Free Williamsburg

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

1 or 8

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A minimalist sushi spot in South Williamsburg from the same owners behind Bozu and Momo Sushi Shack. Everything is fresh and inventive so simply order the Omakase (the chef’s choice of sushi) and sit back and enjoy. If you’re not feeling like sushi, snacks like Shrimp Dumplings, Beef Curry Pan, and Fried Chicken are also available. On the downside, 1 or 8 is expensive for South Williamsburg with one signature roll that costs a staggering $50.

Featured Reviews

  • 1 or 8 provides a more traditional, upscale approach than most other Japanese spots in the neighborhood; perfectly executed basic rolls accompany interesting variations on classics; sashimi is expertly sliced and evenly textured, and soft tuna and Atlantic salmon are exceptionally fresh. Shrimp is tasty (if a bit tough), but the naturally fishy mackerel is nicely subtle. There are a few cooked entrées, including a vegetable plate, a chicken pot-au-feu, and pork belly two ways, but the real treat here is the omakase, course after course of treats at the chef’s whim

  • this Japanese “find” turns out “exceptional sushi” and other “original” “culinary creations” in an “inviting space” with all-white, “modern” decor; also touted for “telepathic service” and an “under-the-radar omakase” deal, it’s “a real treat” for those in the know.

Getting There

Achilles Heel

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A cozy, gorgeous gastropub tucked away in north Greenpoint, just a stones-throw from the East River. There’s a wood-burning stove up front, a small bar and a handful of tables. The hardwood floors, original tin ceilings, old-timey cocktails, and a small seaside-inspired menu hearkens back to an earlier era when Greenpoint was a working port and the space was a pub frequented by dockworkers. Come for an inventive small plate and a fancy cocktail. Achilles Heel is one of many popular restaurants in North Brooklyn created by Andrew Tarlow who also founded Diner, Marlow & Sons, and Reynard.

Featured Reviews

  • In its more peaceful hours, Achilles Heel, a revived waterfront bar with a painted stone facade in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, reminds me of McSorley’s Old Ale House. At both places, you can rub the winter out of your hands near a hot stove (fueled by coal at McSorley’s, firewood at Achilles) whose feet are propped on beat-up floorboards. Neither spot is in any hurry, and time there moves at a pace that is decidedly prehashtag. Their light has a faraway, amber quality you could call cheerful gloom. They are among the most soothing places in the city to cradle a glass while the day shortens and slips into the night.

  • a café and bar meant to evoke the always-open grocery and drinking spot that once sustained Greenpoint dockworkers at its West Street address between 1900 and 1960. Details like the hardwood bar and mirrors are original, and once he had signed on the space, Tarlow took a solitary bar stool he’d found straight to his carpenter and asked him to make a few more. There’s a meat-slicer behind the counter for the domestic cured hams, wooden apple crates loaded with fresh produce for purchase, breads baked at Roman’s for sale, and several hundred pounds of new equipment for the baristas to make George Howell pour-over coffee and espresso drinks.

  • Brooklyn empire builder Andrew Tarlow (Reynard, Diner, Marlow and Sons) extends his reach to Greenpoint for this cute corner cafe that turns into a bar at night, offering a tightly curated drink list focused on beer and wine plus a small menu of snacky food; with its copper-topped bar, intricate wood details and funky little tables, the comfy space feels like it’s already been around for ages.

Getting There

All Hands

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Chef Peter Lipson (Northern Spy, Empellon) is serving up seafood with a view of the Williamsburg bridge in this South Williamsburg cafe. The interior design is rustic-chic and dishes like Passatelli Pasta (littleneck clams, calabrian chili, smoked pecorino) and Monkfish (caulifower, watercress, fennel bisque) do not disappoint. It’s also a great spot to have a drink and a light snack if you’re feeling peckish and want a fancy cocktail in a lovely setting.

Featured Reviews

  • Picturesque views of the bridge with homey plates of seafood on the menu. Chef Peter Lipson—whose resume includes stints around the world in addition to credits in parts of the Empellon empire, as well as Northern Spy—channels his varied career into the ocean, presenting dishes almost entirely sourced from the sea. Bluefish cured in sake comes with hunks of grapefruit doused in fish sauce with herbs. Passatelli—which are noodles formed from breadcrumbs—serves as a base for littleneck clams with rich Calabrian chili, smoked pecorino and more crunchy breadcrumbs.

Getting There

Amami

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Fresh sushi and craft cocktails in a laid-back and chic pub setting. There’s also ramen and an assortment of small plates to share, like Popcorn Shrimp (in a honey-sriracha crema) and Grilled Japanese Squid with a basil-ginger glaze. Everything goes well with a Japanese Old Fashioned (Iwai Japanese Whiskey, Fresh Ginger Mint Syrup) or one of their many Sakes. Best of all, prices are very reasonable.

Featured Reviews

  • If you’re in Greenpoint, expect this to be your neighborhood sushi spot. It’s on the trendier side (as neighborhood sushi spots go) and the menu is big – in addition to sushi, you can find anything from ramen to pork buns.

  •  a pan-Japanese menu of sushi, yakitori, ramen and other snacks. The wasabi and the soy sauce are house-made here, served alongside pieces of fresh sushi and colorful rolls adorned with jewel-toned roe or wrapped in thin slices of raw fish. There are literally hundreds of different options for fish and seafood, whether raw, skewered and grilled, fried, or steamed with vegetables.

  • The caliber of fish certainly speaks for itself–from rose-tinted slips of seabream to buttery blocks of otoro, portioned into austere rectangles of sashimi or tight, rice-padded coils. Wang lets loose when it comes to signature rolls, though, festooned like floats at a Carnival parade–angled on martini glasses bolstered with sprays of baby’s breath, or assembled on platters and decorative, rough-hewn boards, shimmering with a judicious application of day-glo roe. He maintains that sense of whimsy with another surprise element: brunch, besting tired standbys like benedict and pancakes with seafood okonomiyaki, spicy tuna tekka don and organic azuki bean waffles.

  • the sushi here is fresh and affordable, with standard rolls under $7 and the fancier ones hovering around the $15 mark. The menu is a mix of simply prepared fish and casual Japanese comfort food like soy-glazed pork buns and ramen in a red miso broth. With its sleek décor and long bar, it offers a nice space to gather for carefully made cocktails and reliable, straightforward Japanese dishes. 

Getting There

Amarin Cafe

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Amarin is our go-to Thai joint for a reliably good meal. We’re never blown away, but the food is satisfying when we’re looking for affordable Thai cuisine. We like their Chicken Masaman Curry and their Pad Thai, but everything is done well. The dining room is unremarkable, but comfortable and rarely crowded which is a huge plus. One word of caution: when they say spicy, they mean SPICY. Be sure to order mild or medium unless you can handle it.

Featured Reviews

  • This no-frills Thai spot by McCarren Park promises flavorful fare at a low price. It’s great for such standbys are pad thai, curry, and satay, but also be sure to check out some of their house specials– the basil shrimp sauteed in onion, pepper, and chili sauce is on point. It’s cash only, but they offer free BYOB.

  • If you’re seeking refuge from the wave of glammy Thai spots to hit Williamsburg in recent years, head north, to where the only frills are the local artwork on otherwise bare green walls. All the brilliance here goes into the food: A pair of golden, crisp crab cakes are first good, then great when dunked in rich, coconutty peanut sauce. Basil chicken, ordered medium spiced, is quite hot; shrimp with asparagus is scattered with nicely crunchy cashews.

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

Bamonte’s

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If you’ve never been, a trip to Bamonte’s is a must. This classic Italian restaurant has been in operation on Withers St. since 1900. Founded by Pasquale Bamonte, the restaurant is now run by his grandson Anthony who has kept the look and traditions true to its history. Hey it’s even the place Gerry got wacked on The Sopranos. The old world American-Italian setting feels straight out of a movie, making the mediocre food worth the visit. Stick to tasty homemade pastas (ask which ones are made in-house, since they vary) and absorb the scenery.

