Curated City Guides by Your Favorite Designers and Tastemakers.

Bars & Restaurants

Egg

Everyone that lives in the neighborhood will probably tell you this is the best brunch. I used to think so, but now the waits are too insane and I've had a few "meh" brunches there in recent history. One thing that IS good there though, is the coffee—individual french presses. 135 N 5th St

Papacito's Brooklyn

Good cheap mexican. 999 Manhattan Avenue

Permanent Records

Awesome record store, have a lot of vinyl. 181 Franklin St

Brooklyn Label

Lavender Lemon Fizzy all the way. Good for brunch but gets very crowded. Their coffee is just ok (stumptown) but the atmosphere is nice. 180 Franklin St

Paulie Gee's

Good pizza, very creative white pizza toppings (anise creme, etc). Roberta's is still my fav, though since you have to wait so long for a table at Roberta's anymore, Paulie Gee's is nearing the top of my list. 60 Greenpoint Ave

Veronica People's Club

Heathers' (east village) sister bar. Coffee during the day, though it's not my favorite in the neighborhood. 105 Franklin St

Pencil Factory Bar

Studiomate afterwork bar of choice. 142 Franklin St

Cookie Road

Awesome coffee (all espresso) and cookies. Beautifully decorated sugar cookies but my favorite are the Almond Lemon Macarons. 94 Franklin St

The Diamond

Beer bar, great for group gatherings. good backyard. 43 Franklin St

Cafe Grumpy

Great coffee in this part of the hood. 193 Meserole Ave

DOC Wine Bar

Wine and tasty italian meats and cheeses. This place is pretty low key and is great for quiet date nights, small groups, or when your parents are in town. 83 N 7th St

Five Leaves

My standard breakfast is 2 poached eggs with a baguette and clotted cream. Excellent brunch and dinner all around, though it's usually really crowded. 18 Bedford Ave

Manhattan Inn

Piano bar! 632 Manhattan Ave

Hotel Del Mano

Excellent Cocktails. GREAT datemosphere. The designer of the space did a great job making it feel very jazz-age-ish, including a library ladder for accessing high up liquor bottles.hotel 82 Berry St

Sweetwater

This place is a bit less hipstery, but the food is decent and their ribeye steak frittes is the stuff of gods. 105 N 6th Stb

Blue Bottle Coffee

Amazing brooklyn counterpart to the original san fran spot. Excellent coffee, terrible atmosphere. 160 Berry St

The Levee

Everyone's favorite dive bar. Cheeseballs + erotic photohunt 212 Berry St

Blackbird Parlour

Pretty good to work in during the day, convenient location. 197 Bedford Ave

Vera Cruz

Delicious frozen margaritas but all the mexican food weirdly has sauce on it (even quesadillas). 195 Bedford Ave

>An Nhau

I eat their hoagies like crazy (favorites being the BBQ pork, classic, and veggie) and go to the full restaurant for Pho a lot (the classic is the best, the chicken is a bit bland) 172 Bedford Ave

El Beit

My everyday morning coffee. excellent croissants. This is probably my favorite coffee shop. Even though it gets a bit crowded, it has a really nice vibe. 158 Bedford Ave

Turkey's Nest

Only for to-go margaritas on a hot day. drink them in McCarren park. Otherwise this is a dirtyoldman bar. 94 Bedford Ave

Royal Oak

This place used to have awesome dancey nights but it's gotten a little douchey. Still like to revisit every now and again. It is notorious for thievery so keep your possessions close. I had both a coat and an iphone stolen from here on two different occasions. (am now sadly boycotting it because of that). 594 Union Ave

Oslo Coffee

Good coffee. 133 Roebling St

Roebling Tea Room

Love love love. great place to lunch-sketch during the day (but they do not have wifi) and an excellent place to take out of towners as it feels really "Brooklyn" (aka factoryish on the outside, warm and well decorated on the inside). 143 Roebling St

Fette Sau

1/2 lb pulled pork + small potato salad + half-sour pickles + all the bourbon you could ever need. 354 Metropolitan Ave

Union Pool

Bar with giant backyard, photobooth, music venue area. hipsteriest hipsterbar but whatever i still like it. If you are single and attractive, this is your jam. 484 Union Ave

Dumont

My "deathrow meal" is here: DuMac and Cheese (best mac and cheese in the city) and hanger steak. This is really a great restaurant (one of my favorites). They have decent cocktails, really good food, and a good atmosphere. 432 Union Ave

The Richardson

Fancyish cocktail bar near the Graham stop and the McGolrick park end of Greenpoint. Has a nice vibe and is waaaaay less crowded than Hotel Delmano. 451 Graham Ave

Daddy's

Good Bar, a little divey in a home-y way. If you visit the Graham stop, this is a great place to end up. 435 Graham Ave

Larry Lawrence

Favorite bar to take large parties to. Always empty before "cool kid hour" (12:30am). A bit of a fun speakeasy feel when entering 295 Grand St

Rye

Great brunch and cocktails, has a speakeasy vibe. 247 S 1st St

Pies 'n' Thighs

Fried Chicken and Pie. This place is so awesome. 166 S 4th St

Marlow & Sons

Pure deliciousness. The brick chicken could convert any vegetarian, great oysters, great cocktails, great desserts, great all around. One of my favorites. 81 Broadway

Grimaldi's

Classic New York awesome pizza. 19 Old Fulton St

Brooklyn Social

Good cocktails and pool table! 335 Smith St

Frankies Spuntino

aka Frankies 457. Homemade italian food at its very very very best. 457 Court St

Fort Defiance

I had the best hot toddy in the entire world here. 365 Van Brunt St

Beer Table

For beer snobs and non beer snobs alike. It's lbeike a fancy wine bar for beer people. 427 7th Ave

James

Awesome restaurant. Went here on valentine's day 2010. 605 Carlton Ave

Swallow

Coffee shop, used to be "The Archive" but now they have a new (terrible) name. The inside did get A LOT nicer though, so there's that. They're open pretty late, and have free wifi. 361 Smith St

Roberta's

AMAZING PIZZA. Great atmosphere, good for large groups / parties if you book in advance. Lately the waits here have been out of control because they got a few writeups in the New York Times. Prepare to wait at least an hour for a table if you go during proper dinner hour (even during the week). 261 Moore St

Life Cafe

Food is consistently ok. Nothing fantastic just good basic stuff and open late. Their Huevos Merida is awesome for brunch. 983 Flushing Ave

Tandem Bar

Bushwick's first cocktail bar. good drinks good food good atmosphere (except for the occasionally too-loud live music) 236 Troutman St

The Narrows

Awesome little speakeasy style cocktail bar in Bushwick. You feel so fancy in here. 1037 Flushing Ave

Northeast Kingdom

Awesome "hipster homestyle" grub. great brunch and dinner, even has a good lounge in the basement for when they are crowded. they show cartoons down there during brunch. This place is really wonderful and is one of my favorite restaurants. The chef can do no wrong. 18 Wyckoff Ave

Wyckoff Starr

Little coffee shop, not a lot of seating area but has a good feel. 30 Wyckoff Ave