The Armando's Restaurant Lobster will be shut off for the last time Sunday night. We here at BHB are resigned to the fact that our "Save the Lobster" campaign has fallen off its soapbox. But that didn't stop BHB Publisher Homer Fink from talking to the Brooklyn Paper:
Brooklyn Paper: The Lobster…: Fink led the “Save the Lobster” campaign on his blog, drawing support from state Senate candidate Dan Squadron (obviously using the lobster as a springboard to office!), but the movement got stuck in a trap.
“Initially there was a lot of support for the lobster, but it never turned into the kind of groundswell we anticipated,” Fink said. “Then we found out that Spicy Pickle was coming and we realized that if they put up a giant neon pickle it would be awesome!” [Full story]
I never thought Spicy Pickle or a neon gherkin sounded like a good idea or would soothe the sting of losing yet another Montague Street icon. But I do get the sense that it really comes down to the enthusiasm of some of us who have been here for forever “to save” vs the position of “Montague Street sucks now and always will so who cares” held by some newer residents (many of whom may not plan to stick around for 10 or 20 or 40 years). And then, when one waxes sort of nostalgic about older things, it sets the “newbies” to the standard sniping.
I don’t understand how anyone can think that another fast food chain will be okay; and no, I don’t think that Montague Street offers anything too fabulous for dining now (or really anything other than mattresses and make-up and mobile phones); but another chain-based eatery is nuts. And, yeah, I understand the target audience, high rents, etc, etc. But, really, Homer, I don’t recall anyone getting too jazzed about a neon pickle….
Mr./Ms. bornhere, you’re missing Homer’s existential irony here. It’s easy to think this is Kuntmanian type of self aggrandizing stunt on Homer’s part but it’s not. His statement here is simple: we tried to rally people but it didn’t catch on, they’re on to the new new thing.
Oooohhhh. NOW I get it.
z
Hater.
Armondos Restaurant was easily the worst restaurant on Montague. Its amazing it lsted so long.
Armando’s worse than Happy Days,Eamon Doran’s, and that Turkish joint?
It’s not about the sign — and I wish Homer had not painted his blog readers with such a broad stroke, positioning us as all “on to the new thing” — because we obviously aren’t. Armando’s had “classed up” Montague Street for 72 years with good Italian food in a classic setting. It is a piece of history in this neighborhood, and we all know there are so few left. I remember eating at Foffe’s with my parents and seeing former governon Hugh Carey there — think him and his ilk would come to Brooklyn Heights for Spicy Pickle? It’s a shame. So I wouldn’t want the readers of the Brooklyn Paper to think that all on this blog are of the “out with old, in with the new” generation.
I guess Homer knows how Obama feels today.