Cool Ass Building: Arby’s on Fulton Street

For fast food in a fancy atmosphere, there are two options: 1. Wait until Valentine’s Day when White Castle on Metropolitan covers their tables in with cloths and offers table service. 2. Go to Arby’s in downtown Brooklyn. It’s the exact same menu that’s been a staple of suburban high school lunches for years, but it ditched the regular pre-fab truck stop aesthetic. The Fulton Street Arby’s is in a brownstone that housed of Gage and Tollner, a restaurant that was a fixture in Brooklyn from 1879 to 2004. The franchise owners painted the columns on the entrance white, but kept most of the Gage and Tollner’s interior details intact.

Initially, the Arby’s takeover was controversial. After several meetings with the Historic Landmark Commission, the finished product is the most beautiful Arby’s EVER. The entire restaurant is covered in mahogany paneling, tin ceiling tiles, twisty metal chandeliers and wooden booths with an actual class partition. While you’re getting condiments you can stare at yourself in the mirrors that would reach the ceiling if they weren’t in curved molding. And the staff is so friendly you think you’re at a suburban truck stop, until you grab your food off a counter that might actually be marble.

Gage and Tollner back in the day

The only beautiful Arby's in the world

Photos from forgottennewyork.com and goodiesfirst.com

Arby’s in Downtown Brooklyn
372 Fulton Street
Between Smith Street and Red Hook Lane