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The Brooklyn Paper / Graham Letorney

The spending money has started showing up on Vanderbilt Avenue, but not as quickly, or as widely, as many had hoped. Here is a scene from a recent brunch at Beast on Vanderbilt and Bergen.

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When Noo Na opened on Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights in November, it became one of just a handful of Korean restaurants in the borough. But it remains unclear whether this once-hungry stretch will realize its dream of becoming the next Smith Street.

Years ago, there was George’s — and little else. Now George’s, a classic Greek diner, is the Usual, and Bob Law’s Seafood Café is next door. Le Gamin serves French food, just up the street, Aliseo Osteria del Borgo offers Italian, and the Beast is making plenty of upscale noise.

“And it’s all within a short stretch,” added Steve Commender, president of the local merchant’s association and the owner of the Forest Floor, near Prospect Place. “And more are on the way.”

Or are they? One key to the foodie future of Vanderbilt Avenue may be Half, a wine-bar business for sale. If it remains a restaurant or bar, the neighborhood could keep the momentum. If it becomes a dry cleaner or real-estate office, the drive to make Vanderbilt a foodie destination could lose steam.

The changes on Vanderbilt Avenue may not be attracting the buzz that followed the revival of Fifth Avenue, for example, but the wider epicurean selection seems to satisfy local palates. Prospect Heights residents no longer have to haul themselves into the city to satisfy their gastronomic cravings.

Even the Los Viejos Amigos, the Dominican lunch counter by Dean Street, has been drawing attention. The Village Voice voted the restaurant the “Best Durable Dominican” in 2006, calling it a “throwback to the older, less glamorous Prospect Heights, though the new awning and renovated interior give it a bit of new glamour.”

But the full extent of the transition remains unclear.

“Brooklyn isn’t Manhattan yet,” mused Mike Halkias, who took over George’s diner in 1992, with his brother John. But it sure has changed since the days when the Canadian-born brothers fought off drug dealers with their hockey sticks, right outside the restaurant’s door.

“The neighborhood was a little different,” Halkias recalled recently. “It’s a nice melting pot right now.”

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper