Maggie Gyllenhaal Talks Brooklyn Restaurants, And The Importance Of Giving Back At CB2 Eastside Grand Opening

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Guests traveled uptown for the opening of CB2’s east side store in Midtown, located in the Decoration and Design building at 3rd Avenue and 58th Street. CB2’s Director Marta Calle organized the event with Paper Magazine, and it benefitted the New Design School (a school that supports the developmental and academic growth of adolescents through art and design). We caught up with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Run DMC while at the event...

The party's atmosphere felt like huge house warming, with guests enjoying Bai-and-vodka cocktails, parmesan truffle soft pretzels and other quick bites, and sounds by DJ Spider.

On hand were street photographers Eddie Newton, Phil “Mr. Street Peeper” Oh, and William “Backyard Bill” Gentle (who set up a mini photo set to take impromptu flicks throughout the night). Each of the photogs had worked with New Design students to shoot photography that was auctioned off at the opening.

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Rapper Andre “Dres” Titus and his son Sydney, as well as Darryl "DMC" McDaniels from the legendary hip hop group Run DMC were among the student’s subjects. They took time on the red carpet to talk about their experience working with the kids.

“My goal is to show them that their artistic talents can lead to a wide field of careers,” Queens native DMC said. “They can be actors, chefs, writers --whatever they desire to be--with the right knowledge and mentoring.”

We also got to chat with the event’s special guest Maggie Gyllenhaal, who chose to ditch her own Chelsea digs with husband Peter Sarsgaard for a four-story brownstone in Park Slope. The Hysteria star said that her home style is mostly fun (although, this mother of a 5-year-old wasn’t necessarily raised a domestic goddess).

Maggie is known to speak publicly about her social and political activism, but chose to stay mum on her thoughts about recent events -- like the troops return to the U.S., Occupy Wall Street, and even her Halloween plans -- but she was happy to talk about her favorite philanthropic causes, and CB2’s well-priced finds.

“I really like the idea that you can buy things that are beautiful and well-designed for your house that don’t cost a huge amount of money,” she said.

And in the evening’s spirit of giving back, Maggie shared a little about what causes she supports.

“I support Planned Parenthood, [human rights group] Witness, I love Partners in Health,” she said before mentioning her belief in supporting foreign countries and their health infrastructures and women’s rights.

“I feel like all these people are attacking Planned Parenthood because of abortion issues, but the truth is that rich women are always gonna be able to have an abortion if they want to have an abortion. We’re talking about poor people, and protecting them.”

And now that she’s settled into Brooklyn and GQ has dubbed the borough the “Coolest City on the Planet,” Maggie weighed in with her favorite places to eat across the East River.

“I have a couple of favorite restaurants! I love Al Di La, which is near where we live. I think it’s great. I like Franny’s and I really like Brooklyn Larder, which is Franny’s market. We go there all the time.”

Now that Maggie's shared her favorite low key spots, we just hope that they don't become flooded with bandwagon hoppers now.