Foodies as the New Gentrifiers
The Brooklyn Paper has an article this morning about the gentrifying effect of upscale food establishments. The artists might get to a new neighborhood first, say the article, but in recent years, a new cafe or thin crust pizza restaurant is the sure sign that a neighborhood has hit its tipping point. “Food is the…
The Brooklyn Paper has an article this morning about the gentrifying effect of upscale food establishments. The artists might get to a new neighborhood first, say the article, but in recent years, a new cafe or thin crust pizza restaurant is the sure sign that a neighborhood has hit its tipping point. “Food is the new art in the urban cultural experience,” said Sharon Zukin, author of Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Culture. “You used to have artists moving in and opening galleries, now there are foodies moving in and opening up cafes.” The examples are legion: K-Dog in Prospect Lefferts Garden, The Farm on Adderly in Ditmas Park, Northeast Kingdom followed by Roberta’s in Bushwick, Saraghina in Bed Stuy. Even Kensington made it only the foodie map recently with the opening of Brancaccio’s Food Shop. Of course, not all pioneering restaurateurs are met with success: Abigail’s proved too pricey for Crown Heights and Bread Stuy’s recents problems have been well publicized. Another other good examples you can think of? Surely the L Cafe in North Williamsburg and Diner in South Williamsburg deserved mention. Others?
Foodies Now Leading the Gentrification of Brooklyn [Brooklyn Paper]
Montrose — I actually think the internet broadens the market. In the old days, the neighborhood had to support the restaurant. Now, a restaurant can get ahead of the neighborhood if word gets around and people see it as a destination. Mopar is right that these places are often less expensive than those that offer comparable fare in tonier areas — that is part of the fun. But they nonetheless often remain out of range for many in the neighborhood, and the clientele is alrgely the new folks and explorers.
Greetings from Tel Aviv!
I can just see it now: Horror show Thursdays, featuring the fast-foo
joints in Brownstone Brooklyn.
Posted by: benson at March 1, 2010 10:23 AM
Next stop, the Wailing Wall!
manalapan? lol, sorry chile. hudson county all the way thru.
*rob*
“i was born in jersey city” – oh sorry, you probably did see alot of the Ghetto on your way home to Manalapan(?)…my bad!
quote:
smaller portions (which I consider a good thing)
um no. lol.
*rob*
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. The amazing thing is these restaurants are not necessarily more expensive. That is a very typical misconception. They offer much higher quality ingredients, green vegetables, smaller portions (which I consider a good thing), and a choice of wine and cocktails instead of only beer”
Exactly – better doesn’t mean more expensive.
Greetings from Tel Aviv!
I can just see it now: Horror show Thursdays, featuring the fast-foo
joints in Brownstone Brooklyn.
hannible – I think you have it wrong – most of the restaurants that “foodies” seem to flock to are actually fairly inexpensive (as opposed to “Gourmets” who $ for fine dining). Look at the restaurants mentioned – I dont think you could spend more than $15 on a dish if you tried at any of those places….
I think the recession wont slow this trend much at all – most of these people (food tourists so to speak) arent going to all of a sudden take up cooking – and even if they did, in most cases it will be barely more economical than going to these types of restaurants.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. The amazing thing is these restaurants are not necessarily more expensive. That is a very typical misconception. They offer much higher quality ingredients, green vegetables, smaller portions (which I consider a good thing), and a choice of wine and cocktails instead of only beer.
It is entirely possible to eat at Northeast Kingdom for $20, though we usually spend $35 each, which I think is a great deal for NYC. Cocoyoc down the street also offers table service and is about $17 per person. Oh wait, there’s also a great rotisserie chicken place with heaps of vegetables and wine which is so crazy cheap all that is about $17 and enough for two. That’s great.
But after a while I never want to see another hormone injected cotton wool chicken again. It’s too bad cuz often the cooking and sauces at the places with the cheap meat is just amazing. Oh, and yeah, many items at these fancy places are organic, local, grassfed, wild, etc. Some of them use the same farms we buy from.