New York's Great Food Neighborhoods: Park Slope
Visit Some of Brooklyn's Best Food Merchants
This tree-lined neighborhood stretches from Flatbush Avenue to 17th Street, sloping from Prospect Park to 4th Avenue (thus its name). With 24 blocks of landmarked buildings, brownstones and shops, Park Slope abuts Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene, and Sunset Park. Young professionals, many moving from Manhattan, have been making the area known more for lifestyle than any ethnic flavor. If you have any doubt about that, try to get through stroller gridlock on busy 7th Avenue on a Saturday afternoon. This inflow of hipsters, singles, young couples and families has also meant that top quality resources and services -- including food stores -- are in demand.
It's true that a few resources are still thin or missing. There's no butcher, but Cobble Hill's legendary Staubitz Market is nearby. Its one fish monger, Park Slope Seafood, is good but with demand, has the potential to be even better. Plus Union Market and the excellent Saturday Greenmarket fill much of any meat and fish gaps.
Today Park Slope is one of New York's great food neighborhoods. Here are some of the best but check our database for more top-quality merchants.
Food & Specialty Markets
- Blue Apron Foods, 814 Union Street at 7th Avenue
- BierKraft, 191 5th Avenue, between Berkeley Place and Union Street
- Grab, 438 7th Avenue, between 14th/15th Streets
- D'Vine Taste, 150 7th Avenue, between Garfield and Carroll Streets
- Pumpkin Organic, 1402 8th Avenue, between 13th/14th Streets
- Russo's Mozzarella & Pasta, 363 7th Avenue, between 10th/11th Streets
- Union Market, 754-756 Union Street, at 6th Avenue
- Greenmarket, on Saturdays, at Grand Army Plaza
Bakeries
- Sweet Melissa Patisserie, 175 7th Avenue, between 1st/2nd Streets
- Lady Bird,1112 8th Avenue, between 11th/12th Streets
- Cousin John's, 70 7th Avenue, between Berkeley/Lincoln Places
Coffee & Tea
- Leaf & Bean, 83 7th Avenue, between Berkeley Place/Union Street
- Gorilla Coffee, 97 5th Avenue at Park Place
Cookware & Kitchen Tools
- Tarzian West, 194 7th Avenue, at 2nd Street
Wine Shops
- Prospect Wine Shop, 322 7th Avenue, between 8th/9th Streets
- Slope Cellars, 436 7th Avenue, between 14th/15th Streets
- Red, White & Bubbly, 211-213 Fifth Avenue, between President/Union Streets
- Big Nose, Full Body, 382 7th Avenue, between 11th/12th Streets
- 7th Avenue Wine & Liquor, 88 7th Avenue at Union Street
What to Buy
The food and wine merchants of Park Slope offer top quality food, wine and spirits for every day life as well as special treats, hard-to-find ingredients, and precious artisanal products. Here are a few examples of what you can buy there.
- Berkshire domestic prosciutto and exquisite artisanal ricotta made by hand in small batches, at Blue Apron Foods
- A dozen or so micro-brewery fresh beers on tap to fill personal growlers at Bierkraft where you can also choose from several hundred American artisanal cheeses and Benedetto Cavalieri pastas
- California-made Stonehouse olive oils, cupcakes from Baked, and Bertolli salamis at Grab
- Fresh-daily Amy's Bakery organic bread and locally grown produce at Pumpkin Organic Market
- Lebanese desserts and salads at D'Vine Taste
- Prime meats, organic poultry and sustainable seafood at Union Market
- Banana-chocolate bread pudding at Sweet Melissa Patisserie
- Whipped cream-frosted shortcakes at Cousin John's
- Perfect apple pies and lemon tarts at Lady Bird Bakery
- Free trade organic coffees at Gorilla Coffee
- All-Clad cookware, a Wusthof knife or a cookie baking sheet at Tarzian West
- Knoll Krest Eggs, Flying Pig pork and exquisite sea scallops from Blue Moon Fish at the Saturday Greenmarket at Grand Army Plaza
- Well-priced organic wines and advice on matching wine with food at Slope Cellars
- Wines, Cognacs and Armagnacs from small European producers at Prospect Wine Shop
- Single malt scotches at Red, White & Bubbly
- Both boxed Bandit wines as well as a precious grand cru at Big Nose, Full Body
- A case of splits of French and Italian reds at 7th Avenue Wine & Liquor
Neighborhoods like Park Slope have merchants this good because the people who live there support them. If you live in Park Slope, please bring them your business. If you live elsewhere, some Saturday get on the F train with your string bag and go visit. Like the Michelin travel guides say -- it's worth a journey.