As Sandy’s waters approached, St. Frizell, owner of Red Hook’s much beloved cafe and bar Fort Defiance (which we wrote about here in our magazine when it opened), kept it together. He continued filling patron’s glasses on Monday as he calmly hauled cases of food and wine up from the basement in preparation for the storm. Now, with Sandy’s winds and surges gone, Frizell must contend with the buckets (gallons? tons? How does one quantify a flooded room?) of water left in the basement. He’s keeping concerned neighbors up-to-date via the Fort’s Facebook page, where today he shared this message:
Dear Forties!
Three things today:
1) If anyone outside of Red Hook has a generator and/or a pump that they’re not using, please bring it down to Red Hook today. We could really use it! Going to try again to pump out—couldn’t make a dent yesterday, as the water was still coming through the walls…
2) We’re having a cookout! Come to the corner of Van Brunt and Pioneer tonight at 3pm. A bunch of local restaurants are donating our produce and meats to the communal grill—we hate to see good food go to waste. If you’ve got charcoal, bring it! (And bring it a little early if you can.)
