At Cafe Kiev, Times Discovers Gravesend's Ukrainians Are Not Savages

Well, lookey here. The New York Times has discovered Gravesend. Yeah, you know, “Gravesend, Brooklyn, near Bensonhurst.”

And wonders of wonders, Gravesend has “a family-run cafe” called the Cafe Kiev (1739 West 7th Street). “It’s a refreshing contrast to the borough’s many banquet facilities and dingy holes-in-the-wall serving cuisines of the former Soviet Union.”  Nice to hear, but I hate to break this to the staff of the old grey lady, but there’s a lot of family-run cafes in our neck of the woods and many of them are “prettied up with pastel walls, framed prints and chandeliers, and buoyed by gentle lounge music.”

I’ve never been to Cafe Kiev. It sounds great and I can’t wait to try it out, but c’mon New York Times. Have you ever been to the restaurants of Southern Brooklyn? With comments like these I have to wonder.

The floor staff, managed by a young married couple, Artem Surjko Iurasov and Alina Allakhveranova, speaks fine English.

Prices that prompt a double-take. No item exceeds $7.

Check out The Times take on Cafe Kiev.