Restaurants in Park Slope

I have already mentioned all of the cool stuff to do in Park Slope in a previous blog entry but I have yet to mention any of the cool places to eat there.  There is a really large selection of good restaurants in Park Slope and it is one of the reason I like to go down there so often.

Coco Roco on 5^th ave between 6^th and 7^th streets is a fantastic Peruvian restaurant with very reasonable prices and amazing food.  Its not a fancy place yet it has the feel of a family restaurant with a casual atmosphere.  Staff is very friendly and helpful as well.

If your in the mood for Italian try Mulino Ristorante on 5^th avenue.  Very nice place with family atmosphere great service and good food all at a very reasonable price.

Stone Park Cafe is a classic Park Slope restaurant with plenty of outdoor seating available.  Everything on the menu is delicious and they have an excellent yet affordable wine selection.  The space is decorated beautifully and the service is excellent.

And finally the Total Wine Bar is a great place to sit down and have a glass of wine with some friends. The food here is very good as is the wine.  They serve small plates that the very bartenders prepare for you. Just great friendly service.

DUMBO

DUMBO is an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.  It is a small neighborhood located between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges and east of the Manhattan bridge to Vinegar Hill. The neighborhood was voted the city’s 90^th historic district in December of 2007 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The neighborhood was largely industrial up until the 1970s after which  many artists and younger people looking for large inexpensive loft apartments began moving in.  The neighborhood has seen substantial growth within the last 20 years becoming increasingly gentrified.

I have already written about some of the attractions that this neighborhood has to offer one of which is Grimaldi’s pizzeria. It boasts a real wood fired brick oven pizza.  There is also Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park one of the most popular places for photography in New York City.  You can also see great views of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges as well as lower Manhattan.  The park also contains a boardwalk and two historic buildings.   The Empire Stores buildings, a former dry goods storage warehouse, and the roofless former Tobacco Warehouse that serves as an outdoor entertainment area.

The neighborhood is also home to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and Bargemusic, a classical music venue.

Restaurants In Bay Ridge Part 2

One of the places I frequented quite often when I lived in Bay Ridge is Sushi Hana on on 86^th street.  The place is small but very cozy with great ambiance.  Food and service are excellent and it is one of the best places to get sushi in Bay Ridge.  Often I would hear soothing electronic music if you can imagine that.

Casa Calamari located on 3^rd avenue and 86^th street is another great place for either take out or sit-in.  The staff is very friendly, quick service and the food is always great and  fresh.  The prices might look a little high but when you see the size of the portions you’ll understand.

Chianti restaurant on 85^th street and 3^rd ave is a place I have only had the chance to eat at twice, but both times it was amazing.  Service is amazing, food is delicious, the portions are prefect and the wine selection is great.

And last but not least is Austin’s Steak House which is probably the best steak house in Bay Ridge if not in all of Brooklyn.  I’ve had an amazing dining experience over several occasions. The service the food and atmosphere are all great.  The steaks are the highest quality and they have an impressive wine list as well.

Restaurants In Bay Ridge

One of the great things about Bay Ridge besides the many bars and clubs is the many different types and styles of food that you can find there. You can find great Mexican, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean.  I could go on, but will just tell you about some of my favorite places to eat in Bay Ridge.

Hunters Steak and Ale House on 94^th street and 4^th avenue is a nice little restaurant that I have frequented on many occasions.  The service and atmosphere are great and the food is excellent. Adjacent to the restaurant is a small sports bar with a great selection of beers.  I highly recommend it.

Next on my list of favorite is Mambo Italiano on 88th and 3rd avenue.  Again great atmosphere great service and excellent food.  The cost is also very reasonable and they offer lunch specials on week days.  The walls are covered with murals that contain many Italian celebrities. Very fun place.

If your into organic food there’s Natures Grill between 74th and 75th streets on 3^rd avenue.  They have a great selection of healthy food choices and a juice bar as well. Cozy atmosphere and great prices.

Why I’m Writing This Blog Part 3

I think one of the main reasons that my family moved out of Flatbush was the fact that it was such a bad neighborhood back then.  The 70s and 80s were a bad time for most of New York and I think people in other parts of the country still believe this.  I remember friends who went to college out of state telling me that the general opinion of New York is that it is a dangerous place to live.  This was somewhat true years ago about some areas though a bit exaggerated.

As I’ve said before the places I have known in Brooklyn have changed a lot and in some cases even drastically for the better.  The communities and neighborhoods have become stronger as a result of all this development.  As people are inspired by the changes that they see happening around them it gives them a greater sense of pride and they become more active in their own neighborhoods.

I’ve seen this happen in other neighborhoods over the years and I am seeing it happen here in Flatbush now.  There is a stronger sense of community here now as more and more people become involved in building up the neighborhood.  I am very proud to be here and that I am able to experience it once again.

Why I’m Writing This Blog Part 2

Another reason why I’m writing this is it helps me to reminisce about the neighborhoods that I have lived in throughout my life.

I was born in Flatbush, as you will see in my about page, just a few blocks from where I currently live. My family didn’t stay there to long, as I can remember moving around a lot until I was about seven years old when my family moved to Bensonhurst.  This is mainly where I grew up but my parents had friends all over Brooklyn.  So I spent a lot of my childhood in the various neighborhoods I’ve been writing about.

I am also very aware of the fact that a lot of these neighborhoods were not the best of places. The only decent neighborhoods I do remember when I was growing up was where I lived in Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge.  Yet much of what I remember as a kid has changed and it has changed for the better.

Much of the water front properties in downtown Brooklyn, for instance were just empty lots filled with abandoned cars and other junk.  Those same properties today have been cleaned up and rebuilt and so have the neighborhoods around them.

Bars In Bay Ridge

One of the things that Bay Ridge in known for is it night life.  All along forth and fifth avenues you can find dozens of bars and clubs and I think I’ve pretty much been to just about all of them at one time or another.  Here is just a few of my favorites.

The Bean Post Pub located at 76^th street and 4^th avenue is a sports bar that as something to offer no matter what sport your into.  With 11 game-tuned T.V.’s and 55 bottled beers and 21 on tap it a great place to go to and enjoy the game.  They also have a pretty extensive menu of food choices all of which are excellent.

Tat2 Lounge is a really tattoo themed bar.  Its small but cozy and has red leather couches along the walls.  The walls are covered with some very cool hand-painted murals.  There is a small outdoor area for the summer and at night they serve food.

I save the best for last, the Wicked Monk on 85^th street and 5^th avenue.  The bar is owned by fireman Michael Dorgan who imported the hand-carved  back bar, wooden church pews and stained glass from a monastery in Ireland.  Very cool bar with nice atmosphere that has bands on the weekends.  There’s a pool table are dart boards in the back (the bar is part of the Big Apple Darts league and American Pool Association).

Why I’m Writing This Blog

Now that I have taxed everyone to death with my history lesson, I think its time for me to do a little explaining as to why I’ve decided to write this blog in the first place.  First off I want to share all of this with you because of my own excitement and fondness that I have for my home town.

As I have stated in other entry’s on this blog I didn’t always have the appreciation for Brooklyn that I have now, in fact this is all a pretty recent development for me. I t all started with my walk across the Brooklyn Bridge during the Northeast Blackout of 2003.  As I related in that blog it was the first time I had ever walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and I was so taken by it – perhaps it had something to do with the circumstances at the time, but whatever it was it left me with a greater sense of connectedness with the borough I grew up in and the people that live there – that I almost immediately began riding my bike into work (weather permitting of course) everyday during the summer.

And all the history I’ve been throwing up on this blog is my way of sharing something that has become something of a pet project of mine in recent months.  It has also shown me just how unique Brooklyn really is.

Bensonhurst Part 3

Today the neighborhood streets are lined with two family homes many of which were built some 90 years ago. The neighborhood is much more diverse than it was in the early 20^th century or even when I was growing up there.  Many immigrants from the former Soviet Union and China began moving into the neighborhood in the early 1990s. Yet you can still find, though there are not as many left, little Italian cafes and  bakeries where you can get some of the best Italian pastries outside of Italy.  You can also find some of the best pizza in Brooklyn here.

Many of the families that I knew growing up are still living there as are many of my old friends.

The Italian influence still predominates in the neighborhood.  You can see it every where along 18^th ave, especially in late summer when the Feast of Santa Rosalia comes around, simply called “The Feast” by locals.  Santa Rosalia is the patron saint of  Palermo and sometimes as the patron saint of all of Sicily (mnay of the Italian Americans living in Bensonhurst are of Sicilian heritage).  Thousands of New Yorkers flock to this annual end of summer event.

Coney Islands Nathan’s

In my opinion Nathan’s is the best place in Brooklyn to go for hot dogs.  Founder Polish immigrant Nathan Handwerker started off with a hot dog stand on a corner in Coney Island in 1916.  The hot dogs where made using Nathan’s wife, Ida’s, recipe.

Nathan worked selling hot dogs for Feltman’s hot dog stand and was encouraged by his celebrity customers Eddie Cantor and Jimmy Durante to go into business for himself the rest is history.  Nathan’s has gone on to become one of the most famous hot dogs in the world.  Other celebrities frequented the store, such as Cary Grant and Al Capone.  President Franklin Delano Roosevelt served Nathan’s hot dogs to the King and Queen of England in 1939.  Even today you can find celebrities there chowing down on a hot dog.

The original store, opened in 1916,  is still on the same corner and provides year round service.  Every July 4^th since 1916, the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest has  been held there.  Contestants try to consume as many hot dogs as they can in a 12 minute period.   Joey Chestnut holds the record at 68 hot dogs.

Nathan’s is one of those places that my dad and grandfather would always take me and  today when ever I’m down in Coney Island I always make sure I stop in for a bite to eat.