Red Hook: Part One

Saturday I had made plans to go to the Bronx Zoo, but when they got rescheduled, I found myself with an entire day free to myself. I consulted my New York to-do-list (growing longer, yet also receiving checkmarks daily) and decided to spend the day exploring some neighborhoods in Brooklyn that I had never been to before.

For whatever reason, I wanted to start the day in Red Hook, a neighborhood that is notoriously hard to reach by public transportation, unless of course, you take the IKEA express shuttle. The IKEA shuttle is a ferry, actually, and is technically for those intending to spend the day shopping at, you know, IKEA, but it takes you from lower Manhattan to Red Hook in about 20 min. and is free on the weekends. I misread the schedule (they come less frequently in the winter) so I had to wait about 40 min. for one, but once you're on it the views of lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn are pretty nice, and it was pretty comfortable (and warm!).

Once inside IKEA I realized that I really didn't need anything — I'm subletting the apartment here, and only for a few more weeks — but that didn't stop me from grabbing a $1 cinnamon roll on my way out. As many times as I've been to IKEA (the Pittsburgh store, mainly) and had my mouth water at the delicious smell of cinnamon rolls on my way out, I'd never actually eaten one. Cinnabon it was not, but it was definitely worth a dollar — especially because the line at the cafe was about a billion times shorter than the cafeteria upstairs, and I was pretty hungry.

Would it be fat of me to admit that as soon as I finished my cinnamon roll, I headed out of IKEA and straight to a... bakery in Red Hook? I came across the website for Baked while I was researching cupcake sites for work (I swear) and I'd wanted to try their famous brownies ever since. The walk from IKEA to Baked was a bit sketchy, but once I was on Van Brunt Street I began to see the appeal of Red Hook — I don't know if I could live there with its limited access, but it does have a certain old-world charm.

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Baked was really cute inside and I bought two brownies (sweet + salty and a brown sugar blondie) and a latte. They serve Stumptown coffee which everyone raves about, but I've found it to be a bit over-hyped and over-priced. I guess I would say the same thing for the brownies. For something that is touted as "Oprah's Favorite Brownie" I guess I expected more. They pretty much just tasted like... brownies. Not bad, of course, but definitely not something I would trek all the way to Red Hook for again.

I'm sure I'll be back to IKEA if (when?) I move here for real, and it's nice to know there's one so close. I'd also like to come back and visit the Fairway Market, which is closed because of damage from Hurricane Sandy, but scheduled to reopen in March. Have you ever been to Red Hook? What are some other places I should try if I'm ever in the neighborhood again? I hear Steve makes a mean Key Lime Pie...