If in recent years fugitives from Bushwick have sought refuge and lower rents across the Queens border in neighboring Ridgewood, it wouldn’t be the first time. A century ago, German-immigrant brewery workers made the same migration, occupying the then newly built yellow-brick rowhouses that survive, many with landmark status, to this day. Somehow, after waves of immigration and despite its adjacency to bar-glutted Bushwick, working-class Ridgewood has managed to retain its frozen-in-time Central and Southeast European charm, represented by the stage-set vintage façades of its German pork stores, its Italian bakeries, its Polish delis, its burek shops and red-sauce temples, and even its slightly forbidding quasi-private ethnic social clubs. Little by little, though, the culinary scene is changing, with newcomers like Vietnamese hot spot Bunker and a wood-fired pizza joint, Houdini Kitchen Laboratory, colonizing far-flung fringes of the neighborhood. Still, the Ridgewood foodscape shines brightest in the seemingly peaceful coexistence of old and new: the spicy-bacon sandwich at Norma’s, showcasing cayenne-crusted pork belly from Morscher’s butcher shop down the street; the fledgling Ridgewood Market, a craft-and-food fair held periodically at the German bar and banquet space Gottscheer Hall. And monitoring all the activity is dedicated food blog Ridgefood, to which locals turn for answers to such pressing gastronomic questions as “Where’s the nearest Greenmarket?” (the Saturday Youthmarket at Cypress and Myrtle) and “Which branch of Catania Bakery sells superior sfogliatelle?” (the one on Fresh Pond Road). Here, a look at some of the newest and oldest flavors in a part of town that relishes them both.
Eat Cheap for Under $25
Adam Platt’s Where to Eat 2013
Best of New York Eating 2013
DIY Pie
Potage for a Princess
Cranberry Caipirinha
Italian Hand Gestures RAP
