Free Williamsburg

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

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.

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Falansai

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Street-food Hanoi and Saigon style, with a subtle french twist. An eclectic blend of dishes with just enough French influence to make them decadent. We recommend the Clay Pot Catfish and the Lemongrass Pork Chop.

Featured Reviews

  • In a dark, industrial corner of Bushwick, the son of a Chinese refugee has opened a Vietnamese eatery and cheekily named it after his father’s mispronunciation of “français.” As you enter, you’ll see a lightbulb hanging in a pagoda-shaped birdcage and hear loungey French music that quietly fills the sparsely decorated interior. At lunch, you can slurp up beef-noodle pho and munch on Dad’s shrimp roll, which tastes like a crab cake and has a crispy tofu skin wrapping. At dinner, tender little cubes of filet mignon come to your table fresh from the wok.

  • New York’s roster of fancified Vietnamese restaurants is growing, from Nightingale 9 in Carroll Gardens to Bún-Ker in Ridgewood and Falansai in North Brooklyn. They’re a change-up—if not always successful—from the city’s more casual restaurants, many of which in Chinatown, that hunker down with classic dishes like banh mi or pho. Falansai offers both of those things, but plenty more with a sophisticated edge, and they do so in an equally classed-up setting that has plenty for vegetarians.

Getting There

The Four Horseman

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The Four Horseman is a fantastic, minimally designed wine bar that gets attention for the wrong reasons. Sure, it’s partially owned by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, but the truly interesting thing about this bar in South Williamsburg is its great wine selection and charming atmosphere. The design is informed by Nordic and Japanese minimalism, with wood-lined walls and ceilings and (of course) amazing acoustics. The wine list is extensive, but the staff is friendly and helpful when it comes to selecting one that fits your mood. Charcuterie with house-made bread is available, as are a number of small plates — we recommend the Beef Tartare. If you’re having dinner, the menu leans Italian and New American with typical dishes including Potato Gnocchi ($20), St. Louis-Style Sweet Port Ribs ($20) and a Pork Ragu ($20).

Featured Reviews

  • Fear not if you know little to nothing about natural wine, the Four Horsemen is staffed with knowledgeable servers who will help you navigate the menu and let you taste anything. A focused food menu complements the wine, featuring small plates like cheese & charcuterie plus more dinner-satisfying options like flank steak and potato gnocchi. The Grand St space is small and minimal, with a bar upfront and small tables in the back.

  • Four Horsemen is a really cool little room. It’s the kind of place you walk into and immediately think to yourself, “I can definitely hang out here. Let’s drink.” It feels like a more comfortable version of Momofuku Noodle Bar, and is filled with a hip but unpretentious crowd. The attention to detail is impressive, from the colorful knives and wooden spoons to the subtle design details, like the slats on the ceiling going in different directions, and the super cool texture on the walls. Also, the natural wine list is well-priced and expertly curated.

  • A “killer wine list” filled with “quirky” finds is the headliner at this Williamsburg nook from musician James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem), but the seasonal American fare is “spot-on” too; “sleek” and “perfectly dimmed” with a front bar, it draws “hip, but mature” types who keep the mood “convivial.”

  • You’re sipping wine in Murphy’s house, and it certainly feels like home. Cedar ceiling slats and decorative burlap sacks double as acoustics-enhancing sound absorbers for a crowd-pleasing playlist of equal parts Van Morrison and Kate Bush. Warmly personalized touches—cutlery from Murphy and Topsøe’s wedding, eucalyptus-scented bath towels—invite you to stay for another glass. If this is what the apocalypse looks like, sign us up.

Getting There

Maison Premiere

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Maison Premiere has long been one of our favorite places in Williamsburg. We first fell in love with their 1/2 price oyster special, which they offer Monday-Friday 4pm-7pm. Their raw bar is unmatched in the city, irrespective of borough. We’ve also always appreciated the lovely design, that’s reminiscent of a New Orleans-style, classic cocktail bar with a touch of old-timey Parisian flare. In recent years, they’ve expanded their menu to include more entrees as well such as Swordfish and a Lobster Roll. It’s all a bit pricey but worth the splurge.

Featured Reviews

  • Maison Premiere is both exactly the same and very different than it was when it first opened. It’s still an adult fun house of raw seafood and absinthe, but it’s added other elements as well. There’s now a full menu of cooked food, a sleeper brunch situation, and an amazing patio out back.

  • This ultra-retro tavern may feel dark and old-timey, like a watering hole where the Founding Fathers would have stopped for fortification before fending off the British. But, the massive, U-shaped bar is particularly coveted, so arrive early or prepare to wait for your absinthe drip. To accompany the stellar sips, a vast selection of oysters, clams, and group-friendly seafood plateaux seem to pop up on every table. The kitchen’s talent is equally clear in such preparations as luscious sea urchin served in a chilled shellfish consommé with fragrant lemongrass and thin slices of sweet grapes.

  • The food is impressionistic, best appreciated as a series of lovely, fleeting moments rather than the sustained arc that typically constitutes a meal. From the raw bar come thin slices of sea scallop with rosy pickled rhubarb and a drift of shaved horseradish ice, hot and cold at once. Razor clam, sweet and almost squidlike in texture, is punctuated by crisp, clean radish. A spoonful of lobster dressed with mayonnaise, celery and tarragon, anchoring a cracked tail shell, suggests a stolen bite from a New England lobster roll, with buttered bread crumbs in lieu of the roll.

