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.

Getting There

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

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.

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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

BarGlory

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Nestled inside the Franklin Guesthouse hotel in Greenpoint is the second restaurant from the owners of Glasserie. Bar Glory serves a fantastic fusion of Mediterranean and Asian dishes in an unassuming environment. Start with their fantastic dumplings, our favorite being Pumpkin, Ricotta & Spicy Apricot ($4 each), though the Shrimp Shu Mai and
Lamb & Pistachio Pesto dumplings are great too. Bar Glory has a nice selection of sparkling wines, all served cold, which pair well with all of their small dishes. There are also several small grilled dishes available including octopus, greens, and lamb ribs. For an entree the Shrimp Dumpling & Massaman Coconut Curry is a winner too. Make sure you save room for dessert. The Cherry Pit Ice Cream with Lychee and Orange Blossom is as tasty as it is unique. A wonderful addition to the neighborhood.

Featured Reviews

  • Bar Glory is the second spot from the people behind Glasserie, one of Greenpoint’s best-known restaurants. Glasserie’s space is certainly cool, and the food is good – but we prefer Bar Glory. And that’s because the food here is unlike anything else in NYC. The menu here is a mashup of various Mediterranean and Asian cuisines, and it kicks off with dumplings. Unlike most dumplings you’ve probably eaten lately, these involve pumpkin, ricotta, and spicy apricot, or lamb and pistachio pesto. Each one comes out looking like a giant tortellini pasta sitting in a bath of sauce. You’ll eat it in two bites, and wish you had 12 more. Good news: Bar Glory has anticipated your needs. They also serve big bowls of shrimp dumpling massaman curry, and lamb dumplings with garlic yogurt and chili oil.

  • The larger lamb entrees ($16) are alone worth a trip. Shallots and baby squash join Azerbaijani chuchvara — tiny lamb dumplings that recall Polish uszka or Russian pelmeni — in a pool of garlic yogurt speckled with pine nuts, raisins, and crunchy slivers of fried garlic. Across the top, rivulets of chile oil run every which way, lending most bites a mounting then lingering heat. Kudos to Shem Tov and his crew for taking these straightforward dough pockets to unexpected new heights without it feeling overwrought or insincere. Then there’s kuksu, a Korean soup that wound up in Uzbekistan after Russia’s forced deportation of its Korean immigrant population in the 1930s. Though it’s commonly served cold, BarGlory opts for a hot preparation that starts with tangy, pho-like lamb stock spiked with vinegar, tender shreds of lamb shoulder, and rosy slabs of smoky, fat-rimmed grilled lamb loin. To this the kitchen adds a marbled tea-brined egg and a tangle of ragged, hand-cut semolina noodles, like the kind typically accompanying another Uzbek soup called lagman. It’s immediately one of the most interesting bowls in Brooklyn.

  • an airy multilevel space attached to the trendily designed Franklin Guesthouse, though it’s very much its own entity. In the evening, the low-lit casual atmosphere and on point vintage soundtrack make this ideal date territory, but I recommend eating here with enough people to order one of everything, including the larger bowls and sharing dishes like the whole fried fish…. Beautifully put-together food, rich with global influences, from the delicate scallops with black rice vinegar to the impressive onion jam and poppy seed bao. This continues into the cocktail menu which cherrypicks flavors from around the world from the Brown Bee with its bourbon and green tea to my favorite, the Stoned Soul Cocktail, with gin, apricot and turmeric. 

Getting There

Beco

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A charming Brazilian cafe and bar with live music, traditional cuisine and great cocktails. Try the Maracuja Capiroska cocktail (Vodka, Passion fruit and pressed sugar cane) or a Traditional Caipirinha. For food, don’t miss the tasty cheese bread and the Feijoada (Brazil’s National Dish) which is a hearty, slow-cooked stew made with black beans and pork. Check their calendar for live Brazilian music. We love this place.

Featured Reviews

  • Daniel Giddings says he and his partners envisioned it as a modest Sao Paolo boteco, where you can laze about while popping made-to-order pao de queijo and sip cocktails made with fresh passion fruit and pressed sugar cane. As Giddings describes it, the decor harks back to the days of Pele, and “doesn’t scream ‘Brazil’ in your face, but it’s more like what a boteco is — a real hangout.” You can hang there during brunch that includes acai and granola, omelettes, bife a cavalo (Brazilians refer to their steak and eggs as “steak on horseback”), and a feijoada that’s prepared over the course of two days

  • Tucked away from the bustle of Bedford Avenue, this neighborhood gem offers delicious Brazilian food in an intimate candlelit setting. Dinner highlights include a traditional feijoada—smoky and thick stew with ham hock and black beans—and a shrimp stew that gets its bright flavor from coconut milk and cilantro. Brazilian churrasco—grilled meat—is also available, in the form of a simple filet mignon, nicely charred and served with garlicky collard greens.

  • And you can have a meal at Beco, even though there’s no real kitchen. A short-order cook in the corner of the bar quickly turns out satisfying versions of classics, like feijoada ($18), on a small cooktop. That dish arrives disassembled — beans and meat in a cup, rice and collard greens on a plate, toasted yuca flour in a bowl. It’s big enough for two, but too tasty to share. Split the bar snacks instead, both the excellent pão de queijo ($4), a basket of six puffed cheesy breads the size of Ping-Pong balls; and the sliced linguiça sausage ($6), made by a Brazilian butcher in Newark and browned in a skillet, then finished with cachaça.

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 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

Bunker

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In Queens you have Sripraphai. In Cobble Hill there’s Andy Ricker’s Pok Pok. Bushwick now has Bunker Vietnamese — they outgrew their smaller space in Ridgewood — and they’re cooking up some of the tastiest, most authentic Thai food in the city. It’s a tad pricier than your standard Vietnamese restaurant with entrees in the $20 range, but feel confident that the ingredients are all freshly sourced and that you’ll leave delighted. Highly recommended.

Featured Reviews

  • Because the place has only been around a few years, is run by relatively young people, and is in a quickly gentrifying area, you might expect Bun-Ker to be what print magazines would call a “hipster” take on Vietnamese food. But in reality, there’s very little fusion or even much “modernizing” going on here. Instead, it’s simply versions of the classics, with fresher ingredients and richer, deeper flavors, that are way better than what we’ve had elsewhere. Just have a sip of their pho broth, and you’ll get it.

Getting There