The outstanding woman behind GRAB Specialty Foods is one Laura Nuter, who has been serving the Park Slope food community for years – she joined Blue Apron Foods in north Park Slope in 2005 after stints at Artisanal and the Tribeca Grill before settling her roots at her current shop in the South Slope.

In celebration of NY Craft Beer Week, Laura has been paying homage to New York State brewers by offering a huge line-up of their seasonal beers on tap. She’s continuing the free beer tasting tradition, and will wrap up Beer Week with selections from Southampton (Imperial Pumpkin, IPA, Altbier) and Keegan’s (Four Philosopher’s Tripel, Hurricane Kitty) this Saturday from 4-7pm.

I recently caught up with Laura to pick her brain about living in the Slope, what’s up her sleeve for the NY Craft Beer Week, and a very cool new project she’s got going at Chelsea Market. Check out the interview below, and hope to see you at the tasting!

For the Love of Brooklyn: First of all, congratulations on GRAB’s three-year anniversary!
Laura Nuter: Thank, you, thank you! I must say – it feels wonderful to be a part of such an amazing, supportive and fun community!

FTLOB: You’ve done a great job of addicting the South Slope to your delicious growlers of beer, decadent cheeses, and smoky charcuterie. Plus, you’ve recently brought back your popular Saturday afternoon beer tastings after a sweltering summer — how’s that going?
LN: It’s going well – we’re glad to be back after such an unbearable summer, and our customers have let us know on no uncertain terms that they’re glad we’re back to tasting the good stuff!

FTLOB: The good stuff, huh? So what breweries do you have lined up for us?
LN: Some to look forward to for sure! Sixpoint is tasting out a Pilsner and their Pumpkin Brewster next weekend. Fire Island will be here the following weekend with their new Pumpkin, and then we’ll be finishing up the month with a bang with Great Divide. Also coming this fall: Dogfish Head, Founders, and Unibroue!

FTLOB: Though your store is in the south part of Park Slope, you live further north near Grand Army Plaza, right? What originally attracted you to the neighborhood?
LN: I just love the vibe down on the south end. While the north end is beautiful from an architectural perspective, I found the South Slope speaks to me a bit more in terms of the demographic as well as the food options available here.

FTLOB:If you could do anything you wanted, what would be your ideal way to spend a sunny fall day here?
LN: I’m going to include the whole Slope since I think we’ll need to since we are a bit small-town and I get up early!

Out of bed early. (In my mind, it’s Sunday since I never have Sundays off!) Big bike ride alone in the park — 5 loops — trees are changing color and it’s 68 degrees. Leaves a-changing, good music playing on the pod. Shower, grab my lady friend Paula and it’s off to Stone Park Cafe for brunch. I’ll be having the short-rib hash with eggs, please!

We head over towards Flatbush to shop at the many cute boutiques – perhaps I shall buy myself something special? Loop up to our house to drop off all the bags, head over to say hello to our friends at Cafe Martin for a delicious cappuccino, then across the street to say hi to our friends at Zuzu’s Petals!

I believe it’s time for a cocktail?! We’ll meet our friends Pam and Alister at our neighbors over at Fonda for margaritas. When we’re done, we’ll grab a bunch of cheese, charcuterie, olives, duck rillette, fresh bread and beer from that cheese shop next door, and a bottle of our favorite Spanish red Camino de Navaherreros from our buddies next door at Slope Cellars. Stop by and grab some hummus and pita from Divine Taste, then it’s off to the park again with my girl. Blanket, magazines, cool breeze, good food, and a bit of a nap as the sun falls below the tree-line.

Head home, finish catching up on Modern Family, The Good Wife, and old seasons of Friday Night Lights. I’ll get a foot rub, haha.

FTLOB: Sounds heavenly! Also heavenly – FRESH LOCAL BEER. As you well know, we are currently celebrating NY Craft Beer Week and GRAB is one of the participating venues. How are you celebrating at the store and on your own?
LN: We’re having as many local brewers as possible — check out the lineup over at BeerMenus.com! No time for me to celebrate other than making sure I taste each and every beer coming through GRAB this week and continuing to spread the word about our incredibly talented New York State brewers and their staffs. Speaking of staff, Josh Green is doing all the buying at GRAB these days. I must say, I’m quite pleased!!

FTLOB: I also hear you’ve had quite the busy summer, and have started another shop in Chelsea Market! What can you tell us about your new project?
LN: Yeah! My business partner, Megan Cariola and I started The Filling Station, a company in that specializes in extra virgin olive oils, specialty oils, balsamic vinegars, salts, and soon — craft beer, both local and imported! You can taste everything before purchasing, and since we strive to be environmentally friendly, we encourage our customers to reuse our bottles to get a 10% discount! We’ve had an amazing response so far and we’re incredibly excited and humbled to be a part of Chelsea Market — a lot of talent under one roof! Plus, it doesn’t hurt to be on the cusp of the Meatpacking District in case we decide to get a little crazy after work…

Thanks so much to Laura for the interview! Happy Beer Week and hope you get to toast a frosty cold one this weekend!

This weekend, we decided to check out Thistle Hill Tavern, a four-month-old South Slope eatery run by two ‘inoteca alums and Fat Mike from punk band NOFX. Chef Rebecca Weitzman, who lives in Prospect Heights and has a pedigree that includes work with Bobby Flay, creates her menus “centered around locally sourced seasonal produce, dairy and meat, and sustainable seafood.”

Nestled into the former space of The Olive Vine at 7th Avenue and 15th Street, Thistle Hill’s owners have transformed it into a cozy space with ample outdoor seating at a number of cherry red bistro tables. (so cute!) Inside, vintage photographs and framed antique medallions play off the dark wood and rustic details. The small bar at the back is filled to the brim with obscure bottles and offers only a handful of stool seats.

