Talde, Park Slope’s newest Asian-American restaurant, is named for chef and owner Dale Talde and opened on the corner of Seventh Avenue and 11th Street this past Sunday. If the name seems familiar, it might be from Talde’s tenure on "Top Chef" Chicago. That would be the season where Stephanie became the first woman to win the title and Richard thought he was Ferran Adria with the molecular gastronomy tricks. Dale was the chef who swore a lot and really didn’t like Lisa. He also rocked that awesome green sweatband. Talde’s co-owners are also familiar—Dave Massoni and John Bush—respectively …

So it’s two days until New Year’s Eve and you have no idea what your plans are. Cabs are impossible to get on this drunkest of nights, so you don’t want to venture too far. Tickets to the $200 black-tie-something-event have been sold out for months. And honestly, you’ll be damned if you’re hosting a party and cleaning up the next day with a hangover. So, what to do? Don’t worry: The Late Shift got you covered. Here are three options for last-minute locales to eat, drink and toast in, with room still available for you and yours. Now all you have to do is figure out who to kiss at midnight. On …

Back in February, Halyards Bar (406 Third Ave.), a Gowanus whisky bar owned by British carpenter Edward Colley, opened its doors. Colley’s mission was to create a space for local creatives, freelancers and the studio-dwelling self-employed to come out of hiding and socialize. Now, just a few months away from their one-year anniversary, I thought we’d pop back in and see how they’re doing, all grown up, and if Colley succeeded in charming the neighbors to come out and play. Walking through the block surrounding Halyards is like entering an OK Go music video—industrial warehouse spaces filled …

So here’s the thing about Fridays: Despite recent pop song insistence that Friday night is the most fun ever, if you have anything job-like to do during the week, by Friday you’re tired. My default impulse is to hibernate with all of the TV I missed on Hulu and an enormous glass of wine. Unfortunately, this hermit behavior just ends up making you feel kind of dirty after emerging from a four-hour post-work nap and consuming massive quantities of take out while watching “Parks and Recreation.” My solution to Fridays that allows the TGIF weary to be both social and lazy is the Friday night …

The hot summer put up quite a fight. As we eased into October, or “Hotober” with 70 degree days, it seemed like fall would never come. Now that November is here, it’s finally sweater and scarf weather. But most importantly, it’s suitably chilly for a mug of something cozy, warm and has a nice boozy kick. Luckily, Park Slope bars, coffee shops and restaurants are happy to oblige. Friends, enter the hot cocktail. At Cocoa Bar (228 Seventh Avenue), a cozy chocolate and wine bar lounge, you can sip on two of life’s most wonderful things together in the same mug, complete with a chocolate rim. …

While some may think of Park Slope as more strollers than rock and rollers, locals know that this corner of Brooklyn also supports a thriving creative music scene. On nearly every night of the week, you can hear free live music in the ‘hood that housed artists as varied as Talib Kweli to Ingrid Michaelson to Miss Foxy Brown. No matter what’s on your iPod right now, the pleasures of a live show are consistent.  Head into a dimly lit bar and feel the bass thump in your chest, start to sway as those early drinks kick in and relax into the enveloping sound that reminds you that going out is often…

With NFL, college, and fantasy football games in full swing, The Late Shift decided to assemble the ultimate Sloper sports bar team. Here’s our roster of eleven excellent brew bars (to represent the number of players on the gridiron) that just got “drafted.”   Eleven is the number of years that bartender David Sconzo has been at The Gate (321 Fifth Avenue), a comfortable neighborhood bar with an ever popular patio. This local favorite will have the NFL Sunday ticket for the first time ever this year on their two TVs. Just $5.50 gets you a shot of Ezra Brooks bourbon and a PBR any time. The …

As Labor Day signifies the symbolic end of summer and the beginning of fall, my thirst longs for a libation that represents the transition of the seasons. The margarita, usually the classic companion of ever-sunny Mexican cuisine, this savory sweet concoction is perfect for the beach, a fish taco but surprisingly compliments fiery autumnal foods like three-hour Texas chili. Thanks to the neighborhood’s heavy Latino population, Park Slope boasts many excellent and authentic Mexican and Latino restaurants and cantinas. If you’re craving a margarita, you can choose from the super cheap spring …

Lately it seems that every week brings weird weather and apocalyptic antics. Clearly a trend is emerging and it’s not global warming. At Park Slope bars, the new “too soon?” tongue-in-cheek gimmick is the disaster-themed drink special. After May’s faux rapture, I sipped on a Dark and Stormy during a “last call” special. Although I opted out of the all-you-can-drink, end-of-the-world deal since I knew I’d be going to work later with the rest of the world. Then, Tuesday brought us a 5.8 east coast earthquake and plenty more wordplay inflected happy hours and delicious disaster drinks—hereafter …

High on the list of things that are better during summer—bike rides, peaches, long walks in Prospect Park—sits the herbal cocktail. Not only are the herbs fresher during these warm months, but adding them to your booze is a welcome complication to the bevy of margaritas and strawberry daiquiris that can't be avoided between tropical vacations and happy hours in the city. It just so happens that many Slope establishments share my sentiment, and offer some mean herbal mixes to bitter-up any summer sweet streak. Unsurprisingly, foremost on this front is our favorite organic, DIY joint Applewood…

There's nothing like stepping into a joint and getting a big whiff of that new bar smell. Such promise awaits a place with a fresh layer of lacquer and a wall lined with full liquor bottles. So many conversations to be had, delicious drinks to be drank. In this case, our promising newbie is a classy cocktail and wine bar named Blueprint. Though the golden-lit hangout has both location and management in common with its predecessor Long Tan, it is something entirely different: a sophisticated establishment where oldies play softly in the background and one is entitled to a quality drink and an …

There's something about the post-July heat that wears on me. Suddenly the smell of fresh-cut grass is overwhemingly overpowered with that special scent of boiling garbage. After too many weekend barbecues, my skin is perpetually sunburnt. Drinking a beer to stay cool is too soggy and filling a remedy. Downing a cocktail seems the instant path to a mid-day hangover. That's when I turn to my mid-summer salvation: the wine bar. Wine bars around here may not be as boistrous as other watering holes in the Slope, but they've all got a breezy, spacious aura about them that fits my deep summer …

Running a successful bar in the Slope takes time, creativity, and a whole lot of individual effort. So it’s no surprise that the little details of all the best bars—from their wall decorations to the origins of their specialty cocktails—are deeply personal. This week, I rounded up five inventive elixirs with weird names and asked their creators to explain their origin. Because I can’t possibly think of anything that goes better with a refreshing cocktail than a good story. The Clamberskull $10 at Alchemy Restaurant & Tavern Made of: Wild Turkey 101, fresh ginger, honey, and orange juice. …

I’m no urban planner. I don’t understand the social implications that come with my corner store selling organic mac ‘n’ cheese and I’m ashamed to say that I often mix up Jane Jacobs with Jane Goodall in pretentious conversations about gentrification. But one thing I’ve learned in my extensive drinking career is that booze brings people together. It just so happens that on a certain stretch of Fifth Avenue, a gaggle of bars have adopted this mantra particularly well. From simple pioneering watering holes like Buttermilk to legendary newcomers like Freddy’s, these establishments have become the…

So far it’s been a sad stormy couple of days in the Slope. But according to that spiffy little AccuWeather icon on my Mac, this weekend is supposed to be nice, hot, and sunny — weather that screams: “Drink a beer!” Now, there are several good ways to go about daydrinking on a sticky 80-degree Sunday, not least of which involves plopping a PBR in a brown paper bag and settling into a nice shady spot on your stoop. But for those of us with judgy neighbors and/or no stoops, I have compiled a quick guide to romping through Park Slope’s plentiful beer gardens. It’s sort of like my recent brunch …

Ah, spring is here! Okay, so it’s still raining. But as the Slope warms up one staggering sunbeam at a time, this Late Shift columnist has one thing on her mind: brunch cocktails. Lots of ‘em, in glistening skinny glasses with seasoned rims and cherries and decorative umbrellas. I can think of no better way to make a precious patch of sunshine count than to sip a refreshing dessert of a drink on a restaurant patio while watching the strollers roll by. So I’ve braved the Slope’s drizzly streets to give you a neighborhood brunch cocktail guide, starting in South Slope and moving inward, so you …

Your neighborhood bar is probably a five-minute stroll from home—the logical choice for a post-work beer or a nightcap. But in a city where proximity reigns supreme one thing holds true: convenience muddles judgment. At the thought of short travel time, a joint filled with lame people, loud music and mediocre drinks is sugarcoated as "decent." It’s only after a man who is covered in cat hair begins whispering sweet nothings in your ear that you realize you should have gone somewhere else. Not to worry, your new nightlife columnist has sniffed out the holy grail of neighborhoody joints: a cozy…

Ah, Saint Patrick’s Day — the one day of the year when everyone is Irish (doubly so if they already are) and drinking on a weekday is not only acceptable, but encouraged.  This yearly celebration of all things green and shamrock-y is often signaled by the following: corned beef and cabbage, green beer parades, and, of course, strong Irish whiskey—Jameson for the Dublin-loving set, and Bushmills for those showing allegiance to Belfast. In this, Park Slope is no exception, displaying the same accouterments as the rest of New York City. That doesn’t mean your should write the Slope off, however…

If you were to list the beer selection at your favorite New York City bar, chances are it would look something like this: on the low end, Budweiser, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Coors Light, a few regional selections such as Brooklyn or Six Point in the middle, and a Belgian wheat beer thrown in for good measure. If you’re really lucky, you’ll find something distinctly German priced at the top. This is far from the case, however, at Beer Table. Located on Park Slope’s Seventh Avenue, this love letter to hops and barley welcomes the new, interesting and strange when it comes to the sudsy stuff. “I’m …

For bars, names are more than mere labels — they can embody whole identities, attitudes and representations of an individual proprietor’s personality and tastes. According to David Moo, co-owner and managing bartender of South Slope’s Quarter, the name is an integral part of the locale’s past and future, a genesis as well as a promise to its patrons. “Some friends of mine and I came up with [the name] in a sort of jam session before the bar opened,” explained Moo. “I was giving them brainstorming seeds, basically… and five and twenty, that’s where we are [Fifth Avenue at 20th Street], and …