Free Williamsburg

The Williamsburg Brooklyn-based culture guide to New York and beyond.

Alameda

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A beautifully-designed cocktail bar with a small, New American menu. The space has a horseshoe-shaped bar and a few tables for dining. An intimate spot with great cocktails and one of our favorite burgers in the neighborhood. The menu is updated seasonally, but if they have it, the grilled octopus is fantastic.

Featured Reviews

  • An upmarket stand-in for your everyday hang. Alameda is the Jennifer Lawrence of bars—stunning yet instantly approachable, with a serious eye on the craft (namely, cocktails) but a daffy sense of humor (namely, those drink names). It’s a place where a tatted, T-shirt-sporting crowd can get a Guinness as readily as a biodynamic wine, where happy-hour specials include beer-and-shot combos and oysters with cucumber mignonette.

  • The knowledgeable bartenders can mix just about any cocktail with ten syllables from brand name spirits and their homemade vermouths and bitters: The Alameda Manhattan leaves an impression that all the Manhattans you drank before should have been called Newarks. The menu is limited, but each offering stands out for its inventive take on classic American fare. The cucumber mignonette sauce gives the oysters a balanced flavor that never overwhelms the natural brininess, and the frisée salad’s pork belly bits level-ups this French-American staple. And the foie gras breakfast sandwich is so deliciously decadent that you’ll dread eating your last bite.

  • A gorgeously grungy staff serves creative cocktails and high-end (yet affordable) takes on American snack fare at this Greenpoint hang; a U-shaped bar dominates the stylish space, which is decked out in white tile and handsome wood.

Getting There

Allswell

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A true neighborhood spot with an amazing chicken sandwich and a cozy dining room. The menu changes daily with an emphasis on farm-to-table, Southern-influenced cuisine. Allswell is one of those places you bypass when you’re trying to impress someone with the new buzz restaurant, but nonetheless frequent for good, honest food.

Featured Reviews

  • This corner restaurant on a busy stretch of Bedford Avenue has a relaxed, welcoming feel, as though it’s been around a long time. Country inn touches abound, like the large rectangle-paned windows, swatches of mismatched calico wallpaper, and, in the center, a candelabra light fixture that wouldn’t look out of place at Hogwarts. … Chicken proved nicely moist, with delicious browned skin, served in a plate of its own juice. And the winner of the night was mussels in tarragon-beer broth with a side of olive-oiled grilled bread; with tender mollusks and a nice hearty bitterness to the broth.

  • “Very Brooklyn”, this rustic Williamsburg pub serves up a “rotating menu” of “flavorful” American grub with “complex” farm-to-table ingredients; occupying “cozy, ski-chalet” quarters with an “appropriately hipsterized” staff and clientele, it’s especially “popular at brunch.”

  • this place is very good [but] subsequent visits have demonstrated that we might have gotten a bit carried away. The restaurant hasn’t necessarily declined in overall quality -Allswell is still putting out very good food – but the problem is that they change the menu daily, and things therefore become somewhat inconsistent. And when you’re talking about what sets a great restaurant apart from a legendary restaurant, consistency usually has a lot to do with it.

Getting There

Anella

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A reliable neighborhood spot in North Greenpoint that serves predictably delicious American fare. We recommend their Brick Chicken or any of their house-made pastas. Entrees come with fresh bread cooked in a clay pot. It’s amazing. There’s a long bar up front offering cocktails, several local beers on tap, and a broad selection of wines. Brunch is popular on weekends and if you go, be sure to order their biscuits. A solid choice.

Featured Reviews

  • But the narrow bar and dining room are warm as candlelight, decorated in that nice urban variation on farmhouse chic that is common to restaurants in north Brooklyn, all brick and reclaimed hardwood, with Edison bulbs hanging from the tin ceiling that cast shadows over pockmarked plaster and ancient paint. (Beards and cardigans abound at the tables, as well as vintage dresses, heavy clogs.) Service is easygoing, nice. And the food is a wonder: a tight and focused menu of simple, seasonally appropriate food from Joseph Ogrodnek, a talented chef who has been in the kitchen for almost a year.

  • A never-too-crowded neighborhood place that serves the kind of crowd-pleasing food you would be happy to eat multiple times a week. Pastas? Check. A burger? Yep. Roast chicken, and a kale salad that actually tastes better than one you could make for yourself at home? You get the idea. Plus, the warm dinner bread comes in a little flower pot that you would have to be dead inside not to like. And while the framework of the menu is always the same, the individual dishes change with the seasons.

Getting There

Brooklyn Barge Bar

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Simply amazing views of the New York skyline inches away from Transmitter Park. The food is unremarkable, but will do the trick if you’re starving. Come instead for the view and the drinks and you will be delighted. Open May – October and great for groups.

Featured Reviews

  • Brooklyn’s very first bar on a boat… with unparalleled, panoramic views of the waterfront and skyline. Flanked by bright red shipping container kitchens, which serve pub grub basics like burgers, zucchini sticks and chicken sandwiches (expect more ambitious fare, such as slow-smoked barbecue, to emerge next year), a ramp leads the way to the gently undulating bar area, which dispenses nautical cocktails like Rum Punch and the Barg-O-Lotta—pilsner, hot sauce, tomato juice and lime—as well as wine by the glass or bottle, buckets of beer, and a trio of local drafts.

  • William Drawbridge joins the grand tradition of floating boîtes (The Frying Pan, Grand Banks) with this permanently docked 100-person barge, offering seating onboard and on land. Cocktails play on summery classics, including the Barg-elata (pilsner, lime, Chamoy hot sauce) and a Salty Spotted Chihuahua sloshed with tequila, lemonade and blueberries. Beyond booze, find straightforward fare like a sirloin burger on brioche, skirt-steak sandwiches with BBQ sauce and salmon fillets with lemon-citrus glaze.

  • After a couple drinks on this barge/bar/restaurant on the East River in Greenpoint, you can close your eyes and almost believe you’re on your own private boat (more speedboat than yacht, but still). But you won’t even want to do that for long, because the Manhattan skyline views are so good.

     

Getting There

Brooklyn Bowl

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Bowling alleys aren’t generally known for their food, but most don’t have award-winning chefs cooking for them either. At Brooklyn Bowl, food is prepared by the same folks behind Blue Ribbon Sushi and Blue Ribbon Brasserie, so you know you’re in good hands. Brooklyn Bowl is known for their fried chicken, which you can order family style with a collection of delicious sides. (Get the collards!) French bread pizzas, burgers, and po’ boys are also available. It’s best to visit during the day, unless you’re there for a concert since diners will be charged a cover fee. And of course, it’s also a great place to bowl, albeit more expensive than its neighbor The Gutter.

Featured Reviews

  • This bowling alley and live-music venue fully embraces the new mania for local nostalgia. The space takes its design cues from Coney Island with old freak-show posters and carnival-game relics, and all of the beer sold inside—by Sixpoint, Kelso and the Brooklyn Brewery—is made in the borough. This is a great place to kill a few hours with a big rowdy group: You can tackle a pitcher and the stoner-food menu from the Blue Ribbon team (delicious fatty brisket, Old Bay–fried chicken) laneside between frames. The plush tufted couches are the most luxurious alley seating we’ve ever seen.

  • Brooklyn Bowl’s a 16-lane strikers’ paradise that combines the sleek amenities of Lucky Strike with the anti-sleek Williamsburgery of The Gutter. Blue Ribbon’s famous fried chicken is on the menu and live bands replace the top 40 hits you’re used to jamming out to under the disco ball of your hometown lanes.

Getting There

Brooklyn Star (Closed)

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Brooklyn Star specializes in comfort food with a N’awlins twist. Must have dishes include the Molasses Brined Pork Chop and their fantastic fried chicken. Their brunch is very popular and offers up a mean bloody mary. On Sundays and Mondays, they serve fried chicken family-style. A Williamsburg gem. One warning: vegetarians will not have any options here.

