Two Steps Down: A Soul Food Staple

Even as a teenager, Renee Mayo knew that she was destined to run the family business, Two Steps Down, one of the first black-owned restaurant in Fort Greene.

“I had no choice,” said Mayo with a smile.

The restaurant, which is appropriately named after the two steps visitors must go down to get to the entrance, first opened in 1969, realizing the longtime dream of Yvette Mayo, Renee Mayo’s mother.

A third-generation Brooklynite, restaurant manager and nutritionist, Yvette Mayo used her savings to start Two Steps Down and then settled in a two-story brownstone on Dekalb Avenue between Clermont and Vanderbilt avenues. Mayo’s pita bread sandwiches, black bean soup and specialty dishes became an instant hit in the neighborhood.

“It was a struggle at first with her being a minority woman in business, but she was determined to do it and she did,” said Renee Mayo. “There wasn’t a lot of restaurants around here and you didn’t see a lot of traffic on Dekalb Avenue back then, but people would come here because we were well known. Even when we only had one floor we used to have lines out the door.”

Today, some four decades later, Two Steps Down continues to feed the Fort Greene and Clinton Hill community. Besides their fine cuisine, which features everything from chicken, veal and Louisiana gumbo to delicious seafood dishes, the décor, with exposed brick walls, an extended bar and a lounge added to the second floor — attracts visitors with its cozy and artsy ambiance.

Renee Mayo and her sister Rhonda now co-manage the place and have their eyes on expansion.

“We’ve helped the community,” said Renee Mayo, hinting at the many restaurants that have popped up over the years on Dekalb Avenue. “And it really is a family restaurant because we treat our customers like family and that’s why they keep coming back.”