In yesterday’s “Hey, Mr. Critic” column, The Times Sam Sifton fielded a reader’s query about where to find the Brooklyn eateries of yore, offering up some of our favorite suggestions in the borough, many of them red-sauced gems we also patronize. (Though we also suggest Colandrea’s New Corner on 72nd and Eighth Avenue, where we just enjoyed the housemade manicotti on Wednesday night before checking out the Christmas Lights of Dyker Heights.) But while the reader bemoans the lack of Brooklyn’s edible past, what about our own here in Manhattan? Seems like those restaurants our grandparents hit up for date night — such as Patsy’s, above — are even more of a dwindling species on this side of the East River. We hope a Manhattan list, maybe with folks like Bemelman’s, Grand Central Oyster Bar, La Grenouille, Spain Restaurant, McSorley’s, 21 Club, Keen’s Steakhouse, and hopefully many more of those we don’t know is in the works.
