HRN’s Home: A Bushwick Playlist
Even as HRN pivoted to remote operations, Bushwick has remained our home. It’s where our studio was built in 2009 in the backyard of Roberta’s pizza, a restaurant at the forefront of Brooklyn’s culinary renaissance. Our entire community is thrilled to be able to reopen our recording space. Live recordings have always been filled with great conversation and are often accompanied by delicious pizza as well.
In this playlist, enjoy an interview with one of the co-founders and COO of Roberta’s Pizza, Brandon Hoy, as well as other chefs, restaurant owners and artisan makers who have chosen Bushwick as the home base for food and beverage endeavors. Gain insight from the Brooklyn Borough President (and NYC Mayoral Candidate) Eric Adams and get a decade-long history of the neighborhood on Meat and Three. Plus, Bushwick Podcast - a special series from HRN’s archives - is dedicated to meeting the artists, activists, and entrepreneurs who comprise the local community.
Meat and Three Episode 37: Welcome to Brooklyn: Not only is Brooklyn the birthplace of food radio, but it's also home to some buzzy neighborhood pollinators and the urban farmers who care for them. We have an interview with Eric Adams, Brooklyn's Borough President, who shares his transformative health journey.
Our neighborhood of Bushwick has changed a lot over the past decade, from its culinary renaissance to the complicated implications of gentrification, and we take a look at how businesses have shaped – and continue to shape – our community. Finally, we have a look towards 2020, as we consider how challenging, yet crucial, the census count will be in Bushwick.
Feast Meets West Episode 89: Falansai 2.0 ft. Eric Tran: Eric Tran didn’t set out to open a restaurant during a pandemic, but here we are. Eric took over the lease for Falansai and now operates the Bushwick restaurant as a reimagined 2.0 version, making his interpretation of delicious Vietnamese dishes with a focus on whole animal butchery and seasonally and locally sourced ingredients. We talk about the food, what it was like to open with a takeout and delivery focus to start, and what’s in store for Falansai as the city reopens.
In the Sauce Episode 79: Building a Chocolate Factory: Daniel Sklaar is Founder of FINE & RAW chocolate, the Brooklyn- based raw chocolate company focused on sustainable ingredient sourcing and minimal processing. Daniel started Fine and Raw in a Williamsburg loft in 2007 and opened a factory in Bushwick 5 years later. Today, FINE & RAW is still going strong and 100% owned by Daniel. On this episode of ITS, Daniel and Ali talk about building organically, leaving room for creativity, and how too many people making decisions is usually a bad idea.
Opening Soon Episode 62: Opening A Taqueria in Brooklyn for $10k with Nene's Deli Taqueria: Around Thanksgiving, host Jenny Goodman’s Instagram feed started showing her images of orange stained tacos laden with melted cheese, and braised meat. Several even show the tacos dipped into a beef broth or a “pizza” (that same birria, sandwiched between two huge handmade tortillas.) Thanks in part to Gothamist and Grubstreet, but mostly to those epic pics, she and co-host Alex McCrery found themselves eagerly standing in a well-distanced line to get our take at Nene’s Taqueria, a deli in Bushwick, BK. They kick off their season with chef-owner Andres Tanatiuh Galindo Maria.
Japan Eats! Episode 189: Kato Sake Works: Brewing Sake in Brooklyn: Our guest is Shinobu Kato who is the owner and brewer of Kato Sake Works in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Shinobu soft-opened his sake brewery in March 2020 after several years of dreaming and careful planning while working as IT project manager at a major corporation in the US. Kato Sake Works is the second craft sake brewery in New York City, where Shinobu makes unique sake that is both authentic and American. In this episode, we will discuss how Shinobu got into sake, his life philosophy that prompted him to a new career, the challenges he has been facing in making Japanese sake abroad and much, much more!
The Line Episode 69: Brandon Hoy: Brandon Hoy is one of the founders and current COO of Roberta's Pizza overseeing bi-coastal restaurants, a frozen pizza business, multiple manhattan kiosk locations and a 2 michelin star restaurant nestled into the backyard of the original Roberta's in Bushwick. On this episode he discusses 10 years of Roberta's, his childhood in Napa and his early years in the NYC nightlife scene as a bartender, DJ and promoter before co-founding the immensely popular Bushwick restaurant.
Bushwick Podcast: The surprising stories of how artists, activists, and entrepreneurs collide in one Brooklyn neighborhood that’s changing faster by the day. Bushwick Podcast takes you from kitchens, to shops, to community centers for an intimate look at how we shape our local communities, and how we can make them stronger together.