Featured Reviews

  • A supremely juicy half roasted chicken offered flavors both delicate (lemons, sage and thyme; a side of verdant pea-shoots) and robust (rice, with curls of—you guessed it—bacon). What a good bourbon could do for this food we’ll never know; a liquor license is forthcoming for beer and wine only. Also in development: dessert. When we visited, the sole sweet was a seemingly improvised dish of strawberries dipped in corn-bread batter, tossed (why not?) into the deep fryer and served with a scoop of vanilla Hagen-Dazs.

  • “Come hungry” to this “excellent” Williamsburg Southerner where “interesting takes” on “good ol’” American food are served up in “plentiful” portions; though it’s “perennially packed” for brunch, the “reasonable” bills, “jovial” staff and “homey” vibe all add up to one “lucky find.”

  • Fools gold, that’s what Brooklyn Star is. The menu reads like an Infatuation wet dream, listing all kinds of unhealthy hotness like fried steak and a molasses pork chop.

     

  • Chef Joaquin Baca’s handiwork at Brooklyn Star displays a fun and creative streak that yields admirable results. Pork chops are brined with molasses, striped bass is poached in duck fat, and roasted chicken is glazed with sweet tea and plated with dirty rice. Gluttony will convince you to bolster a meal here with bacon-jalapeño cornbread or buttermilk biscuits… Though the focus is on the eats, the room is comfortably outfitted with brick red terrazzo floors and grey-trimmed walls. 

Getting There

Cape House

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A New England-style clam shack smack dab in the middle of Bushwick/East Williamsburg. The space, situated at a busy intersection, will nonetheless transport you to Cape Cod. We recommend anything from the sea (of course) but the Chicken Sandwich and Burger are also pretty solid. Recommended dishes include Clam Fritters and the Haddock and Fries. The outdoor courtyard has ample seating and is the perfect spot to down a Cape House Lager while you munch on some Whole Belly Clams.

Featured Reviews

  • New England transplants will be happy to know they don’t have to go any further than Bushwick to get authentic chowder. Cape House, a clam shack and bar, offers all the classics and a few new options. Traditionalists might go for the whole belly clams, scallops or clam strips, available on a roll or as a platter ($8–$25), or the creamy chowder ($5 for a small, $9 for a large). Not a seafood person? Try a Worcester-style hot dog with chili ($5) or the fried chicken sandwich ($11). If you’re in the mood for a more formal meal, order the negroni-braised octopus with herb salad ($20) or the baked haddock with dill cream sauce ($23).

  • Styled after a New England clam shack, this Bushwick eatery offers raw, fried and grilled seafood, along with mai tais, frozen drinks and canned and draft beers. There are high-tops as well as regular tables, plus a lively outdoor counter facing the windows.

  • Cape House delivers on its most important promise: terrific clams in a pleasant, casual, boozy-if-you-want-it environment. Get here soon though, while the patio’s still an option, for a final taste of summer before we all have to huddle inside.

Getting There

Carthage Must Be Destroyed

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Tucked away down an alley, hidden from view in East Williamsburg is a gorgeous, pink Australian cafe that’s destined to become the neighborhood’s next buzz restaurant. As lovely as a Thiebaud painting, the curiously named Carthage Must Be Destroyed, is situated in an old industrial warehouse which has been transformed into an enchanting homage to the color pink. The espresso machine is pink. The dishes, saucers and and cups are pink. Even the pipes and exhaust system have been painted pink.

Getting There

The Commodore

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The Commodore is the place to go when you’re itching for a campy frozen drink, in a retro setting, with some damn good food to boot. The dive feels like a bar you’d find in Milwaukee in the 70s and once you order a Frozen Pina Colada with Ameretto Float you’ll be transported to that very era. People love The Commodore for its Chicken Sandwich – and with good reason since its made by the same people responsible for Pies n’ Thighs. The menu also features nachos, a burger, and many more artery-clogging delicacies. It’s a great bar so, sure, it gets crowded, but don’t let that keep you away.

