I also am so upset I can't tell you about Dagostino's closing. I loved that store - it was like supermarket heaven. I cannot go to Gristedes with the stinky smell and the mean cashiers and Key Food isn't much better. Some things are a bargain and then other things are more expensive than other places. Bummer

I can't stand it, I can't stand it. We trudged from Boerum Hill to D'Ag every weekend. We were away and just discovered the horrible truth. I loved every square inch of that store. And the Murray's turkeys at Xmas. And the inexpensive organic yams. I've been shopping there for over 20 years. Bah humbug, CVS,

I shop at Whole Foods in Union Square, the Greenmarket and Garden of Eden for specialty items you can't always get at Whole Foods.

D'Ag, Food Emporium and others of that ilk are thankfully going away.

>>Cascas--Since when do tourists buy real estate

>>and mattresses?

OK Tim N. - you go me there. But still not exactly the kind of place you need around the corner for everyday purchases. If I want a mattress - I'll dial for one like the ad says - don't need to go the showroom!

I'm even more depressed now that I know Thai 101 is closed!

"friendly?"??

the henry st d'ag was a lot of things, but friendly was not one of them.

Another Brooklyn Heights resident checking in here. I was amazed and saddened to find that D'ag was closing as it was an alternative to the other stores in the area: classier than the nasty Gristede's and Key Food, but not as pricey as Garden of Eden. But now it's being replaced by a CVS, when we have a multitude of other drugstores in the area?

A friend and neighbor of mine told me that rents are so high on Montague Street that independent stores and restaurants just can't survive there. The reason most of the restaurants on Montague suck (with their overpriced, mediocre food) is because they're not tenants; they own the building the restaurant is in and aren't subject to skyrocketing rents. How else do you think the craptacular Rock N Roll Diner (where I once saw a mouse run across a light fixture right over my table) survives? Do you ever see people eating there? And just last night I noticed that I will no longer be able to enjoy the excellent food and lovely ambiance of Thai 101/Thai Montague.. they had a crudely-lettered sign in their window that said "Sorry we closed." In the three years that I've been in the Heights, that location has killed three or four separate restaurant endeavors.

It sucks, but it's my neighborhood. I still have Iron Chef House on Henry for my sushi fix, Hot Bagels & Deli for my breakfast to go, and The Greens for excellent veggie food delivery.

I was shocked that the Dag closed. Everyone in the neighborhood went there, everyone knew where it was, granted it was an odd locations, but that didn't seem to be stopping people.

Guess it is Fresh Direct from now on. The Gristedes on Henry is truly the ninth circle of hell, given that it has the trifecta: crappy food (and selection), dirty aisles, and nasty people. I have noticed the Key Food has improved in the time we've been in BH.

I have also experienced a Wegmans during my travels upstate. It has a bothersome Wel-Mart vibe, but the food is great and to the average NYCer the aisles look wide enough to land a 747 on.

Cascas - I agree that the selection of stores on Montague is abysmal and getting worse (though I like the Fish's Eddy, I have to admit) I don't think it's a tourist trade. Blame it on overinflated real estate market, where only the larger operations (like CVS, Starbucks, etc) or the realtors themselves (I think there are **four** on Montague now, and it's not that long!) can afford to pay the rent.

About 8-9 years ago Norman Mailer wrote an op-ed piece in the Times (?) lamenting that the Promenade Restaurant, which was bascially a coffee shop, had morphed into Heights Cafe, an upscale joint. He complained that if current trends continued there would be no place where you could cut out to in your neighborhood for a burger or a good, cheap breakfast. At the time, many people thought, as many people do, that Norman was nuts. Turns out, once again, he was right.

I shop at Atlantic Fruit and Veg (aka New Green Pea, according to Zagat's) for produce, Sahadi (only early mornings), Fresh Direct, and Key Food at Atlantic/Clinton (for ice cream, paper products, and other staples and emergency items).

Still looking for a place closer than Bay Ridge to get Asian groceries.

Cascas--Since when do tourists buy real estate and mattresses?

Wegman's is pretty close by, in Woodbridge NJ. I've been there a few times in the past couple months and it is truly amazing.

Its a huge, regular, CLEAN supermarket with cheap prices and also a full blown gourmet and organic store. Also a fast food/cafeteria style restaurant.

If you have access to a car, its worth the gas & tolls to get there.

You guys make me feel so down-market. I'm a Pathmark shopper, have been for years and will be until I die.

TJ's was also considering a location in Prospect Hts-ish in one of those spanky new apartment buildings around Pacific/Dean btwn. 6th/Sterling. I don't think they could get the sq. footage/parking availability/rent deal combo to keep the price-levels they aim for.

I'm always jealous of the produce/selection/prices at Meijer when I'm visiting relatives. It's the only place worth missing in Ohio though.

Darn - I Guess Brooklyn Heightsers finally killed D'Ag with their adiction to FreshDirect. Very sad: I will now have to resort to what I still call Smelly Key Foods (on account of their roasted chickens stinking the whole place out before they renovated a few years back).

What with this, and Walden Books being replaced by yet another realtor, Montague Salon being replaced by a Fish's Eddy, a local coffee shop being replaced by a 1-800-mattress showroom, and one of the laundromats turning into a joint that makes flower arrangements made out of little cut-out pieces of cantaloup (really!), there are less and less places serving the local community, and more and more for the tourists!

Trader Joe's will be moving into Union Square soon.

the reason you don't go to whole foods (esp. in union square) is because they're directly competing with the green markets, where you buy directly from actual farmers (omg! i just yesterday read about that in the times!).





i heard that trader joe's was at some point several years ago scouting out a location in williamsburg, on the waterfront -- the ground floor of the giant white loft building at n.3rd. -- but they didn't think there'd be enough traffic to share the fresh/natural/organic/crunchy market with the more L-train-convenient Topps.  this was several years before rezoning was considered highly likely, and too bad since Topps is shit.

jess, that key foods has been there for many years, they just recently remodeled (actually the remodeling has been going on for about 2 years now and they've retiled it twice in that time). i think they just haven't put their new sign up yet.

and be careful, their prices can be terrible. for example, a half gallon of organic milk which should never exceed $4 varies in price from $3.80-$5 for the same carton at the same time. that's just one example... they have very shadey pricing practices so pay attention when your stuff gets rung up.

the met food a block away on vanderbilt and park has better prices and they are highly rated for cleanliness.

btw, i think it's prospect heights once you cross flatbush.

You can't talk grocery stores without mentioning Wegmans... the only thing upstate can really be proud of... but there's no chance they'll come this way.

here here on Wegmans.

My heart is still breaking over the D'Ag. Gristede's is a nightmare, and Garden of Eden is obscenely overpriced.

It feels like a bad dream...

That is b/c there is nothing else to do Upstate (I lived there for three years while attending graduate school) and in Allentown but go to the supermarket.

'cept mud-hoggin'.

About a year and a half ago, a fantastic little Key Food opened in the Slope, on Flatbush. The produce is always fresh, the prices are decent, and they have some interesting things in the frozen section that I haven't seen in most other Brooklyn supermarkets.

But the best part? They don't have a sign in front of the Flatbush entrance (or if they do, it's a recent development). You wouldn't know it was a Key Food if they didn't print it on the receipt. It's all de-branded, like a supermarket out of a William Gibson novel, which is kind of refreshing.

I'm a former NY'er who now lives near Allentown, PA. you havent shopped until you've been to Wegmans. it's a foodgasm.

they're all over Rochester, should make their way near the city soon, y'all need it.

happy shopping.