Certainly, Chef Weitzman’s dishes didn’t disappoint. We started off with a generous helping of pickled veggies, including cauliflower, beets, jalapenos and more. The bloody mary came garnished with the same, served in a huge pint glass.

Next up: for me, a delicious BLT served on grilled multi-grain bread with an avocado mayonnaise and lovely thick-cut fries with sweet homemade ketchup. Zach opted for a more traditional breakfast with a single sunny side up egg on top of a thick pancake and generous side of peppery Heritage Acres bacon. Even as we dug into our entrees, we definitely had a moment of diner envy when our server brought out a frittata to the table over. Yum.

Overall, service at Thistle Hill was attentive and the food was good. Definitely a solid addition to the neighborhood and a safe bet for a tasty brunch! So… who else has tried this spot? What recommendations do you have at Thistle Hill or elsewhere in the ‘hood?

On my way home from work, I took a long walk to survey my neighborhood in Park Slope and definitely saw lots of downed trees, broken glass, damaged cars, and debris. I also saw neighbors pitching in and helping each other, teams of firemen wielding chainsaws, and bumper-to-bumper traffic as roads were closed and re-routed due to damage.

But the craziest sight? A huge steel road sign sheared off its base and carried across an intersection at 4th Avenue and 19th Street. Check out some of my photos below, and send us a tip if you have shots of your own to share!

Neighbors, helping neighbors with power tools:

Firefighters, out in force with chainsaws and using their trucks for towing large tree limbs:

And a street sign sheared off in the middle of 4th Avenue in the South Slope. If you look closely at the second picture on the left, you can see how it broke off and traveled across the intersection:

My little garden is now punctuated by beautiful cherry tomatoes (at right), which are starting to ripen and making me hungry every time I throw open the window screen to water them. (Oh, how I love the smell of tomato plants in the summer!)

The light was so lovely last night at sunset that I had break out my trusty vintage 55mm macro lens. Check out the shots below in celebration of the simple pleasures!

The very first tomato of the season – yum!

Oregano and Catnip.

A sprig of rosemary stretches for the sun.

Globe basil, and spicy thai basil!

I’m not alone, either. Frank over at New York City Garden begs for rain, Kitty at New York Portraits heads to the dog beach at Prospect Park to cool off, and Marie at 66 Square Feet opines, “Make it stop!”

But my fire escape plants? They’re undeterred. This morning I discovered a single lovely yellow globe on my sun gold tomato plant and the other clusters are well on their way. My four types of basil are all going bonkers and the rosemary is stretching taller and taller each day. The gardens and parks in my South Slope neighborhood are looking lovely, and it seems that lilies are sprouting up everywhere I look!

While I heft the umpteenth gallon of water from my faucet to the fire escape, check out the photos below!

Sweet basil seeks ripe tomato, preferably of heirloom varietal, for match made in heaven. Willing to discuss open relationship with ricotta or mozzarella.

There have been lots of additions to this growing fire escape garden since I last photographed it — nasturtiums, sage, oregano, thyme, and even my succulents are out and enjoying the heat!

On 6th Avenue at 15th Street, the community garden is in full swing. Stop by on the weekends for a stroll through the beautiful flowers!

Even this little park off the Prospect Expressway gets some love. It’s so green right now, it’s an oasis!

Despite the baking heat from the sidewalk, these resilient lilies enjoy direct southern sun along 19th Street.

Warm June breeze, street signals light the dark South Slope. If there is a quiet moment in New York City’s most populous borough, it is not going to be found in the Slope. We bike deep into Gowanus. The industry has mostly gone to bed for the evening. It is nice to find a quiet moment to set up a long exposure.

Being approached by anyone in the dark secluded Gowanus night can be intimidating. This time it is just security. He tells us he saw the cameras and needed to check things out. Not sure why security is always alarmed by cameras. I wonder what truth or weakness they are afraid the photos will expose. We speak softly and respectfully and we are told to carry on.

A bus driver pulls in after a long shift. He parks his bus along the side of the secluded dirt road. The driver looks confused by our presence as he walks away. We set up a series of long exposures down the dusty dirt road. We capture the machinery as it rests. It is mere scenery without the human drivers and operators that push these machines all day long.

The stillness of the evening reminds me of the natural beauty that must of have existed here at one time. Long before the industry came in and altered the environment to meet their needs, before the trash was dumped, before the factories were built, before the roads were paved, and long before the Superfund status; this must have been a very different place.

The shots below are a few frames from my first late-night medium format outing around my ‘hood in the South Slope. The ConEd substation at 6th Avenue and 24th Street, a new condo building, even shadows up the block look more dramatic in the moonlight. I can’t wait to go night-exploring again sometime soon!

But once I stepped off the train in Park Slope, it was obvious that his prediction was about to come true. The light on the train platform was radiant, and all along my walk down Fourth Avenue the sun’s last rays were showing off. Though I didn’t have a proper camera with me, I couldn’t pass up the light. Out came my trusty iPhone.

I know there are dozens of communities and art projects devoted to the art of taking iPhone photos, but this is a whole new world to me. Check out below for some shots of tonight’s golden hour from the South Slope!

As a South Slope resident for the last 5+ years, I feel a mix of pride and skepticism; any effort at ranking relies on assumptions and generalizations. But there’s one thing I can agree with Nate on: the neighborhood truly is superlative, at least for photos. On a recent walk home, I brought my 35mm along to check out the sunset.

Looking west on Ninth Street: is it all downhill from here?!

Skipping home from school with Mom.

One stop shopping for all your tattoo, banh mi, and vintage houseware needs.

A walk in the park with the family…

Along Seventh Avenue in the South Slope.

Sunset reflecting in the windows of a new art gallery on 17th Street just east of 5th Avenue.