Somehow, the restaurant topic in the forums mutated into a sushi thread. Restaurant GEN, a relative latecomer at Washington and St. Marks, gets very high marks. sje says the quality, service and prices are "excellent" and overall a bit better than Geido on Flatbush. kestrel_ agrees, even though GEN doesn’t steam the edamame. However, 11238 is a "roll gal, so when the roll selection is at a minimum, I get cranky."

This inspired us to upload a Restaurant GEN menu. [Download menu_restaurant_gen.pdf]
Note they are closed Mondays. 718-398-3550. No liquor license yet; are they "OK" with "BYOS"?

We’ve always had them, but nobody can seem to find them. Now, there’s a drop-down box, over there to your left. Javascript is a wonderful thing. (The complete list of categories is in the sidebar to your right–scroll down a bit.)

Reminder: Adult Spelling Bee tomorrow night. For details, see this post from last week. PHOTO: Mr. Regina misspells "ophthalmology." (CREDIT: Jimmylegs)

Staceyjoy is rallying Brooklyn knitters, crocheters, sewers (?), and people who just plain love thread, to attend Crocheting the Hyperbolic Plane: A Talk by David Henderson and Daina Taimina, who will discuss "their discovery of crocheted models of hyperbolic space, a geometric
form found in the crenellation of lettuce leaves, the anatomy of sea
slugs, and the shape of the physical cosmos."  Venue: The Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street (Between 10th and 11th Aves), NYC, Saturday, February 5th at 5:00 pm. $5. And could you pick up some crenellated lettuce on the way home? Thanks.

We’ve got a little poll going on in the Forums.

Joan says she spoke to Marty Maher, who is in charge of capital projects for Brooklyn parks: "He told me that it has been bid out a 3rd time - the first, bids came in way too high; the second time they were out of order; and now it’s been bid out again. They have to wait 60 days for bids to come in, and then approximately another 30 days to award it.  Based on that timeline, construction will start late spring or early summer. It won’t be postponed anymore, given how long it’s taken this project to get off the ground."
COMING SOON (hopefully): a design schematic for the proposed upgrades.

Hello, sardines on the 2 train. Make room for displaced A and C train riders. FOR THE NEXT 5 YEARS. We investigated the tip freshnvegas left in Comments, and yes, it is "bad news for all those who take the train at Clinton/Washington." New York Times: "… the A and the C - have been crippled
and may not return to normal capacity for three to five years after a
fire Sunday afternoon in a Lower Manhattan transit control room that
was started by a homeless person trying to keep warm…" Mr. Vegas wonders, "Will this have repercussions on the real estate market?" [Photo excerpt: NYT]

January sales in Brooklyn 11216:

106 Brooklyn Ave, $332,695, 1553 sq ft, tax value$9,331
361 Hancock St, $477,000, 1800 sq ft, tax value $13,184
61 Jefferson Ave, $410,000, 1967 sq ft, tax value $8,052
217 Macon St $470,000, 1875 sq ft, tax value $9,313
192 Madison St, $450,000, 2000 sq ft, tax value $3,881
207 Madison St, $580,000, 1433 sq ft, tax value $6,289