Of all the boroughs, Staten Island has the least street cred. My first venture to New York's fifth can be summed up as a blind search for the city's only Sri Lankan restaurant. More on that later.
Tompkinsville is a sleepy black neighborhood with houses that resemble the east side of Portland more than New York City. A hilly neighborhood (finally!), many sidewalks are raised several feet and surrounded by unchecked vegetation. When Zoe, Andy and I got stuck in a thunderstorm a local woman insisted on giving us three umbrellas.