Posts Tagged With: Best restaurants in Brooklyn

Best Restaurants in Brooklyn – Mapped

Posted on August 8, 2025 by Ziggy

A longish list of my favorites in Brooklyn, the borough I spend the most time eating. Its a huge Borough, fourth-largest city in the United States by population, if it was a city. Hence plenty of great dining that I miss in neighborhoods I dont frequent much, mainly due to where I live. Bushwick is one example. But there are plenty of juicy nuggets in there. The list includes some bakeries, and fast-casual places as well. Happy eating!

The Map

Berikoni Georgian Bakery – My go-to for Guruli, a type of khachapuri that’s shaped like a calzone, stuffed with egg and cheese. The cooked kebabs are quite good as well. 125 Brighton Beach Ave

German Doner Kebab – Excellent Doner kebab. Newish as of this writing, and not well know yet. 224 Brighton Beach Ave

Kashkar Cafe – The legend, the OG for Uyghur food. 1141 Brighton Beach Ave

Ocean View Cafe – A Brighton classic for Russian/Ukrainian. Best Pelmeni in the city. 290 Brighton Beach Ave.

Burchak Pide – Delicious Turkish Pizza by a friendly stuff. 1614 Sheepshead Bay Rd

Laghman Express – Fast/Casual Uzbek. Multiple locations

Lucia Pizza Of Avenue X – My slice go-to in South Brooklyn. 2201 Avenue X

Mtskheta Cafe – My favorite Georgian restaurant these days. We are normally the only none-Georgian there. 2812 Ocean Ave

Falafel Tanami – A Celebrated Falafel joint, especially since the NYT discovered it and lines doubled. Note: they are moving to east 19th I believe very soon. 1824 Avenue M

Werkstatt – A versatile Austrian/German like no other in the entire city. 509 Coney Island Ave

Taste of Akko – A newish Israeli hole in the wall dishing out a taste of one of the best food cities in the middle east. 1724 Coney Island Ave

Coszcal De Allende – One of the only authentic Mexicans in South Brooklyn. Or at least unlike the rest of the bunch. Great drinks as well. 7506 3rd Ave.

Xin Fa Bakery – Best egg tarts on the planet. Ok, in Brooklyn. 5617 8th Ave

Kai Feng Fu Dumpling House – Great pocket change dumplings. 4801 8th Ave

Hainan Chicken House – Fantastic Malaysian. 4807 8th Ave

Chuan Tian Xia – Our favorite all around Chinese in Brooklyn’s Chinatown. 5502 7th Ave

La Brasa Peruana – Peruvian Chicken fast food. Part of a monthly takeout routine. 4618 5th Ave.

Tacos El Bronco – Sensational food truck tacos. I prefer over their restaurant on 4th. 860 5th Ave

Red Hook Tavern – One of the best burgers in Brooklyn, if not the entire city. 329 Van Brunt St.

Hometown Bar-B-Que – NYC’s Texas style BBQ Mecca. 454 Van Brunt St

Hoek Pizza – Exceptional Roman style thin pies. 117 Ferris St

Cafe Kestrel – Small elevated New American. Best thing to open in Red Hook since Hometown BBQ. 293 Van Brunt St

Popina – Tiny Italian with a big heart by an experienced chef. 127 Columbia St

Haenyeo – Superb Korean in Park Slope. 239 5th Ave

Bar Bête – French inspired fair by a very capable chef. 263 Smith St

F&F Pizzeria – My favorite slice in North Brooklyn. 459 Court St

Claro – Fancy, ingredient driven Mexican. Former Michelin. 284 3rd Ave

Cotra – An Izakaya that gets better and better. Top 5 in Brooklyn for us as of this writing. 451 Carroll St

Panzerotti Bites – A delicious empanada like Italian snack filled with top notch ingredients. 235 Smith St

Indian Table – Easily my favorite Indian in Brooklyn, maybe the entire city. 234 Court St

Shawarma Mia – Quality lamb and chicken shawarma in a fast food setting. 67 6th Ave

LaRina Pastificio & Vino – Outstanding Italian that flew under the radar for far too long. 387 Myrtle Ave

Nan Xiang Express – A NYC chain now, but you may not find better soup dumplings. 148 Lawrence St

Le Crocodile – Always reliable American/French. 80 Wythe Ave

Taqueria Ramirez – The NYC taco standard with often lines around the block. 94 Franklin St

Lilia – Legendary Italian with legendary pastas. One of the toughest reservations in Brooklyn. 567 Union Ave

The Map

Categories: Brooklyn, New York City | Tags: Best restaurants in Brooklyn, food, NYC restaurants | 2 Comments

Bar Bête – Stupid Good!

Posted on December 10, 2024 by Ziggy

Smith Street in Carroll Gardens is the gift that keeps on giving… and taking, as of late. Z-List darling FOB Filipino just closed and Ugly Baby is closing at the end of the year. While old and new like Avlee Greek Kitchen, Mama Capri, the excellent Rua Thai, and Bar Bête still making sure its one of Brooklyn’s best food streets. And shops like Smith & Vine and its selection of Vermouth and other goodies make it more worthwhile. We pay hefty tolls for the pleasure of visiting Smith Street.

