Home Destinations USA New York New York City Sights Belmont (Arthur Avenue)

Belmont (Arthur Avenue) Review

Read our New York City sights reviews. Or post your own.

Belmont (Arthur Avenue)

Address: Arthur Ave. between Crescent Ave./E. 184th St. and E. 188th Sts., and 187th St. from Lorillard Pl. to Hughes Ave., Belmont, Bronx, NY, 10458 | Map It
www.arthuravenue.com

Category: Neighborhoods/Streets
Location: The Bronx

Write a review

Fodor's Review:

Manhattan's Little Italy is sadly overrun with mediocre restaurants aimed at tourists, but Belmont, the Little Italy of the Bronx, is a real, thriving Italian-American community. Unless you have family in the area, the main reason to come here is for the food: eating it, buying it, looking at it fondly through windows. A secondary, but just as important, reason is chatting with shopkeepers so you can steal their recipes.

Nearly a century after pushcarts on Arthur Avenue catered to Italian-American workers constructing the zoo and Botanical Garden, the area teems with meat markets, bakeries, and cheese makers. There are long debates about which store or restaurant is the "best," but thanks to generations of Italian grandmothers, vendors here wouldn't dare offer anything less than superfresh, handmade foods.

Although the area is no longer solely Italian—many Latinos and Albanians share this neighborhood now—Italians dominate the food scene. Regulars mostly shop on Saturday afternoons; you'll find many stores shuttered on Sunday and after 6 PM.

Subway: B, D, 4 to Fordham Rd., then Bx12 east; 2, 5 to Pelham Pkwy., then Bx12 west. On weekends and holidays Apr.-Oct., free Bronx Tour Trolley leaves from Fordham Plaza Metro-North and West Farms 2/5 stations

Find more sights in New York City »