How Overhyped Are Brooklyn Restaurants?

There’s nothing quite like an angry food writer! Josh Ozersky mentioned Ditmas Park in The Truth About Brooklyn’s Overhyped, Undercooked Restaurant Scene over at the New York Observer:

The great unspoken fact of Brooklyn life is that nobody, at least nobody I have ever met, moved there because they liked it better than Manhattan. (“It’s not true!” I can hear them saying. “I have no interest in living in Manhattan …”) In fact, though, they live there because it’s the best place they can afford. Restaurants nearby become wildly attractive via a gastronomic form of beer goggles because their neighbors are so happy not to be eating falafel. Thus, The Farm on Adderly, a perfectly acceptable haute barnyard outpost, seemed like another Gramercy Tavern, just by being better than the only other decent American restaurant in Ditmas Park, Picket Fence.

When you’re a hammer, every problem is a nail. I suppose it follows that when you’re a food critic, every question (“Where do I want to live?”) is answered by food (“Near the best restaurants!”).

That point aside, is he right about the borough and neighborhood’s restaurants? We have quite a few opinionated restaurant-goers around here. Do we only have two good places to eat in the whole area? Does Brooklyn need to step it up?