Mob Scene at Tom's
We decided to walk over to Prospect Park on Saturday from our place in Clinton Hill, so we pointed the enormous double stroller up Washington Avenue and started pushing. When we got to Sterling Place, we couldn’t help but notice the long line outside Tom’s Restaurant. We’ve never been there and are wondering what all…
We decided to walk over to Prospect Park on Saturday from our place in Clinton Hill, so we pointed the enormous double stroller up Washington Avenue and started pushing. When we got to Sterling Place, we couldn’t help but notice the long line outside Tom’s Restaurant. We’ve never been there and are wondering what all the fuss is about. Maybe the Prospect Heights residents in the crowd can clue us in.
Toms Restaurant (AKA Monks Cafe in Seinfeld) is located at Broadway and 112th Street. I guess there are two Toms Restaurants. (Brooklyn and West Side!)
I wondered what happend to Butta Cup as well. The location and space are really nice so hopefully it will either reopen or something else will open at the same location.
Speaking of brunch places in Clinton Hill / Fort Greene, we used to have a place that would generate that kind of traffic on a Sunday afternoon: Butta Cup. I used to go there for lunch and dinner often, and did Sunday brunch with my significant other and family. One day, I went there for lunch, and it was locked up, with a notice from Con Edison about money being owed. It never re-opened. I ran into one of the waiters who is now working at another restaurant on Dekalb, and he said he had the same experience as I did, except he was owed money. Does anyone know what happened to this place?
Hot Damn!
I love this site. I so look forward to the photos and the oh so necessary references to all the BK brokers and such. And then you go and mention a diner that clearly needs to be checked out. I have become such a junkie and I haven’t bought the damn house yet. All I can say is, Thank you Brownstoner, Thank you. I first fell for the architecture and the diversity of the neighborhoods and now I’ve found you! I have fallen so deeply in love with Brooklyn I am chomping at the bit to find the right brownstone…..wish me luck. Here’s to a long beautiful relationship.
Hey RenoGirl,
Yes, it’s true about neighbors protecting Tom’s during the riots following Martin Luther King Jr’s death (the Prospect Heights Association wrote a short feature on Tom’s in our 2002 House Tour brochure). Washington Ave took quite a blow but Tom’s hung in there. I guess that’s one of the things I love about the place — old timers, yuppies and their kids, cops from the station house across the street, european tourists, Brooklyn Museum visitors — you’ll see everybody there. It really reflects the neighborhood old and new alike.
I think if it weren’t for all the hype I would have enjoyed it much more. As it was it didn’t leave the kind of impression that would make me go out of my way to go back. However, a lot of folks swear by the place – for some it represents some sort of classic brooklyn experience. For others, the family touch is nice. To me, it’s just another diner – one with the absurd closed on Sunday schedule.
I love Tom’s. Boy, they really treat you like you’ve gone to a family member’s house for Sunday brunch. Gus is sweetheart enough to make the trip worthwhile. I don’t go for the food, I go for the Brooklyn-flavored love.
There’s a story that goes around that when MLK was assasinated in the 60’s people were rioting but neighborhood folks formed a human chain around Tom’s to protect a beloved neighborhood institution. True?
I love Tom’s for the cherry lime rickey’s & the fact that the waitresses generally tell me what I’ll be eating and I’ve never been disappointed.
i hate sugary drinks, but oh, the cherry lime rickey at tom’s. for me, it’s worth the wait