Clinton Hill vs Prospect Heights for a Chowhound who does A LOT of cooking

[goodhealthgourmet]

so it looks like i'm moving to Brooklyn, and i think i've narrowed my search to those two neighborhoods. i'm flying blind here because i have intimate knowledge of the food/shopping scene in pretty much all of Manhattan, but aside from the occasional subway trip to Sahadi's from my old place in Murray Hill i'm completely clueless about BK...and of course i know quite a bit has changed in 11 years anyway!

my research & instincts tell me Clinton Hill has better options & access to a wider variety of good ingredients, but i thought i'd ask the local Hounds.

what say you, folks? any input/opinions would be immensely appreciated.

[goodhealthgourmet]

thanks to both of you for the thoughtful and sensible replies. it's not going to make or break my decision on where to live, i was just wondering if one neighborhood was a runaway choice over the other.

[Steve R]

Both Amy and Jen have hit the nail on the head and know the 2 neighborhoods better than almost anyone else around here. My 2 cents are that, as a lifelong Bklynite, I think that the real estate rule of thumb "location, location, location" holds much more truth in Bklyn than Manhattan when it comes to the basics like shopping, restaurants, etc. And, at the center of this is not necessarily what's immediately surrounding where you will live but the transportation options from that point. If you have a car, it's about parking and how close to main roads (or roads to your intended destinations); without a car its all about train lines and bus routes. Seriously. Therefore, I recommend taking a look at how easily you can get to the groceries, etc you need by car or bus. Then the Grand Army Plaza market, Fairway, Whole Foods, Sahadi's, etc become easier and you can concentrate on the place itself. Just sayin'.

[goodhealthgourmet]

Steve, you just articulated it in the precise way i needed to hear. proximity to subway lines is one of the top considerations in my search because i'll be commuting to & from Manhattan, but you make a good point about the bus routes as well. most of the places offer parking, and i do have a car, but i'm hoping/planning to get rid of it - one less headache & expense to worry about. plus, after spending practically half of my life for the past 11 years in the car in Southern California, i'm actually looking forward to availing myself of public transportation again!

thanks so much to the three of you for sharing your wisdom.

[jen kalb]

You may want to hang onto that car for a while - my exploration of the true food riches of Brooklyn really didnt begin til I had a car and could travel all over the borough. There are other ways of living here (including taking shopping trips to Manhattan, or shopping pertty much exclusively in supermarkets, the farmers markets, when you can get there, bodegas and expensive food boutiques) but giving the sprawling nature of the borough (for example if you want to buy Italian Bread, fresh tofu or mozzarella, or cheap non-supermarket fresh fruits and vegetables) or many kinds of ethnic chow, a car is very useful.

[Steve R]

I agree. If possible, keep the car. Brooklyn has great resources and has many corners not easily reached otherwise. Not to mention the easy access it gives to Queens, etc. Although bus routes get most places in Bklyn (trains do not), it takes too much time to be able to seriously consider going to the ethnic markets all around on any regular basis. You'd be missing out on the Russian markets in Brighton Beach, the Asian markets around 8th Ave in Sunset Park, the Indian/Pakistanian/Bengladesh places around Coney Is. Ave/McDonald Ave and numerous other places too time consuming to reach regularly by public transportation from either of your neighborhood choices.

[Amy Mintzer]

Me three. Shopping to cook and eat in Brooklyn is the best reason (possibly the only reason) to have a car in NYC).

[Amy Mintzer]

Clinton Hill has very limited shopping: 2 okay grocery stores and one lovely small gourmet market, Choice. That's it as far as I know. Prospect Heights is a big neighborhood. If you're at the end adjacaent to Park Slope, you'll have a variety of specialty food stores to frequent; if you're closer to Crown Heights, you'll have nothing at all. I speak as someone who's lived on Plaza St. for the past 20 years, is currently in a short-term rental on Eastern Parkway at Classon while we househunt in Clinton Hill. So I feel pretty confident in these judgements! And I'm not really steering you either way. You can put dinner together from what's available at local stores almost anywhere in the city, and Brooklyn has so much fabulous food shopping, you won't be sorry to be here. But it may not be around the corner.

[jen kalb]

I agree with Amy with respect to her comments on the different ends of Prospect Hts having different characteristics and the western end being more convenient to Park Slope and other area resources. thats where I live and I think the eating resources are excellent (cheese stores, wine shops etc) Both the farther out parts (really Crown Hts) and Clinton Hill are rather spread out and have lesser shopping resources. But the closeness of the Grand Army Plaza farmers market and the more extensive transportation links IMO make Prospect Hts a better choice. On the whole though, I would choose based on how comfortable I felt overall about the particular neighborhoods ol, and whether I can get to where I am going easily from there. If everything will be a schlep, or if your block or walk to the subway doesnt feel right, you will not feel happy regardless of the shopping resources.

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Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket
Prospect Park W and Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238