Celebrity host of Les Grosses Têtes on RTL, Laurent Ruquier received on Monday, September 30 in his show the host Thierry Ardisson and the journalist Franz-Olivier Giesbert.
But to a question about the virtues of parsley, Laurent Ruquier referred to the famous Roberta's pizzeria located in East Williamsburg. Citing an article published in Telerama explaining that one finds in Roberta's "A whole parsley pie, a green firecracker cake with parsley as the main ingredient", the host tells a mocking story of his experience in Brooklyn. "It's a coincidence but I went this summer to Roberta's. I've been going to New York for a number of years, and every time in every magazine, we're told we have to go to Brooklyn, that's the cool thing. Every year I go there, I ask the taxi to leave me in Brooklyn, but I never find anything. But NOTHING, which is called NOTHING ".
The animator, feeling that he begins to amuse his chroniclers, goes on. "So I take an Uber (from Manhattan), I need 45 minutes to get to Brooklyn at Roberta's. There is a kind of factory with nothing around, and hipsters from Apple – sores as we would say at home – who are there to eat their pizza.
After his meal, Laurent Ruquier says he took the opportunity to visit the neighborhood. But according to him, "There is nothing around. It takes about 1h30 walk to find another store, a shop, a museum where I do not know what interesting ". He concludes that "That's Brooklyn," before asking his opinion to Thierry Ardisson who agrees: "I went there, I agree with you", and that of Franz Olivier-Giesbert, for whom "It's always been the Brooklyn area. It's reborn a bit, but you have to go to Manhattan like everyone else in Greenwich Village. "
With a description of Brooklyn so far from reality, one wonders who are really the "boos" in the story. Brooklyn, dear Laurent, is a "neighborhood" much larger than Paris with 2.5 million inhabitants. It is a crossroads of the world where one speaks all languages and where one can taste all the kitchens, as the Polish gastronomy in Greenpoint, the Russian cuisine in Sheepshead Bay, or the Jamaican specialties in Flatbush. Brooklyn is also home to 23 museums, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Historical Society, which tells the story of 400 years of history. boroughor the New York Subway Museum, the New York Transit Museum.
Brooklyn is also the district of Bushwick and its famous street-art in the whole world, it is also Dumbo with its paved streets which will remind you Paris and its art galleries on every corner, and it is of course Williamsburg with its dozens of craft shops, cafes and restaurants that give the neighborhood a village feel.
Mr. Ruquier, the next time you come to Brooklyn, go for a walk in Prospect Park, a gigantic park that looks like a virgin forest that is the green lung of Brooklyn. If you like the beach, we recommend Coney Island and its four miles of sand facing the ocean.
As for Roberta's to finish, all the Brooklynites know that this restaurant is a tourist catcher on-side. On the other hand, we would take you with pleasure to test one of the 30 bars and restaurants located in the 500 meters around. Among them, you would probably enjoy the cider house Brooklyn Cider House, the charming patios under the trees of the restaurant Forrest Point, the famous having dinner Tina's, and you'll find good pizzas at Artichoke.
Dear Lawrence, we hope you read this article before planning your next trip to New York, and would be delighted to restore some truth to your listeners about this true Brooklyn that deserves so much that we visit.
