mon dieu!

A Très Grows in Brooklyn

NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 1: The Matty B and the Dirty Pickles rock band play for the runners of the 40th ING New York City Marathon as they pass through the Williamsburg section of the borough of Brooklyn on November 1, 2009 in New York City. Meb Keflezighi who won New York City Marathon was the first American champion to do so since 1982 in the time 2:09.15. More than 40,000 people participated in the event. (Photo by Afton Almaraz/Getty Images)
Photo: Afton Almaraz/2009 Getty Images

Yesterday, the New York Times published an article on the new popularity of food trucks in Paris — a genuinely remarkable cultural and culinary shift. And yet, mostly what people noticed about the article (at least in Brooklyn) was the following sentence: “Among young Parisians, there is currently no greater praise for cuisine than “très Brooklyn,” a term that signifies a particularly cool combination of informality, creativity and quality.” Judging by the reaction on Twitter and in outlets like the New Republic, the word cuisine was beside the point. The nod from the Continent was an arrival of sorts, a Crillon Ball for the borough as a whole. (Or at least, you know, the parts close-ish to Manhattan.)

I can’t believe I have to consider muting “tres Brooklyn” after 24 hours,” complained (Brooklyn-based, obviously) journalist Irin Carmon this morning. “The phrase “tres Brooklyn,” quoted in my Paris food trucks story yesterday, gained major traction in 24 hours,” tweeted Julia Moskin, the story’s author, to which @carrollGpatch replied “It’s been my gmail subtext ever since!” Très Brooklyn of her. We guess? Logistical snarl that’s been bugging us all morning: Is it très Brooklyn to be très excited about being annointed by two très old-school institutions (the NYT and Parisian snobs) in a phrase that sounds très Real Housewives? Or is it so not très Brooklyn that it becomes très Brooklyn again in that très ironic way? But more importantly, do we say Brooklyn with a funny Pepé Le Peu accent in this usage?

A Très Grows in Brooklyn