Where, one asks, might one invest in the culinary colonization of Brooklyn? Smith Street is long since blown; Court Street too. And forget Park Slope. (No, seriously: forget it.)
Which leaves Prospect Height's Vanderbilt Avenue. The New York Sun's Paul Lukas is a believer, nominating it as Brooklyn's next hot eating strip in a recent article: "All the pieces are in place: a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, a commercial strip with plenty of cheap storefronts, and a paucity of decent dining options. And just as Patois got the ball rolling on Smith Street and Al Di La planted the flag on Fifth Avenue, Vanderbilt Avenue has Aliseo, the quirky Italian osteria that opened last year and, like all pioneering eateries, stuck out like a sore thumb in its benighted surroundings."
Also nominated as worthy of a look, despite a Bergen Street address: new-ish tapaspub* Beast (photo above), of which Lukas notes, "The burger shows the place for what it is: a pleasant neighborhood hangout."
· Next Stop: Prospect Heights [NYSun]
· Vanderbilt Ave. is the new 5th Ave is the new Smith St. [Daily Heights]
*Inevitable evolution of the gastropub?
