Brooklyn Nibbles: Cobble Hill Edition

A couple of retail and food developments to flesh out on Court Street via a walk yesterday and a dinner last week:

1) Lee Lee's Valice at 368 Court Street (at President) had its grand opening this weekend. The boutique occupies the space vacate by the Bleach House, whose demise has been much noted. The new shop is billed as a "full service boutique" that specializes in clothing for women sizes 12-24. Seems like only yesterday the Bleach House signage came down.

2) Cafe Chili, a new Thai spot that seems more like N. 6th Street in Williamsburg than Court Street in terms of the vibe, opened a week ago in the space formerly occupied by Siam Garden. The new restaurant--which serves average, if nicely present Thai food--is actually under the same ownership as the former. It's light years away from its predecessor, though. If you're familiar with the former and take a peak at the latter, you'll know exactly what we mean. Meantime, the menu is about two-thirds Thai and, alarmingly, one-third American and Italian. We stuck to the Thai part, which is fairly standard for Brooklyn Thais.

3) Our friends at the Brooklyn Record report had noted both of these and also report the coming of the unfortunately named K & Y Fruit & Vegetables between Douglass and Degraw. The Record notes that "The unfortunate name brings to mind KY personal lubricant (not really something we want to be thinking about as we peruse the cucumbers), but this end of the neighborhood could seriously use a decent produce shop."