Park Slope
I have tooled around Park Slope many times over the past 20 years. Our kids had their pediatrician there at one point. The neighborhood has changed like all the neighborhoods in and around all the NY boroughs have changed in 20 years.
My friend and I try to do a trip somewhere in NYC a few times a year and this time we picked Park Slope. We were both interested in checking out the Park Slope Food Co-op. Our first stop was lunch. We went to Bierkraft. Love this place. Multiple beers on tap including a menu of fresh made sandwiches.
We both had a beer. I had the Greenport Harbor Ale and she had the Lowenbrau Buttenheim Kellerbrier. I rarely drink beer (particularly at lunch) but beer on tap like this is so delicious.
We got a few sandwiches. Nice presentation on the wrapping.
This is the vegetarian with roasted marinated eggplant, mozzarella,basil almond pesto, black olive, arugula and hot pepper relish. We also had a few pickled celery stalks on the side which were amazing. I'd like a vat of them for my fridge.
We strolled around and stopped into Fleishmans, the neighborhood butcher. Kind of love the sizing chart here.
Then to the Park Slope Food Co-op. This place has been open since 1973 and now has over 15000 members. There has been controversary on and off around this place as long as it has been around. If you belong, you must work there at least so many hours a week. That allows them to price the goods at a much lower mark-up. We took a look around. It has a very organic feel. I remember when we lived in Alston MA during college and there was a food co-op down the street that I checked out once. Pretty sure this is not my kind of thing.
Grabbed the last shaved ice of the season at the People's Pop before they close shop for the season.
Now this is my kind of place, Brooklyn Larder. Located in Prospect Heights which is right next to Park Slope.
I have wanted to open something like this for 5 years if not more. I could sleep here. It took a lot for me not to buy up the entire store.
Not only are the products beyond well curated but the clean precision and visual placement is fantastic.
Had a piece of this pistachio cake and a cup of coffee before we jumped back on the subway back home. I am going to attempt to duplicate this. Tasted like a really good lemon pound cake but with pistachios.
Next trip?
Comments (Archived):
And a great neighborhood wine shop, Slope Cellars!Great people. A neighborhood focus with a really world-class selection of artisanal wines. Member of theLocalSip of course.Slope Cellars @ http://bit.ly/T4z8be
Sounds like you did a pretty fine job with the Park Slope tour—which is great because I started writing an Apologia for Brooklyn that was partly a response to your Gwynett St. experience.Brooklyn is all about the neighborhood and the way that all those pieces come together. Brooklyn restaurants are not destination restaurants (with very few exceptions or joints with a narrow specialty). Our best spots are on a par with places like Perla and Fedora—not Per Se. It gives them a nice homey-ness. But to really experience that homey-ness you have to do what you did in the Slope—walk around a bit, walk into some shops, and talk to some people.
brooklyn is one rambling neighborhood which is what makes it so unique and special.
I loved this post! It brought me back to Portland, ME’s Old Port section of town which as the same kind of feel and opportunities. Now in Seattle, it also reminds me of our beloved Pike Place Market which I am so squandering my opportunities for enjoyment in my short time on earth when I don’t visit it more frequently.
I know this is late but I gotta comment for the first time on your blog to say that the co-op is incredible.I resisted joining and then I married a member. Now I am terrified to move farther away from it. DO NOT confuse it with a crappy college town health food store in terms of selection. I know it looks like it but under the hood it’s a whole other thing. They have the 2012 hipster stuff the larder has for half the price. That $10 Mast Brothers chocolate bar is $4.50 at the Co-Op.The produce is amazing. Pretty much the same stuff as at the farmers’ markets but wholesale. Same thing for cheese and bread. Amy’s Bread croissants for… I don’t know, 90 cents or something.Meat is limited, but that’s what Fleischer’s is for.Shopping at a store where everyone is an employee has surprising benefits. You know where everything is, everyone knows what’s in stock, what is no longer in stock, what’s “downstairs.”The 70s-lefty political posturing is around, but it gets way more play outside the co-op than inside. You know how that is.So… yeah. I drink the co-op kool-aid on the regular. It’s worth 2.5 hours every month.Anyways glad you enjoyed the hood. Try to make it to Culture Yogurt if you’re ever around again.
i definitely noted all the great products. it is no doubt great for the community.