Not so long ago the East River that separates Manhattan and Brooklyn might
as well have been the Atlantic so distant were the fortunes of the former
twin cities of New York. As steadily as fortress Manhattan rose, its one
time rival fell from its status as the workshop of America to New York’s
convenient back office. It is often said that one in every seven Americans
can trace their roots back to the sprawling shipping yards, factories and
brownstone tenements of Brooklyn. Immigration shaped the city into a
collection of diverse, blue-collar neighborhoods made up of shop fronts,
family businesses and workshops filled with craftspeople. Its second
generation packed their tools and departed Brooklyn for opportunities across
the river or further afield, leaving the borough abandoned. Brooklyn
languished in a downward spiral until fifteen years ago when an unholy
trinity of sky rocketing rent, Rudy Guiliani and Sex and the City bus tours
began to force Manhattan’s artists and artisans to consider the unthinkable
and take refuge on the other side of the River. That first trickle has
quickly become an exodus as former factories are retooled as breweries,
warehouses transformed into design studios and the foyer of the city’s once
almighty bank converted into a flea market. It is too simple to put the
Brooklyn revival down to a textbook case of gentrification as its bearded,
pickle making and bicycle riding standard bearers will attest. Beyond that
the new Brooklynites have embraced the boroughs craftsman heritage and out
of that embrace has sprung a counter culture food and design movement that
is in its infancy and has made Brooklyn the American byword for cool.
With the L-train one stop from the East Village it was Williamsburg that
experienced the first wave of the hip convergence on Brooklyn. A decade on,
it is home to destination eateries and the city’s best design stores and
underground music venues. The legend goes that in 1998 when Andrew Tarlow
and Mark Firth opened Diner its original patrons were the artists,
photographers and musicians who squatted in the opposite Gretsch drum
factory. After they purchased the original 1920’s diner they went about
stripping back bad renovations (and inches of frying grease) to reveal a new
standard for this classic American concept. At Diner a distinctly
Williamsburg-style clientele slide their vintage clad bodies into booths in
the dim and narrow room as waiters deliver local beers and then scrawl the
daily changing menu onto the table. Like almost all of the significant
eateries and food destinations in Brooklyn, Diner is at the vanguard of the
philosophy that the food served should be seasonal, simple and sustainable.
The creativity of Brooklyn restaurants is inspired by what is available
throughout the year and the results are rarely short of spectacular, if not
surprising for their ingenuity. The youthful energy, purist approach and
dedication to traditional methods have ensured that Brooklyn is front and
centre of a food revolution rapidly gaining momentum in the United States.
Adjacent to Diner is Marlowe and Sons, an extension of the Tarlow/Firth
empire, a grocery store by day stocking local artisan produce and by night a
dark wood paneled bar/eating house that perfectly represents the one foot in
the 19th C, the other in the 21st C aesthetic that prevails in the city.
Two blocks away is Marlowe and Daughters a whole animal, open-plan butcher
that has helped to elevate the humble butcher from hidden away tradesman to
semi-rock star. Where celebrity chefs dominate in Manhattan, in Brooklyn it
is the artisan food producers that claim the column inches and command the
queues. No better examples are Rick and Michael Mast of Mast Brothers
Chocolate, New York’s only bean to bar chocolate producers. Like their
Brooklynite contemporaries they are a throw back to another time devoting
themselves to the quality not quantity of their product despite their
burgeoning celebrity status. From their ‘factory’ made from recycled
materials you can glimpse Wall Street across the expanse of water and the
juxtaposition of values is never starker.
The craftsmanship of Brooklyn’s food producers also extends to a revitalized
design industry that has flourished amongst the cheap rent and creative
atmosphere in the borough. In Red Hook, the abandoned shipping port,
designers have converted every available space into creative workshops and
showrooms that are powering a resurgent American furniture design industry.
At The Future Perfect, a design concept store, Brooklyn designers are
represented in equal parts with the best of Salone del Mobile in a
thoughtfully edited selection. Similarly at Voos, arguably the premier
high-end showroom for furniture designed in New York City, nearly everything
on the floor was designed and built in Brooklyn. Another iconic American
concept gets a reinvention in Brooklyn at Lite Brite Neon housed in the Old
American Can Factory in Gowanus. These neon artists fashion bespoke
installations like an iridescent chandelier or a chosen slogan that are at
the same time the height of retro and modernity.
Brooklyn is overwhelming in its scale and diversity, to take its pulse, a
snapshot of its style and to obtain a sense of all of its disparate parts a
visit to its market is essential. Brooklyn Flea, housed in winter in the
art-deco foyer of the iconic One Hanson Place, is likely America’s most
carefully curated market. On the main floor a selection of vintage clothes,
mid-century utilitarian furniture, taxidermy, dessert boots, plaid and
cufflinks fashioned from typewriter keys are to be found. Downstairs in
the former vault, beyond the metre thick iron doors, young artisans sell
handmade pickles, cheese, chocolate and beer. At the Flea Brooklyn’s finest
is on display and it represents the arrival of a new generation of American
craftsmanship
Brooklyn Guide
EAT
Diner
85 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 486 3077
dinernyc.com
Saltie
378 Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 387 4777
saltieny.com
Franny’s
295 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn NY 11217
(718) 230 0221
frannysbrooklyn.com
Roberta’s
261 Moore St
Brooklyn, NY 11206
(718) 417 1118
robertaspizza.com
Bakeri
150 Wythe Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 388 8037
www.bakeribrooklyn.com
Egg
135 N 5th St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 302 5151
pigandegg.com
Vinegar Hill House
2 Hudson Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 522 1018
vinegarhillhouse.com
Prime Meat
465 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231
(718) 254 0327
frankspm.com
Marlowe and Sons
Marlow and Sons
81 Broadway
Williamsburg Brooklyn 11211
(718) 384 1441
Vinegar Hill House
72 Hudson Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11201
(718) 522 1018
vinegarhillhouse.com
SHOP
Hollander and Luxor
358 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn NY 11217
(718) 797 9190
Darr
369 Atlantic Ave
Brooklyn NY 11217
(718) 797 9733
shopdarr.com
Brooklyn Flea
Brooklynflea.com
Spuyten Duyvil Grocery
218 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 384 1520
Spoonbill & Sugartown Books
218 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211-3234, United States
(718) 387 7322
The Meat Hook
100 Frost St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 349 5033
the-meathook.com
Marlowe and Daughters
95 Broadway
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211 ·
(718) 388 5700
marlowanddaughters.com
Brooklyn Brine Co.
brooklynbrine.com/
The Future Perfect
115 N. 6th Street
Brooklyn, NY
(718) 599 6278
thefutureperfect.com
City Foundry
365 Atlantic Avenue,
Brooklyn, NY
(718) 923 1786
cityfoundry.com
Voos
103A North Third Street
Brooklyn, NY
(718) 218 8666
voosfurniture.com
Brooklyn Collective
196 Columbia Street,
Brooklyn
(718) 596 6231
brooklyncollective.com
Six Point Craft Ales
40 Van Dyke St
Brooklyn, NY 11231
(917) 696-0438
sixpointcraftales.com
Mast Brothers Chocolate
105A North 3rd Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 388 2625
mastbrotherschocolate.com
Brooklyn Collective
196 Columbia Street,
Brooklyn NY
(718) 596 6231
Lite Brite Neon
The Old American Can Factory
232 Third Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 855 6082
litebriteneon.com
HEAR
freewilliamsburg.com
sunday-suppers.blogspot.com/
brownstoner.com
© Vogue Living, May 2010, Photography Credit: Jonny Valiant