The Coney Island amusement district will get a tasty new addition this summer when Park Slope's Zito's Sandwich Shoppe opens an outpost near the boardwalk. The well-regarded sandwich shop opened last August to serve Italian-style heroes to the stroller set and has been buzzing along ever since. With the area gradually transforming into a soulless corporate shopping mall, it comes as no surprise that a successful restaurant would want to get in on the action. Zito's will join the list of established Brooklyn restaurants—Grimaldi's and Tom's to start— trying to make a go of it in the landmark neighborhood.
When international amusements company Zamperla began ousting local businesses and trying to scrub clean Coney's image, longtime residents and vendors worried that something special would be lost in translation. The charming grime of the past few decades was bulldozed to make room for cleaner, shinier and therefore more expensive options. People accustomed to buying a $7 hot dog and fries at Nathan's will likely experience some sticker shock when they get the bill for that $10 Chicken Parm hero and $6 Potato Crocchi instead.
All things considered, it's not so terrible to have small, independent, Brooklyn-based businesses try their hand at the seaside. Plus, with Ruby's Bar and Paul's Daughter sticking around for the foreseeable future, at least some of the old character will remain intact.