Featured Reviews

  • Perverse perhaps to name an Italian restaurant with undeniably middling food as one of Williamsburg’s best, but to the extent that Bamonte’s captures something essential — and evaporating — about the neighborhood, to the extent that it serves both as a memento mori and a testament to longevity, it certainly belongs. To understand Carbone, one needs the 116-year-old Bamonte’s. To understand the refulgence, now dulled, of the Italian-American community centered on Graham Avenue, one needs Bamonte’s. So what if the food is strict red sauce and mid-century? Bamonte’s is among the best. Eat, if one must. Drink, if one can. But go at all costs.

  • Think white table cloths, waiters in tuxedos, and as much talk about family in Rome and Naples as Manhattan. And while its Williamsburg hood certainly changed over the last hundred-plus, the dining room at Bamonte’s has remained essentially the same.

  • Forgo the hipster stigma of Williamsburg eateries by heading to Bamonte’s, a classic red sauce joint that serves as a time capsule in both product and presentation. The waiters are tuxedoed, the dining room tables are draped in white cloth, and the menu features every item you’d expect an Italian grandmother to make. The price point is reasonable, so stock your table with the classics in a space that’s been around longer than most in this city.

  • It is the continuity from plate of pasta to plate of pasta, from generation to generation that makes Bamonte’s such a vital, quintessential part of the story of the city of New York. Eating there feels as much a ritual as a meal, and it’s a fuss-free taste of Italian-American cuisine that we rarely see these days. If you live in New York, or just want to understand the city better, you owe it yourself to eat at Bamonte’s, if only once. You won’t only be tasting history—you will become a part of it.

Getting There

Bozu

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An atmospheric Japanese restaurant the serves great izakaya and pretty good sushi. We’re never blown away by the latter here, but still love coming to feast on a few small dishes like Pork Betty, fried chicken, and dumplings. If you’re itching for sushi, get one of their sushi bombs which is essentially a dome-shaped roll. Their cocktails are strong and delicious and overall this is a great spot to have a few snacks with friends.

Featured Reviews

  • Here’s the kicker, Bozu isn’t even really a sushi restaurant. It’s “Japanese Tapas,” because of course it is. I think what that means is that they have all kinds of inventive small plates on the strange tiny plastic menu they hand you, a few of which we tried and cared for very little. What that also means is that you won’t find straightforward sushi here either. What you will find are sushi “bombs,” which are basically rice and fish and other stuff pressed together into a neat dome shaped thing. The bombs we liked.

  • Eating here is a blast, and their sushi is the bomb-quite literally. The unique sushi bombs (flat coin-like rice cakes topped with fish, spicy sauces and such) are one of the kitchen’s signature dishes and for good reason. But do try the tender pork Betty and delicious fried tako balls too. The menu here has been described as “authentically inauthentic.” But however named, the important thing is that the food is executed with care and attention.

  • Bozu chef-owner Makoto Suzuki has expanded the definition of Japanese tapas (if there is one) to include deep-fried kataifi-crusted shrimp, pumpkin risotto croquettes stuffed with mozzarella, and an unconventional version of sushi. Suzuki’s “bombs” are the shape of things to come—small mounds of rice tinted red from cabbage or pink from codfish roe, and topped either traditionally (salmon, tuna, eel) or not (radish, mint leaf, green tomato sauce). These light bites can be eaten at the bar, on epoxy tables ringed with Eames chairs, or on the back deck.

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

Cafe Mogador

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An American cafe on the quieter end of Bedford Ave great for a casual, low-key meal. Rabbithole is not a “destination” restaurant and that’s a good thing when you want a reliably good brunch or an unpretentious dinner spot. The Lamb Burger is popular as is the Homemade Potato Gnocci with Wild Mushrooms. They have a small garden for outdoor dining in the warmer months.

Featured Reviews

  • “Everything is delicious” at these “popular” Moroccan “standbys” that are especially known for their “unbeatable” brunches; “tight seating” and “long waits” are part of the deal, but “gentle prices” help, and Williamsburg’s “cute indoor garden” is especially “charming.”

  • It’s a casual place serving Moroccan/Israeli food, although they do a more-or-less standard breakfast and brunch. Weekends get slammed, however, so expect a wait for brunch and dinner. And try to sit in the greenhouse-like area out back. It’s a good place to eat a chicken stew with couscous.

Getting There