Getting There

Ops

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A wood-baked pizza spot featuring pizzas with sourdough crust. They also have a great wine selection. As with any pizza place, we recommend trying the Margherita Pizza – theirs is simple and delicious. They also have a selection of small dishes (cheese plates, salads, antipasta) that change with the season.

Featured Reviews

  • Ops is a pizza spot in Bushwick, and it’s an excellent neighborhood hang. The pizza itself is good, but we were more impressed with the feeling of the place. Come by yourself for a solo meal at the bar, or bring some friends for fuel before a night out in Bushwick bars

  • Wood-fired pies with a sourdough crust are joined by a few simple openers (cheeses, salad and antipasti) at this Bushwick pizzeria, which also offers seasonal cocktails and a “Bud and amaro” combo. The converted garage space is welcoming with brick walls, tiled floors and marble-topped tables, and there’s no tipping.

  • The space at 346 Himrod Street is a former car garage that now offers seating for 45 guests. Its centerpiece is a mosaic-tiled oven that will be firing pizzas such as The Pops which comes with tomato, mozzarella, guanciale, and Pecorino. In addition to pizza, the team is serving menu options like braised lentils with toast, and caponata with bitter greens. Fadem and Tribouilloy will be splitting cooking duty, with Fadem’s focus solely on pizza and Tribouilloy running the rest of the menu

  • Ops, as the new spot is called, is helmed by Mike Fadem (who previously worked at Roman’s and Estela), Marie Tribouilloy (Buvette, the Pines), and Gavin Compton, who owns Variety Coffee next door. Fitting the team’s collective background, the vibe is casual; tips won’t be accepted; the room, a former garage, is agreeably rustic; the cocktails are seasonal; and the menu emphasizes shared plates, antipasti, and a rotating list of wood-baked sourdough pizza in varieties like the Pops (tomatoes, mozzarella, guanciale, onions, Pecorino), and the Rojo (mortadella, peppers, Crescenza cheese).

Getting There

Sauvage

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Sauvage is the second restaurant from the people behind Maison Premiere. Where Maison Premiere’s focus is on seafood, Sauvage focuses more on dishes like Heritage Pork with celery root and persimmon or Rabbit with roasted turnips. There’s an abundance of small plates, many vegetarian, and a smaller raw bar. Come for a snack and a fancy cocktail or splurge on a dinner. If you’re a fan of Maison Premiere, you will be very happy.

Featured Reviews

  • But Ms. Giffen’s talents are best used when she abandons the miniaturist mode. There’s a full-throttle thrill to breaking open chilled snow crab legs and dunking their briny flesh in brown butter that’s reinforced with mashed crab liver. There’s undeniable pleasure in slicing open the malakoff, dough mixed with alpine-style cheese that’s lumped on a slice of sourdough and then deep fried. This bonanza of starch, cheese and oil comes with pickled vegetables. It should also come with a small mountain for you to you climb after you finish it…. Like a classic sidewalk cafe in Paris that’s been taken over by young upstarts. Servers are extroverted and able to convey enthusiasm that seems genuine.

  • Sauvage (“wild” in French), the second restaurant from the team of Joshua Boissy and Krystof Zizka, with Lisa Giffen once again serving as chef, set down on the Greenpoint frontier a few months ago. Though sporting a formidable French wine list, it focused more on food than drink. Sauvage spread itself along Nassau Street like homemade butter on the cumin-scented warm roll that is one of the restaurant’s most delicious apps ($2.50). Across the intersection lies McCarren Park, where the crack of the baseball bat punctuates a leisurely meal, at least for those who choose to perch at the outdoor tables. 

Getting There

St. Anselm

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A steakhouse must have steak. St. Anselm has hanger, served here under the old-fashioned title of butcher’s steak, and a massive rib-eye for two, with nearly a foot of frenched bone sticking out of it to give it its menu name: Axe Handle Rib Eye.

Featured Reviews

  • A steakhouse must have steak. St. Anselm has hanger, served here under the old-fashioned title of butcher’s steak, and a massive rib-eye for two, with nearly a foot of frenched bone sticking out of it to give it its menu name: Axe Handle Rib Eye. The butcher’s steak in particular is a joy, tender and full of strong, beefy flavor that is winning even before the garlic butter on it melts away.

  • “Hipster” carnivores “leave smiling” from this “New Age” Williamsburg steakhouse supplying “mind-blowing” naturally raised beef and “excellent” sides in “rustic”, brick-lined digs; “modest prices” make up for the “daunting” waits caused by the no-reservations policy, though regulars “kill time” at its neighboring “sister bar”, Spuyten Duyvil.

  • The main-event proteins, meanwhile, are just gilded enough to be interesting but not so encumbered you can’t taste the grill. There’s cool, minty yogurt enhancing a beautiful thick-cut lamb saddle, and garlic-steeped butter on a gorgeous whole trout. The super-succulent sweet-tea–brined chicken is just as straightforward, despite the provocative presence of its head and feet—the golden, butterflied bird is splayed all by itself on a plate. The steakhouse idiom is most evident here in the la carte setup: The cheesy creamed spinach gratin, panfried mashed potatoes, and cauliflower grilled with balsamic and soy are all separate orders.

  • St. Anselm might look like a bar from the outside, but the reason you’re coming here has nothing to do with the drinks or the service (which isn’t very good), and everything to do with the Butchers Steak and Pan-Fried Mashed Potatoes. Those two things are incredible. Nothing else we had was equally mind-blowing, but overall the food was definitely impressive and reasonably affordable for the quality.

Getting There