Free Williamsburg

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

Brooklyn Star

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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

Extra Fancy

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A New England-style seafood pub that’s more of a laid-back dive than its Extra Fancy moniker would suggest. The bar up front is spacious and isn’t usually too crowded. It’s a nice place to have a Narragansett Lager and some Littleneck Clams. Salt Cod Fritters, Lobster Roll and the Steamed Mussels are standouts on a menu that’s mainly from the sea but also features a few Southern classics like Deviled Eggs and Cornbread. In the warmer months they have a patio with frosty frozen drinks and snacks.

Featured Reviews

  • Williamsburg’s Extra Fancy serves fried, grilled, and raw seafood, like fish & chips and lobster bisque fries, plus a notable secret sauce-topped burger. It’s open late — until 2am every night — and its special late-night menu will have you covered should you ever get a midnight lobster roll craving. The brick-and-wood interior is reminiscent of a New England seafood shack, albeit a hipster one.

  • lthough pedigreed chef Ross Florence, late of Le Bernardin, recently parted ways with Extra Fancy, the spot still turns out some seriously tasty seafood snacks. The Cape Cod clam fritters ($9) arrive at the table piping hot and golden brown, accompanied by a tangy chive-buttermilk sauce. Each fried nugget is studded with meaty littlenecks, sweet corn kernels and spicy bits of chili. Landlubbers can chow down on a juicy, grilled kielbasa ($12) served with tangy red-cabbage sauerkraut and swipes of caraway-mustard butter on a hot-dog roll.

  • Williamsburg “meets New England” at this “swinging” seafood joint whose clam shack–inspired menu features “fine oysters” and “fun comfort food” backed by “expertly made” cocktails; the “lovely” garden makes it a “perfect day-drinking” destination, but it’s also “great for late-night nosh.”

Getting There

Fette Sau

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Brisket, pulled pork, ribs, sausage! Fette Sau is a meat lover’s paradise. This Williamsburg institution is just what you’re looking for when you have meat on your mind. We recommend the pulled pork, smoked on premises with a delicious dry rub. All meats are served by the pound. Grab a beer, served in a Mason jar (this is Brooklyn after all) and sample one of there many sides including potato salad, baked beans or broccoli salad.

Featured Reviews

  • Owners of the inimitable beer bar Spuyten Duyvil, had been scouting locations for their second venture when they learned that Tony & Sons, the auto-body repair shop across the street, was renting out part of its fenced-in lot and cinderblock building. The couple preserved the shop’s industrial vibe, outfitting the driveway with picnic tables and the wood-beamed, cement-floored interior … Head chef Matt Lang, late of Pearl Oyster Bar, swaps surf for turf with a rotating menu of pork and beef ribs and shoulders, pigs’ tails, flank steak, leg of lamb, pork belly, and pastrami, all sold by weight and served on butcher paper, sauce on the side. 

  • It’s the “quintessential Williamsburg experience” to “join the hipsters” at this “serious foodie” “heaven” for “awesome” dry-rub, by-the-pound BBQ paired with “artisanal” beers and bourbons; no rezzies means “crazy lines” for “cafeteria-style” service in a “former garage” outfitted with “communal picnic tables” – but to most it’s so “worth it.”

  • Lean baby back ribs come tender and pink in the middle, the tasty meat carrying a hint of smoke and a light rub of espresso and brown sugar. Lang cakes a coriander black-pepper rub onto his thick-crusted pastrami, which gets a sweet, fatty coating from the drippings of its ovenmates…. more ambitious options were comparatively bland, including flank steak and pork belly (save a pulled lamb, beef and pork are Fette Sau’s two exclusive muses). The steak came extra-lean, and the belly was all fat and no marbling. .

Getting There

Montana’s Trail House

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A casual place to get a drink, relax and have some of the best comfort food in the neighborhood. It’s also great for brunch, especially if you’re craving baked eggs. Though the “Appalachian East coast country food” theme is a bit heavy-handed, Montana’s Trail House has quickly established itself as a go-to joint for locals with great food and friendly vibes. Don’t miss the fried chicken.

Featured Reviews

  • The state of Montana seems to be referenced in the joint’s moniker, it actually represents the given name of owner Montana Masback, former bartender at the Last Chance Saloon. A Bushwick bistro opened by a dive bartender? Here anything can happen….We loved the brisket braised in root beer ($23), and never asked if the braising liquid was organic or not. The thick slabs flopped across something called rice grits, creamy and salty. From a choice of four other entrees, we forewent the fried chicken (you can get good fried chicken anywhere in Brooklyn these days), the “barnyard” trout, and a vegetable plate, in favor of the so-called “tongue and cheek reuben” ($15). This fine sandwich features those two variety meats with house-cured sauerkraut. Apart from a certain sameness in our two entrees, we were satisfied by the quality and quantity of the food.

  • Google Montana’s Trail House and words like “Appalachian black magic” and “East Coast country” will pop up. What exactly that means and how that all plays out on a corner in Bushwick, it’s kind of hard to tell—but it works. In a gas station refitted inside and out with beautiful wood salvaged from a barn in Kentucky and plenty of pieces of old Americana, owner Montana Masback has transformed the space and divided it into two dining rooms: the Roost, a tiny wedge of a corner room, welcomes you up front, and the Tack Room around the corner houses the bar, a bookcase with a secret door to an outside patio, complete with two-tops and seats covered with green and red vinyl, and hanging rusty antiques. Throw in some young, model-esque servers and tattooed bartenders, a playlist of soul and country, plus vintage wallpaper, and you’ve got some trail-house fun.

