With the recent news that Radagast, a gorgeous Williamsburg institution and German beer hall, will be torn down to make room for another soulless skyscraping apartment building, people question if there's any heart left in this former-hipster-now-yuppie-infested region.

With that on my mind, I took a stroll through the industrial streets of South Williamsburg, and found repose in the grafitti and mural art adorning the exteriors of these buildings.

What I love is the little details, the esoteric murals, discreet spray painting of a priest and a monsignor, the absurdity of an enormous snail with a shell made of a fire extinguisher on a bed of cigarette butts.

It's a good reminder that this neighborhood, at least partially, is still an outpost of bizarre, trendy culture.

Sandwich 41: Mook's

Located in an unobtrusive location in Gramercy in Manhattan is Mook's, a new American sandwich destination. Only a few months old, this spot has one of the most diverse ranges of influences I've seen since Untamed. Korean, Mexican, Chinese, Thai, the spectrum is as impressive as it is sexy.

As I cannot resist anything Korean, I went with their Fried Chicken & Kimchi Sandwich. Fried panko-style, the chicken is well balanced by their crispy, mild in-house kimchi, a scallion salad and sweet lettuce coulis and stuffed into a crunchy Ciabatta roll. The foresight of the sandwich is impressive, the harmonizing of its ingredients being the key to its unique and inspired flavor.

Their menu fires on multiple cylinders, a B.L.T. switching out the standard crispy bacon for thick cut pork belly, a miso-braised short rib sandwich with coconut milk coleslaw, and a heavily Mexican-inspired beer-battered fish sammie.

The venue is unpretentious and warm, and the sandwiches the perfect remedy to the cool winds of October.