Bed Stuy Restaurant Suggestions

Unfortunately, I think Brooks Valley is gone. Too bad.

If you combine both Bed Stuy and Crown Heights, which are next door to each other, we can get a few more listings. Tavern on Nostrand (changing its name to Crow Hill Bistro next week) and the restaurants on Franklin and Classon are good. We also have some good take away Caribbean spots.

In Bed Stuy, let's not forget David's Brisket on Nostrand. No ambiance whatsoever, but they make good old fashioned deli brisket and pastrami sandwiches.

Restaurants are not a mainstay of our neighborhoods for many reasons, including economics and culture. It was a point of pride and a family tradition to have good home cooking, in your home, with family and friends. If you had to go out and buy said good home cooking, you still ate it at home. Economics may have prevented great home cooking places from expanding past what they did best - cook, and aside from Chinese food places and pizza, which also never did sit down, there has always been little choice. Those who could afford to go out in other communities always did so.

Neighborhoods with lots of restaurants are usually affluent, as eating out, especially well, costs money. I think we are going to see more restaurants, more variety and ethnic choices in cuisine, in both neighborhoods in the next 5 -10 years. It really takes deep pockets, belief in what you are doing, and where you are doing it, an ability to be able to hold on during the rough spots, and the right combination of food people want, good pricing and service,and ambiance. Most restaurants don't make it, anyway, but we notice more in neighborhoods that have few.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at September 18, 2009 11:10 AM

Dave, my Mom and I went there a couple of times when we first moved to BS. It was great, although in its waning hours. Fast food, ironic, due to its name, killed it. Late Sunday mornings, with so many large churches in the area, it was impossible to get in the door. It was a sea of church ladies in fancy hats and their families. A true Bed Stuy tradition.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at September 18, 2009 11:33 AM

Tinarina, that was Royal Ribs. I've had many a great dinner from there. I may be wrong, but I think they are gone, too.

Ban, please explain your comments. Locals do support the take out places, that's why there are so many. They also support the new places, I see plenty of every kind of people at both Peaches and Saraghina. If new places make an effort to include the larger community, they will come. It's places that are not subtle about letting you know that you are the "wrong kind" of patron that quite understandably only end up with their designated demographic, and that just can't be sustainable.

I also think it's a 2 way street, the neighborhood's act improves with new amenities, most especially those that make an effort to include the neighborhood, while the amenities are more inclined to come with an improved neighborhood. Bed Stuy is hindered by an erroneous opinion that only the newcomers (read upscale or hip, mostly white young crowd) want better amenities. That is definitely not true. There is a large untapped market in the neighborhood for a great deal of new retail and dining posibilities. They have always just resigned themselves to going outside of the area to get or do what they need.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at September 18, 2009 12:12 PM