The New College Restaurant looks like it’s been taking finishing classes.
The longtime diner at the dour corner of Union Street and Fourth Avenue has suddenly reinvented itself as a hipster hot spot.
“We have to keep up with the neighborhood,” explained co-owner Stavros, who has owned the restaurant since it opened 28 years ago in a very different Park Slope.
“We’re ‘Manhattan-style’ now,” he added, without a hint of regret. “We have wine. And better coffee.”
It is not the first time the 38-year old Park Slope eatery — which started in 1980 as Fourth Avenue Donut — has had to catch up.
“When we started, this was a pretty bad neighborhood,” he said. “In ’92, we changed to New College Restaurant.” The new name is just as incongruous. The South Slope, after all, doesn’t truly start for a dozen or so blocks down Fourth Avenue. But that doesn’t bother the recent arrivals.
“New people come in every day, but we’ve kept the old people, too. People like the new sidewalk cafe.”
South Slope Diner [corner of Union Street and Fourth Avenue in Park Slope, (718) 522-2083]. Hours: Monday–Friday, 6 am–10 pm; Saturday, 6 am–6 pm; Sunday, 8 am–4 pm. Free delivery.
