Chipotle for Old Miracle Grill Spot?
A little birdie passed along a rumor to us that the old Miracle Grill Spot at 7th Avenue and 3rd Street may be destined to become Chipotle Burritos. That storefront has been sitting around empty for almost a year now, so it would be great to see something coming in. Anyone else have any supporting…
A little birdie passed along a rumor to us that the old Miracle Grill Spot at 7th Avenue and 3rd Street may be destined to become Chipotle Burritos. That storefront has been sitting around empty for almost a year now, so it would be great to see something coming in. Anyone else have any supporting evidence?
Slope’s Miracle Grill Calls it Quits [Brownstoner] GMAP
11217: I agree. And if only the local options were just a bit better, I’d never regret never leaving PS!
BTW, I’d like to think Brownstoner could raise the bar on some of the content and still get clicks. The BOTD and Walkabout from MM keep me coming back, and I always like to see listings and renovation topics in the forum. But after that the content gets really thin. I think Brownstoner has reached a level of success from which it could start to aim higher. I really don’t know what the blog economics justify, but there have got to be other readers besides MM who could enrich the coverage. (Wish I had something to contribute, BTW.)
Parkedslope: true, we have some good options, and those you mention come to mind. But the scale and quality of PS demographics could definitely support more. I just think the real estate situation is kind of stuck and is/has become an impediment to the reaching full potential here.
“Williamsburg rents (compared to 7th Avenue) are a fraction of what they are in PS and not only that, it’s a couple stops from Manhattan so they can get a larger cross section of people coming in for their restaurants and shops. Lots of tourists, lots of college kids from NYU, etc. ”
also – park slope is largely residential with only 2 major retail strips that contain smallish spaces. Williamsburg has several retail strips as well as versatile commercial spaces scattered throughout the neighborhood. More supply = lower prices.
I have to say, reading 11217’s post, that this is far from a meaningless thread…
I had never thought of PS being the most far-flung outpost of Manhattan-centric Brooklyn, but I suppose it truly is. I always marvel when I drive around Bensonhurst, Dyker Beach, Neponset, etc how these places seem so utterly disconnected from what goes on in Manhattan, whereas Brownstone Brooklyn remains to this day what it was 100 years ago: a bunch of bedroom communities.
So I suppose the fact that we’re a captive audience is the reason why mediocre restaurants manage to hang-on for so long.
That said – and in reply to 11217’s previous post – I’m hardly complaining about the over-all state of eating in PS/PH [Franny’s, Bark, Larder, Blue Apron, the Blue Ribbons, Fornino, Al di La, La Villa, Song, Bierkraft, Trois Pommes, Cafes Regular & Martin, 5 Guys, etc], just the lack of a solid neighborhood diner in N Slope [Plaza diner is meh, in my opinion]. Of course, if I could just motivate myself on a weekday morning, Tom’s on Washington is probably the best old-school diner I know!
I agree FU. I would have preferred to have an actual thread about the transformation of the Tobacco Warehouse in DUMBO to a cultural center than about a POSSIBLE Chipotle, but Brownstoner knows that Chipotle and Park Slope is going to generate more clicks.
With regard to your first point, there are two things going on here and the first are rent prices. Rents in Park Slope are more than any of the neighborhoods you just mentioned. It’s also the farthest from Manhattan of any of the places you mention and has been gentrified for probably the longest period of time as well. So the fact that Park Slope is this ultra expensive area where most of the retail is used by those IN the neighborhood as opposed to more outsiders like in Williamsburg, Carroll Gardens, etc makes for a unique situation.
Williamsburg rents (compared to 7th Avenue) are a fraction of what they are in PS and not only that, it’s a couple stops from Manhattan so they can get a larger cross section of people coming in for their restaurants and shops. Lots of tourists, lots of college kids from NYU, etc.
Park Slope is like a little village almost and while we may have no Diner or Marlow & Sons, we do have almost everything you could ever need in the neighborhood which Williamsburg doesn’t actually have. They have very few banks, few drug stores, few laundry places, etc. So PS has its pluses and minuses with regard to retail, but one of the things I love about PS is that I never NEED to leave the neighborhood for pretty much everything I need and that’s a nice thing.
Agree that chains are part of retail. I had two points.
1 There’s something about PS real estate that produces retail mediocrity compared to Boerum/Cobble Hill, Prosp Height, WBurg, which is a bummer.
2 I find these posts where we see a 7-11 or Subway is opening to be a bummer because the implication is there’s not much going on in Brooklyn if that’s enough to be newsworthy. And I think there are things going on that are newsworthy. I just think Brownstoner should up the editorial content a bit and stop filling up the news day with non-news. If you’re going to post that a boring chain may come to an empty storefront, do a little more with it, or skip it. You’re making money on ads; spend a little more on content!!!
Chipotle is gross. I can’t eat it. Baja Fresh on the other hand is quite decent if you’re in a mad rush and only have $8 for dinner. They even serve margaritas.
Damn, slow news day around here.
And Five Guys Burgers (also a location on 7th) just got rated the #1 fast food burger in the country, even above In ‘n Out Burger.
Parkedslope,
What about the Park Cafe on 7th and Berkeley? I’m not really a diner person, but their food seems more than decent.
Despite the current state of 7th, there ARE quite a few really excellent places to eat….Fondu is absolutely terrific, so is Beer Table, I really like Moim a lot and Olive Vine, Chiles and Chocolate and Mango Thai are all better than average. Oshima sushi is really excellent as well.
7th is so long that I think sometimes people forget some of the great places that exist.
Oh and Thistle Hill Tavern is delicious and the space is beautiful.
rob – you beat me to it: I can’t wait to see ‘chipotle’ wrappers blowing across the long meadow…
As for chain stores/restaurants,
I’m as anti-corporate as they come, but the only thing crazier than the rents on 7th Ave is the consistently mediocre grub on-offer. I’m happy to trek to 5th Ave for a good meal, but I remain bewildered how little progress has been made on 7th in the 10 years I’ve lived in the slope…
And how is it we still lack a decent diner anywhere between 9th & Flatbush, 5th or 7th Ave?? Honestly, I don’t know how I’ve survived all these years deprived of home fries!