Park Slope Leading Brooklyn's 2021 Restaurant Boom, Data Shows

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — New data showing Brooklyn is on its way to overtaking Manhattan as the city's new food capital shows Park Slope leading the way in restaurant applications.

Park Slope's 11215 ZIP code — which covers the majority of the neighborhood as well as parts of Gowanus — has had more restaurant permit applications so far this year than any other ZIP code in the borough, according to data between January and mid-April from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

While a handful of the permits appear to be renewals for existing restaurants, the majority account for new eateries opening in the neighborhood.

They are among hundreds of Brooklyn applications that have put the borough in a position to rival Manhattan, where the number of new restaurants has dropped in 2021, according to an analysis of the data by THE CITY.

The outlet's analysis found that while typically 40 percent of restaurant permits are issued in Manhattan, that number dropped to 32 percent in 2021. Brooklyn, which has hovered at 27 or 28 percent the last four years, had 30 percent of the new permits.

There have been a total of 832 restaurant permits issued across the city between January and mid-April.

Park Slope's position as a restaurant hotspot should not come as a surprise to Brooklynites.

The 11215 ZIP code has seen a similar number of permit applications in past years, including 18 permits between January and April in 2020 and 15 in 2019, the data shows.

Among the 15 permits issued this year are several new openings on Fifth Avenue, including Italian newcomer Tutt'Apost, bar and baked-good-combo Whisk & Whiskey and a French restaurant where El Habanero most recently stood.

The newcomers also include a cafe in Gowanus, a coffee shop on Eighth Street, sushi spot Oita and a Seventh Avenue Mexican eatery.

Park Slope was followed closely by several other restaurant destinations, including Brooklyn Heights' 11201, which had 14 new permits, and Prospect Heights' 11238, where there were 13.

THE CITY also noted that new restaurants are spiking in more residential neighborhoods than pre-pandemic. The 11231 ZIP code, which includes Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Red Hook, has seen 11 new permits so far this year, compared to a dozen combined for the first four months of 2019 and 2020.

Check out a map of the permits broken down by ZIP code here.