  • A creative selection of reasonably priced cocktails starts at $10. The waiters are diner-style friendly, but not always knowledgeable. The locavore menu reads like a scene from “Portlandia” (“barnyard trout” and “kale slaw”), while the late-night bar snacks include fried pickles and corn dogs.y.”

Getting There

Pies ‘n’ Thighs

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A popular South Williamsburg restaurant with a crowd-pleasing menu of Southern comfort staples. The fried chicken is the standout, though the catfish is a close runner-up. Vegetarians will be happy too with a sampling of sides and salads. Pies ‘n’ Thighs is especially popular for brunch — chicken ‘n’ waffles anyone? — and serves breakfast during the week. Top it all off with a slice of Bourbon Pecan Pie and all is well with the world.

Featured Reviews

  • The food, not the venue, is clearly the draw. While the down-and-dirty Southern fare—honest, cheap and often delicious—is certainly in line with Brooklyn’s all-American moment, it’s an audacious departure from the borough’s judiciously sourced, seasonally orthodox, self-righteously ethical ethos.

  • “Naps are required” after visiting this “popular” Williamsburg storefront for “perfectly fried” chicken, “fantastic” homemade pies and other Southern “comfort food”; the “down-and-dirty” digs are “a tight squeeze” and “service can lag”, so be ready for a “long wait on weekends.”

  • Pies ‘n’ Thighs is Williamsburg’s premier outpost for fried chicken, with Southern comfort favorites that will easily make you forget you’re sitting in a shabby space under the Williamsburg Bridge. Enjoy expertly fried birds and dough (the old-fashioned doughnuts are big in both size and flavor), and flaky, house-baked biscuits. There are chicken buckets reserved for take-out, but no matter if you stay or go, complete the experience with a side trio of smoked pork collards, burnt end baked beans, and mac & cheese.

Getting There

Pretty Southern

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Can fried chicken and biscuits be healthy? Well, maybe not, but Chef Sam Talbot is making a valiant attempt at making them a bit less junky. At his restaurant, Pretty Southern, he serves up Southern staples like Fried Chicken and Pimento Cheese sandwiches with sides that are often gluten- and/or dairy-free. Talbot’s Fried Chicken (also available gluten-free) can be ordered by the piece, Rotisserie style, or as multi-piece dinner. Standout sides include Mac & Cheese, Collard greens, and a Black-Eyed Peas and Butterbean side cooked with ham-hock. The space is small and a bit cramped but delivery and take-out are available.

Featured Reviews

  • ..the bird itself is expertly cooked, nice and gamey, and even the large breast was juicy all the way to the bone. On the other hand, the crackling skin had a bitterness to it that I associate with a tea-brine, and do not personally care for. … The sides I tried were all terrific, led by a creamy, sticky Mac n’ Cheese, served in a skillet and a model of textural balance and robust flavors… And whatever you order, also order a side of chewy, crispy biscuits, which are presented almost like slices of sheet cake and come with a trio of dipping sauces, including an amazing Coconut Cinnamon Honey.

  • The chef Sam Talbot, most recently based in Maine, grew up near Charleston, S.C., so he’s particular about his fried chicken. He has also been a private chef for professional basketball players and racecar drivers, and said that many of them wanted tempting food like fried chicken and biscuits to be gluten-free. That’s what has inspired his new casual venture into Southern fare. “It can be healthy,” he said. The fried chicken and biscuits are available with or without gluten, as are the mac and cheese, potpies, several sandwiches and some of the desserts. He makes his own gluten-free flour, and cooks his grits in coconut milk, to accommodate dairy-free diets.

  • Chef Sam Talbot (Montauk’s Surf Lodge) puts a modern spin on Southern fare at this Greenpoint spot focusing on fried chicken dinners with healthful sides, gluten-free options, sandwiches, biscuits and housemade desserts. The exposed-brick digs have a counter facing the open kitchen, plus an enclosed garden, and the kitchen maintains green practices like composting and using eco-friendly takeout containers.

Getting There

Sweet Chick

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Sweet Chick is the brainchild of John Seymour who also owns Pop’s of Brooklyn. The menu offers classic soul food staples (all organic) such as roasted pork tenderloin, dry-aged rib eye, & grilled fish in addition to chicken & waffles. In terms of your waffle choice, you can order a regular buttermilk Belgian-style waffle, bacon + cheddar cheese, rosemary mushroom, or the special seasonal waffle. Delicious sides includes buttermilk biscuits, spicy shoestring french fries, ritz-cracker crusted mac and cheese, and pickled watermelon.

Featured Reviews

  • “Quirky” takes on Southern staples – think “creative chicken ’n’ waffle combos” – and “seasonal” cocktails make these “droolworthy” eateries “excellent places to indulge”; they get “jam-packed” at prime times, but “friendly” staffers help keep the feel “fun.”

  • Though the design and vibe of Sweet Chick is generic Williamsburg kitsch, the food here is outstanding. If a hankering for buttery fried soul food can counter the ceiling chandeliers made from rusty feed troughs and water served in recycled Jim Beam bottles, you’re in business. We’re talking mac ‘n’ cheese that is mercifully creamy, and bacon-wrapped oysters that will make you consider ordering a second plate. And that’s just appetizers.

  • Chicken and waffles aren’t a duo we generally get excited about. Granted, we’re not from the South, so it’s possible the real thing has eluded us. Lazy attempts as ironic menu items around here have always left us feeling like the chicken and the waffle are two completely separate species, not meant to make sweet love in your mouth. But things done changed. Sweet Chick now has us thinking differently.

Getting There