Carroll Gardens, NY
street parking
Optimum Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
This is one of the most secluded neighborhoods in Brooklyn. It is eerily quiet here. The majority of the population is Italian...and by the looks of the many lavish front lawns decorated with Jesus statues, it appears as though most are devout Catholics or Christians. Even the Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins chain has an outdoor garden with an illuminated Jesus! (Google Maps the Dunkin Donuts...definitely worth seeing this in person!)
The big draw here for residents is the front large (by Brooklyn standards) lawns in front of the brownstones. This is a rarity in Brooklyn. Owners of homes take pride in their gardens. Each is as lush and beautiful as the next. And the homes are all as exquisite. The trees form a canopy over all the streets so the neighborhood is rather shady even on a sunny day. There's just so much character and charm here. All should visit at least once!! (I'd actually visit once during the spring and once in the winter as the Christmas decorations here are rumored to be out of this world).
There are pizza stores and Italian restaurants along almost every street (the neighborhood is pretty small, you can walk it all probably in less than 2 hours). I will now take the opportunity to teach everyone a lesson in common courtesy, politeness, and manners:
So one of these "Everything You Must Do In New York" books that I own listed Frankies Spuntino 257 in Carroll Gardens as an amazing Italian restaurant with a beautiful outdoor garden. I will not grace this establishment with a hyperlink (google it yourself if you are interested). My family and I had just finished a day trip in nearby Governor's Island and I round up the troops and told them we must go here for dinner...because my book said so!!!!!
So I called to make a reservation and I was surprised at how fast the lady said "yes, you can come right now" to my request of a table of 8. So we google mapsed it and walked down a few blocks. We walk in and notice there is no outdoor garden. So I ask the wonderful host "where is the garden?" and she said "oh, you are looking for the our sister restaurant...it's a few stores down. This is Austrian and German cuisine." No wonder it was a fast reservation.
So we walked over a couple stores, go inside the real Frankies Spuntino 257 and were met by a very unfriendly, obnoxious, and rude manager type sort. He looked at me and my family as though we were the Grizwalds and told us there was no seating (at least three tables were vacant). I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman when she was rejected service in the boutique clothing store. I then tried to resolve the situation and asked "well, where else is good Italian around here? If you are not honoring our reservation, at least recommend a good place to eat." He looked at me dumbfounded and said "um, I don't know." Well, fuck you mister menstrual cycle. (Blonde guy, around 6 foot 2, you can't miss him...he may have been the owner even) I'm sure this man was just having a bad day, and I apologize in advance if he is not a complete a-hole every minute of his life. But his attitude sealed our fate which was to quickly follow...
So my cousin googled the next closest Italian restaurant and boy oh boy did we strike gold. FRAGOLE!!!! The owner/manager/waiter here was ever so gracious. Super service. Super sweet. Super down to earth. Super accepting of my human rights. His name was Victor. And his brother, who I will marry in my next life, was the chef. This was the frieken best Italian food I've ever had in my life. All I needed was to walk back into Frankies Spuntino 25motherfuckin7 with our receipt and say "Big mistake. HUGE!"
The food here was divine. Every pasta dish (the pesto rigatoni was the stand-out), every salad, the salmon, the complimentary bread with G-d sauce, the dessert. The entire menu. I took a picture with Victor (go through the gallery above), told him he is a very good man, left the restaurant satisfied and delighted, and then walked across the street to the Dunkin Donuts to take a picture with the Jesus statue. The night couldn't have ended on a better note. I thank you Victor for giving us a wonderful dinner and hope to see you many times again.
Click on the gallery above for a better idea of the neighborhood (best viewed on a desktop for captions) and please add your feedback below! Follow me on facebook and instagram to see my live adventures! And share this page with your friends if you appreciate.