• Blue Ribbon Brooklyn

  280 Fifth Ave., 11215, between 1st and Garfield Sts., 718-840-0404

  How could it be that there are more than a dozen children—none old enough to have seen the last Harry Potter film unescorted—scattered throughout the dining room of Blue Ribbon Brooklyn, and yet we don’t feel the customary urge to run screaming out the door? Perhaps it’s because this mini-chain’s Park Slope branch has as much savvy and respect for children as it does for its eclectic cuisine. The staff, who could make a fortune if they ever wanted to band together as an au pair agency, make sure children get served their menus first, but will patiently yield to the most quixotic eating habits. And then there are those crayons. When adults scribble at Raoul’s, it’s annoying. But when a child embraces a fistful to attack butcher paper, you have to say a prayer of thanks for Crayola. And for Blue Ribbon, for its fried chicken, hamburgers, matzoh-ball soup, and French fries that are at least as good as Mickey D’s..

From the 2004 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine