Behind The Scenes

This year, the historic Grand Central Terminal turns 100. Designed by the architectural firms of Reed and Stem and Warren and Wetmore, the Beaux-arts style building serves as a transportation hub and tourist destination, with its elaborate astrological ceiling and iconic concourse clock. But New York City was already a destination by 1913. What was at 42nd and…

In 1857, the Board of Commissioners of Central Park decided that they needed to actually build Central Park. So they announced a design competition to plan the site, with a reward of $2,000. The Board chose Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s winning entry, which elegantly balanced open and designed spaces with wilderness, from 33 entries, only five of…

Ben Franklin was known for many things, but one of his most enduring legacies is his Poor Richard’s Almanack.  Published under his pseudonym, Ben Franklin released a yearly almanac from 1732 to 1758, filled with calendars, poems, sayings, and weather and astrological information. It is from these almanacs that we get most of Ben Franklin’s…

New York has long been a food capital, from the upscale kitchens of our finest restaurants to the bagels and sausages on the street corners. But as anyone who has walked around Brooklyn has figured out, the next chapter of New York’s food history has everything to do with the local, “artisanal” food scene that…

For this edition of our interviews with A Taste of New-York History vendors, we got a special treat! Shamus Jones of Brooklyn Brine invited us to tour their Brooklyn production facilities, where we watched pickles get born.  They start off with fresh cucumbers from Mr. Pickle, the “old guard Brooklyn pickle makers” who expanded to…

How did The Redhead start? What was your goal behind it?
My partners bought an old jazz bar in the East Village with the goal of turning it into a neighborhood restaurant almost 7 years ago. I did not get involved until almost a year after they bought the place.

When did you discover that being a candy maker is what you wanted to do with your life?
When I realized it was an option! We had moved to Barcelona and our friends who started the company made that a reality.

The Good Batch is focused on making not-too-sweet treats like cookies, bars, and classic Dutch stroopwafels. We spoke with Anna about learning to bake, her love for Brooklyn, and why she won’t compromise on making fresh products.

How did you guys first get started with chocolate? What was the market missing that you wanted to provide?
We started really just out of a curiosity for how things were made and there was chocolate, one of the most popular foods on earth and no one really knows how it’s made. And so it began!