This is the first post I’m making in a category called Deep Brooklyn – a highlight of places in my favorite borough that most people don’t encounter. If it’s easy to get there from Manhattan, chances are it will never be on this list.
I don’t find myself in Bensonhurst often, though it’s not too far away from me. On this particular day, I was not in the best of moods because I had somehow managed to get an eye infection over Christmas weekend while everyone else was getting gifts. The only doctor that could see me the following Monday happened to be on 86th Street near Bay Parkway, so I hopped the N train for my appointment.
When you pass 59th Street on the N, the train suddenly surfaces and southern Brooklyn opens up before you. It’s a different world when you’re used to riding underground. I got off at New Utrecht and switched to the D until Bay Parkway. The doctor was thorough, diagnosed my problem right away and instructed me to boil an egg and put it on my eye to increase blood flow to the area. Great, I guess I’ll eat some eggs later. After picking up some prescription eye drops, I realized I wasn’t too far from a great place to grab some more appetizing food: L & B Spumoni Gardens, at the border of Gravesend. So I walked east on 86th underneath the tracks.
Bensonhurst is a mix of mostly old-school Italians, former Soviet immigrants and newer Asian immigrants. I saw a lot of places on my walk that I wanted to stop into but I was on a mission. Next time I’m around I’ll check some of these other places out.
Most people don’t think about getting Italian ice on December 26th, but Spumoni Gardens is busy til closing time without fail. I’m not known for my proclivity for cold weather, but I grabbed a Sicilian slice (the best in Brooklyn by far) and a cup of spumoni and sat outside to eat.
For those of you who don’t know what spumoni is, the best way to describe it is a pistachio flavored cream ice. It’s the perfect dessert to follow up a piping hot square slice of pizza on a cold day. My hands were freezing cold but I didn’t give a shit. I walked to the train station finishing my cup, feeling fortunate that a mishap led me back to this neighborhood.
