Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I lived in Manhattan for a long time, left for a NY couple of years, and am now living on Long Island. However, I know I have to move soon. I'm thinking about Brooklyn and I'm sure my knowledge of the borough is outdated. I need a little help figuring out what neighborhood would be best.

My first priority is a safe neighborhood. Second, I want to either live somewhat close to a supermarket/health food store that carries a good selection of vegan foodstuffs or live somewhere that I can have a car so that I can get to a good market. Living near some good vegan restaurants would be an awesome bonus.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Park Slope all meet that criteria.

That's what I would say, too. You don't actually have to live within the mapped borders of those areas, though, just kind of nearby. For instance, I'm in Cobble Hill and have no problem walking to the restaurants in Park Slope and have at least two vegan restaurants within delivery distance.

Thanks for your thoughts. Those were some of the areas I was thinking of (WB, GP, PS, and Cobble Hill). Also maybe Brooklyn Heights and Downtown. Are there any particularly good markets that I should look for?

My boyfriend's boss lives in Brooklyn Heights and when I have been there I haven't had much luck finding anything vegan. There was one place that seemed promising but didn't open until like 11:00 on a weekday. Maybe I just didn't know the right spots to go to?

there's a Trader Joe's just off Atlantic Ave in the Cobble Hill-ish area, and the Park Slope Food Co-op on Union St. plus there'll be health food stores in pretty much any gentrified area.

for me, it comes down largely to how much you're willing to spend on rent. i used to live in a part of Sunset Park that wasn't particularly veg-friendly, but it was far more affordable than the neighborhoods mentioned, so i just took the train to Manhattan or other BK neighborhoods when i needed to buy groceries.

Perelandra in Brooklyn Heights is a great natural food store and it's hard to exaggerate the awesomeness of the TJ's at Atlantic and Court; Brooklyn Heights proper doesn't have a lot of good restaurants of any stripe (although Siggy's is good and very veg-friendly) but it's in the delivery range of a lot of good options from Cobble Hill and the Rice in Dumbo.

I live in Prospect Heights now and do very well for food, both restaurants and delivery, but we don't have a vegan-friendly one-stop shopping kind of grocery store- there is a natural/gourmet market but it's expensive so I just go there for things that I can't find at the regular supermarket.

Thanks for all your thoughts!

If you're in that area and you need anything other than snacks or convenience foods, you're better off at the Key Food down the block. They don't carry basic baking needs or anything.

I'm really happy in Prospect Heights, lots of restaurants in and nearby, short walk to Park Slope, 2/3 train to everywhere. And best of all, the farmer's market at Grand Army Plaza. Not so good in the winter, admittedly, but it's there in spirit, carrying on even when it's 20 degrees out!