In today's Metro Newspaper there was an article about eating out in Brooklyn. I wanted to share it with you all, because I think that the two recommendations of The Vanderbilt and James Restaurant in Prospect Heights are great and if you want a more detailed account of Prospect Heights restaurants go here.

What places would you recommend for visitors to the Brooklyn Museum or Prospect Park?

I would send someone to The Vanderbilt (570 Vanderbilt Ave.) or James Restaurant (605 Carlton Ave.) in Prospect Heights. They’re great places to go after a day at the museum to have a glass of wine or a cocktail and some really well-prepared food. Both are close enough to the museums and the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens that if you really wanted to make a day of it, you could end your day the

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Freddy's Bar and Backroom will hold its last call at the end of this month (April 2010), as the Forester City Ratner Atlantic Yards project moves forward. This was a Prospect Heights institution for many and with its characters and regulars, has become a home-base for the fight against the project. Many had previously vowed to chain themselves to the bar, but have recently changed their tune to a more peaceful protest. The final standout for the project, head of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Daniel Goldstein has taken the money and ran, with a 3 million dollar payout for his 590,000 apartment. This is probably the final nail in the coffin for the protest and will make way for the building of the Barclay's Arena and the sale of the New Jersey Nets to the Russian billionare Mikhail Prokhorov. For many this is a relief to get this project moving, for others it is the end of the community fight for the presevation of neighborhood. "Change is hard" - Barack Obama

Here is a list of the top ten best restaurants in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. While there are many fabulous places to eat in this diverse and delicious neighborhood, there are a few that stand out from the rest. What do you think about this list? Do you agree? Let us know! 

1. Frannys (Best Environmentally Responsible Restaurant)
2. Le Gamin Cafe (Best French/Crepe)
3. James (Best Neighborhood Feel)
4. The Vanderbilt (Best Hors D’oeuvres/Drinks)
5. Cornelius (Best Oysters)
6. Beast (Best Brunch and Jazz)
7. Chavellas (Best Authentic Mexican)
8. Tom's (Best Old School Diner)
9. Gen (Best Sushi)
10. Rawstar (Best Caribbean Food)

While we all know that Prospect Heights isn't a new neighborhood at all, but it is rapidly shifting and becoming a place where the professional creative class is mixing with the diverse neighborhood locals to form a vibrant community. If you compare it to other neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Prospect Heights is fairly intimate and is notable for its cultural diversity, tree-lined streets exemplified and mixture of older buildings under reconstruction, rows of classic 1890s brownstones, and newly built luxury condominiums.

Some Bullets Summarized from Wikipedia

• The name "Prospect Heights" can be traced as far back as 1889 to a letter to the editor published in the Brooklyn Eagle 
• Largely an Italian, Jewish, and German neighborhood in the 1910s through the 1950s
• Prospect Heights is currently well known for its mixed black and white culture.
• Every year the West Indian Day Parade, the largest annual parade in New York City, follows Eastern Parkway, beginning in Crown Heights and ending at Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Heights.
• A thriving commercial zone has emerged along Vanderbilt Avenue, which in just the last few years has been the location for new bars, restaurants and specialty shops.
• Because of the area's density of Italianate and Neo-Grec rowhouses, much of the neighborhood has been designated as a New York City historic district.
• It is the fifth largest historic district in New York City.
• To its north lies Fort Greene, to the south, Prospect Park, to its west, Park Slope and to its east, Crown Heights.
• Atlantic Yards Project including Barclays Arena will form the Northern border from Faltbush to Vanderbilt along Atlantic.

When you first meet Ross Greenberg you can't help noticing that he is a true local, friendly, talkative with a genuine Brooklyn demeanor. But if you chat with him while he prepares food for his soccer fanatic patrons, you begin to see that he has seen a lot of the world and knows what's what. He might tell you that he was an assistant to a famous French chef in the South of France or that he lived in Italy for a while working with chefs and this place all starts to make sense. Woodwork is not your ordinary Soccer bar. Ross descibes the bar as " a sexy soccer bar, serving foodie and footie fans alike". The menu is focused and delicious (try the waffles) - the beer, whiskeys and overall service is tight and friendly. The location Dean and Vanderbilt, in Prospect Heights, is truly the next new renaissance in Brooklyn and Ross's timing is perfect. There are many speculations about what they may build across the the street, in the South-Eastern tip of the Atlantic Yards project, but Ross (and many others) know that this neighborhood, in particular Vanderbilt Street is on it's way to the top. With it's proximity to Prospect Park, BAM, The Brooklyn Museum, Barclay's Arena, Botanical Gardens, Grand Army Plaza Farmers Market and Atlantic Center, Prospect Heights has become one of Brooklyn's exciting new neighborhoods. Woodwork will reap the benefits of this years WorldCup and he even has plans to hold street fairs dedicated to Soccer events on the Sunday's during the tournament. He says that Brooklyn is international and that Soccer is one of the greatest ways to truly bring other countries together, more than any other sport. The crowd in Woodwork represents this spirit, the spirit of Brooklyn - International and growing.

Here is a blurb from their website:

Located in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, Woodwork is the brainchild of Chef Ross Greenberg, who teamed up with Master Wood Carpenter and beer enthusiast Eric Bernstein, a Prospect Heights resident, to build a sexy soccer bar, serving foodie and footie fanatics alike.

Soccer or Futbol is played amongst every culture and in every neighborhood, but this beautiful game has always been a big part of New York City. Even Prospect Heights-raised sports caster Howard Cossell was quoted in 1977 as saying,

"Soccer will be the biggest big league of all."