Streetlevel: Olive Garden Coming to Lower Slope
With new Boymelgreen buildings spreading like the clap, it’s hard to say that the arrival of an Olive Garden will make Fourth Avenue less classy but it certainly ain’t gonna help. You can take some solace in the fact that the future tenancy of the Italian food chain at Isaac Katan’s new development at 500…
With new Boymelgreen buildings spreading like the clap, it’s hard to say that the arrival of an Olive Garden will make Fourth Avenue less classy but it certainly ain’t gonna help. You can take some solace in the fact that the future tenancy of the Italian food chain at Isaac Katan’s new development at 500 4th Avenue is still classified as a rumor by blogger Five of Toast.
Summer Shows/Rumors [Five of Toast] GMAP
For the record Starbucks and Barnes and Noble were not winning the PS popularity contest when they announced their plans for the neighborhood. This was pre-blog days. I’m curious about a few things: When did the neighborhood get destroyed? I read and hear this all the time and while I have seen many changes I am curious about the timeline here. Yes the rents keep climbing and we have seen that pharmacies, banks, and realestate offices, and chains seem to be the businesses that can really afford them. I know the fear of the suburban chains and think that it is because of the neighborhood and community that has been cultivated by creating the food coop, stimulating children’s classes, strong public schools, etc. . . that a place like Olive Garden feels intrusive. It doesn’t reflect the vibe of the neighborhood. Yes it may be high-brow to dislike OG but the line is drawn for most people somewhere ( McD, White Castle, Spam?). The thing that gets me is the rent arguement because the high rents bring this middle tier chain but the really high rents may bring stores that not as many Slopers would complain about, the top tier chains. So, is it really about rent and chains or the simple fact that OG just isn’t in fitting with sensibility of the neighborhood. What chains would people love to see?
I’m so upset that I’m just coming to this discussion. I’m thrilled that the OG is coming closer than Gateway Mall in East NY. Every couple of months, when my son gets to decide where we eat, I find myself driving 40 minutes to go to the Olive Garden. A ten minute drive is much more palatable, so to speak.
Sometimes you want authentic Italian, sometimes you want OG. My son is going to order spaghetti with butter no matter where we are, so I’d rather pay kids’ meal prices for it.
I for one found out the hard way – at a very expensive “authentic” Mexican joint – that I actually didn’t like Mexican food, that what I had been eating all these years is Tex-Mex. And sometimes (actually, the vast majority of the time), mass produced McDonald’s fries are what you crave, not hand-cut-fried-in-organic-oil fries.
Who cares? They’re not gutting a brownstone to cram it in there. A hotel seems to be an ideal location for an OG. Bring on the Hospitaliano, and pass the unlimited breadsticks.
Please, all you yups destroyed Park Slope a long time ago. There is no sense of community any more, no identity, just a former shell of a dying neighborhood. You blast OG like there isn’t a Starbucks on seventh where you and your ADD children load up on overpriced coffee. Giving your money to the man while conveniently underpaying your nanny who are raising your children for you….So please enjoy a nice hot cup of STFU!
“in fact, the saddest part is not that tourists will miss Al di La or some Smith St. Zagat temple, but that they’ll miss the funny little joints that make Brooklyn what it is.”
All humor aside, Brenda from Flatbush,
you’re so right… lets hope that things
never become that bleak…on the other hand, though chain food joints tend to be soulless affairs, with imitation everything, as long as they don’t multiply like rabbits all over our Brooklyn nabes, they too have a place… they provide a place for young families to have a night out with the kids and relax… that’s a cool thing… also a place for the elderly on fixed incomes to get out and about and to socialize, another good thing.
Young singles, these days rent poor,
can at least enjoy a bowl of soup at a reasonable price!
Oops! can’t forget,teenagers on dates…
So these places do accomodate lots of different folks, and in that light are certainly not all bad.
Ever walk through time square. The tourists are actually looking at other tourists thinking they are looking at NY’er. OG is like a safe harbor in a storm. When you ask the desk person at the Holiday Inn Express for a nearby restuarant they will point in the direction of the OG and people will be thankful.
Ah, Olive Garden. When I used to take my toddler out to the suburbs to shop with my Suburban Best Friend, we’d fill the kiddies (and ourselves) up with the ol’ soup + breadstix special. It was part of the whole bland, automotive suburban experience; as a “tourist” of sorts, I rather enjoyed it, and was always secretly amazed and a bit ashamed at how much easier it was to tote a toddler around in that world of available parking spots and clean bathrooms. But then I would get back to Brooklyn, where we would do things like walk through historic neighborhoods and go to places like Ferdinando’s Foccaceria, and remember that the ‘burbs were “a nice place to visit, but…”. What makes me sad is to think that chains like OG are becoming the “familiar” magnets for tourists VISITING US in places like Times Square (or, now, Brooklyn), as someone pointed out above. The idea that you arrive here from Iowa or Atlanta or LA and head straight for…Olive Garden…because it’s “just like home”…is kind of sad…just as sad as if I got off the plane in Atlanta or LA and bypassed the Southern food or the taco stands and went straight to…their Olive Garden. I don’t think you need to be a “food snob” to mourn a little for the total homogenization of the American food scene–in fact, the saddest part is not that tourists will miss Al di La or some Smith St. Zagat temple, but that they’ll miss the funny little joints that make Brooklyn what it is. Good point, though mean-spirited one, about leaving more seats in those for the rest of us, I suppose…
Yes, thank you for the cookie puss reference!
Did you know that Carvel’s cookie puss is actually an upsidedown fudgy the whale? Not a lot of people know that they are made from the same mold. At first I was angry but soon after I thought it quite clever. I know this is off topic but thought somehow it fit well into this coherent discussion about Olive Garden. Happy fourth of July!
Olive Garden does harm to the tastebuds.A nice Outback would be more preferable.