:pizza bar - which is located on the corner of 21st and 6th looks like it's going to open anytime now in the next couple of month. i had heard that they had done a really nice job with building the bar area (and i can only hope that they do a better job with the menu than their, imo, misguided big brother up the street) and when i peeked in the window today it seemed like they were making some decent progress.