Featured Reviews

  • It “looks and acts like a dive bar”, but this Williamsburg standby houses “some of the finest fried chicken and biscuits” going, along with other “revisited” Southern fare and “fabulous cocktails”; its “’70s den” look-alike digs are predictably “packed on weekends”, and the “order-your-food-at-the-bar system isn’t ideal”, but “super-cheap” tabs and an overall “chill vibe” go a long way.

  • First came the gastropub, an import from Britain featuring upmarket pub grub in an ale-drinking setting. Now, welcome the gastrodive, which further blurs the lines between restaurant and bar. The Commodore in Williamsburg, with its old arcade games, Schlitz in a can and stereo pumping out the Knight Rider theme song, offers the city’s best cheap-ass bar eats, served in a seedy venue where folks come to get blotto. The short menu—with descriptions as curt as the service you’ll encounter while ordering your food from the bartender—reads like a classic collection of fryolator junk. But the “hot fish” sandwich, for one, is a fresh, flaky, cayenne-rubbed catfish fillet poking out of both sides of a butter-griddled sesame-seed roll

  • The food is the work of Stephen Tanner, a native of Albany, Ga., who spent much of the last decade working in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, restaurants known for straightforward fare and strong flavors: Diner, Egg, Pies ‘n’ Thighs. Mr. Tanner is talented, but the food at the Commodore shouldn’t be cross-examined too closely. It’s mostly fried, or in a bun, or both. Ingredients are repeated. So are seasonings. So what? The Dead Kennedys never needed more than three chords.

  • In case you aren’t already familiar, The Commodore is a Williamsburg restaurant by Pies ‘n’ Thighs alum Stephen Tanner, and it’s bad for you. Bad because merely looking at the food here will jack up your cholesterol thirty points, and worse because everything is so good that you’ll crave it all the time. Eventually you too will be cutting imaginary deals with your organs to justify frequent visits.

Getting There

Diner

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Located near the Williamsburg Bridge, when you step into Diner, which inhabits a refurbished 1926-dining car, you’re immediately transported to another era. Diner was one of Williamsburg’s original “hip” dining establishments and has not lost any of its caché. The menu changes frequently, but expect delicious takes on diner classics and traditional American cuisine.

Featured Reviews

  • “Handwritten menus” announce the daily roster of “consistently excellent” New American bites (including a “phenomenal” burger) at this “funky” local fixture in Williamsburg; set in a 1920s dining car and overseen by a “knowledgeable” crew, it has a “quintessential hipster” vibe that carries over to the outside seating area.

  • Andrew Tarlow’s first restaurant is no longer the Southside loner it was when it opened in 1999. These days, it’s credited with creating and typifying the hip, seasonal, and Americana-mining New Brooklyn restaurant. The kitchen’s alumnus list is an all-star team of the Williamsburg restaurant scene — it includes founders of the Commodore, El Cortez, the Meat Hook, Pies ’n’ Thighs, and Saltie — and indirectly spawned a legion of admirers and imitators. Diner, though, at least pretends not to know it, even if the crowd is more well-heeled and maybe a little more foreign. The servers are still effortlessly cool, the floor remains uneven, and specials will forever be written out on a piece of paper tableside by a server who’ll sit down with you, if there’s room, and explain what’s up.

  • Diner has been a Williamsburg institution for a decade now. Originally built out of necessity by two friends in need of a place to eat, drink and hang out – it soon became not only their home base, but every other recent settler’s home as well. It’s like the hipster Plymouth Rock. As expected, Diner takes the form of, well, a diner. It’s basically a hole in the wall, and if it weren’t for the constant crowds, you’d probably wonder how a place that looks like this stays in business. Everyone inside is most definitely cooler than you, but they don’t think they’re better than you.

Getting There