Hasidim, Hipsters, and the New Crown Heights
by Symi Rom-Rymer
Hasidim and Hipsters can’t be friends, so says conventional wisdom. But maybe they can eat together. At least that’s what Danny Branover, principal owner of Basil Pizza and Wine bar in Crown Heights is hoping.
Crown Heights, the Brooklyn neighborhood perhaps most infamously known for the 1991 riots that irrupted between the neighborhood's Hasidic and black communities, is home to a mix of ethnic and religious groups including immigrants from the Caribbean, Lubavitcher Jews, and African-Americans. In recent years, an influx of young, liberal professionals have moved in adding yet another cultural and social imprint on the neighborhood.
According to a New York Times piece about Basil by Frank Bruni, former food critic for the Times, the idea for the restaurant started when Branover, himself a member of the Lubavitch movement, moved from Jerusalem to...