The Borough’s Best: 20 Brooklyn Neighborhood Superlatives
Sunset Park
When we were kids, there were still enough Scandinavians here that Eighth Avenue had a restaurant that specialized in both Chinese and Norwegian food. Those were the Last Days of Lapskaus Boulevard, as the commercial strip was affectionately known in the mid-20th century, and the ethnic transition has long-since ended: western Sunset Park is predominantly Latino, while the eastern part is overwhelmingly Chinese—like, it’s one of the city’s largest Chinatowns. (The population has started to spill northward and eastward into Bensonhurst and Dyker Heights, diversifying those erstwhile Italian strongholds just like Manhattan’s Chinatown did to Little Italy.) What does this mean for you, if you don’t have a personal connection to those cultures? Well, the best way for different peoples to come together is over a shared appreciation for delicious food. And Sunset Park has a reputation for being home to some of the best off-the-grid Chinese and Mexican restaurants (as well as those that specialize in cuisine from other Asian and Central American countries). Taco purists come here for their tacos; ditto dim sum devotees, because it’s the most authentic stuff you’re going to get.