Closing Bell: The Backlash of the Brooklyn Hype
Is the mystique of Brooklyn finally getting squelched? Not long after Brian Williams poked fun at the New York Time’s obsession with Brooklyn, food writer Mimi Sheraton shares these choice words with Capital New York: I’m from Brooklyn, but it would take a lot to get me there for dinner. When Lundy’s was Lundy’s, I’d…
Is the mystique of Brooklyn finally getting squelched? Not long after Brian Williams poked fun at the New York Time’s obsession with Brooklyn, food writer Mimi Sheraton shares these choice words with Capital New York:
I’m from Brooklyn, but it would take a lot to get me there for dinner. When Lundy’s was Lundy’s, I’d be there. When Gargiulo’s was Gargiulo’s, I went. I certainly went to Gage and Tollner. There were one-of-a-kind things there, but so far anywhere I’ve been to there has not been worth the trip from Manhattan. I haven’t been to Al di la, because you have to wait on line, and I’m not going to Brooklyn to wait on line. Not when there are 10 good Italian restaurants in Greenwich Village. The Times has certainly been very exaggerated in its Brooklyn coverage, because most of them live there. They begin to see it as being better than it is because it’s so close to them. I would go to Brooklyn if it were exceptional.
Chow Time: Mimi Sheraton on What’s Changed Since Lutece [Capital via Eater NY]
Photo by kathyylchan
The fact is, there used to be a considerable amount of snob appeal in living in Manhattan. Terms like “bridge-and-tunnel” were sneeringly tossed around to deride anyone not privileged enough to live in there. People (usually from Brooklyn, Indiana, Nebraska or some other non-Manhattan place) who had clawed their way to Manhattanite status highly valued that status (even if in reality their actual residence was a sad shoebox of a studio).
The glamour attached to Manhattan isn`t what it once was. So there is no surprise that there is now a considerable squawk from those who spent their lives trying to be Manhattanites, as the “bridge-and-tunnelers” acquire a slight cachet of their own.
“On the contrary, Brooklyn could well be a city in it’s own right had the mistake of 1898 never been made :-)”
Yeah, like Newark.
“wait on line”
LOLOLOLOLOL
Wow is she totally unaware there is more than one Italian restaurant in Brooklyn that’s probably even better than Al Di La? In fact I’d bet money that Park Slope has others that would be thought of as better.
Personally I don’t care if the Times or media outlets love the borough or hate it. The fact is though, you will find more over hyped eateries in Manhattan than you will in Brooklyn. And the same could be said for it not being worth the subway ride into Manhattan for a lot of them too.
“Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs and would be nothing without the other four”
On the contrary, Brooklyn could well be a city in it’s own right had the mistake of 1898 never been made 🙂
Hah – she even dissed David Chang.
Send the old bat to the Bronx.
She reaches the right conclusion for painfully wrong reasons.
It’s true that the Brooklyn brand is ridiculously over-wrought, and it’s true that’s because a lot of writers just moved here and have the zeal of the convert.
And Al di la has definitely gone downhill in the past few years and is not the unusually good value it once was.
But her knowledge of the NYC dining scene is archaic and outdated, and the idea that Brooklyn as a whole is some great journey (when she’d never say that about Rao’s, which she probably still would claim to love, and is much further from her home), just doesn’t work anymore even as faux-Manhattan-snobbery. She really is resting on her laurels.
It’s funny Mimi should say that. I feel exactly the same way about Manhattan. It must be nice to be a restaurant reviewer w an unlimited budget and never have to wait for a table. But she shouldn’t confuse her own privilege w the quality of the food.