Bar Bête is probably the most important addition on Smith in recent years. Ugly Baby, FOB may have started the cute name trend. Bête is slang for silly, or stupid. As in “Qu’est-ce qu’il est bête!” – How stupid he is! Hence, the title of the post. But its fitting in more ways than one. It is unequivocally stupid good. I usually find things to complain about. Not much luck here.

Thankfully we were told from the start of the meal that the food is for sharing. I was just about to order a full plate of curried cashews all for myself. Maybe the reason they keep telling us this is because we are usually the oldest people in the room (And I’m only in my late 40’s. 54 to be exact). “Is this your first time here” isnt very different than “Are you new to dining out” in places with menus and concept not wildly different than the rest. Not a complaint. Just an observation.

Bar Bête is a casual corner Bistro that happens to be literally on a corner. Its casual, but fancy enough to wear your new Untuckit shirt you got for the holidays. Its listed as “French” but to me its more like “New American” utilizing French techniques. The chef has extensive experience in high end dining in Vegas, Toronto and elsewhere. As as far as what we tried, a rare moment where I recommend every single dish. In fact, I wouldnt mind coming back without trying anything new.

Started with a bang. Very few items can be as satisfying as a well executed, buttery Chicken liver Parfait. This one, with pistachios and spiced pear jam is as good as we’ve had in a long time. More awesomeness followed in the form of a Tuna Toast, one of the most popular items on the menu. A layer of fermented chili & garlic chive spread really elevates this.

The Duck Fat Potatoes is viewed by many, including the Infatuation, as the best thing on the menu. That honor should probably go to the Duck instead. The potatoes is really just an excellent side. Imagine a solid Patatas Bravas, except the pieces are bigger so meatier. The Hummus lookalike that comes with it is a fine garlic aioli. The Ricotta Gnudi is another standout. A common theme throughout the meal is balanced, deep flavors partially from the good use of chili.

The Caramelized Duck Breast is a dish we are still talking about three days later. Not only because it was the top dish, but also because we are still trying to figure out how I failed taking a picture of it. The picture I took just didnt develop somehow. The duck itself was cooked and spiced perfectly, but what really made the dish is the extremely aromatic smoky bed of cabbage.

The Yellow Cake with the chocolate frosting tastes exactly how you’d expect. A satisfying finish, but I suppose this is the only dish I’d consider skipping next time, in favor of the Creme Brulee. Try both. Only three cocktails on the menu was perfectly fine with us, and two of them quite good. Wine menu very French leaning as expected. Already looking forward coming back. Go!

Bar Bête
263 Smith St (Degraw, Carroll Gardens)
Recommended Dishes: Chicken liver Parfait, Tuna Toast, Duck Fat Potatoes, Gnudi, Caramelized Duck Breast, Yellow Cake

Categories: Brooklyn, New York City | Tags: Bar Bête, Bar Bête NYC, Best restaurants in Brooklyn, NYC restaurants, restaurants | Leave a comment

Henry’s End – Game of Thrones

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Ziggy

Winter is coming! An odd thing to say in mid January. Game of Thrones has made “Winter is Here” or every other phrase with the word Winter in it(e.g. “Winter Coats for Sale”) sound uncool. Besides, you could be reading this post in the Summer or Fall, and as long as our moon is intact, winter will be just around the corner. Imagine for a second Planet Earth without a moon, or a much smaller moon. The earth’s rotational axis would pretty much not exist, hence no fixed seasons. It could be Turks and Caicos weather for 7 years, or Antartica for 9. Imagine having to wait years or decades for Henry’s End Winter Game Festival. Its like imagining the unimaginable. Like Kim without Kanye. Hooray for moons!

File this one under the I cant believe I haven’t done this before. We were again with Mr and Mrs Hummus Whisper, a prenatal eating tour if you will for them. Turns out HW is still recovering from catching his former nanny wearing his boxer shorts. Knowing the former nanny, I now join in the recovery efforts. It was also very cool meeting Steve from the Chowhound board finally after first meeting him on the Italy board. The rustic Henry’s End by the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn was packed on a Friday night as it should.

Enjoyed the Turtle Soup. Got it lukewarm but it was just fine. Finely chopped turtle meat, nicely spiced. Recipe originally came from Paul Prudhomme when he was with Commanders Palace, incidentally the last Turtle Soup I had. The CP soup nowadays is a bit different, with chunkier meat, which could be turtle or not. Turtle soup to me is not so much about the turtle meat. It could be veal, pork or rubber ducky meat as far as I care. But the manager at Henry’s assured me it was real Turtle from Louisiana.

The Game Charcuterie Plate was something else. Great Buffalo, venison, duck pate. Venison sausage was nice and earthy, almost mushroom like. My favorite however was the rabbit with ginger sausage. So tender and flavorful. Wife enjoy her corn chowder.

For main we shared a few dishes. Nice Rabbit Strudel – a bit too sweet for my taste but enjoyable. The Pappardelle with Buffalo short rib ragu was one of the best Pappardelle with ragu I ever had and certainly one of the the meatiest. Melts in your fork, super tender, tasty meat which looks a bit one sided in the picture but it wasnt. The New Zealand Elk Chops however stole the show. Huge, rich, lean tender chops, herb and breadcrumb crusted on top of a very tasty Madeira wine sauce. Just excellent excellent stuff! I was giving a food tour to a couple from New Zealand right before dinner, so it was a NZ kind of a day for me

Dessert was fine. Liked the homemade banana gelato. Another memorable meal in Brooklyn

Henry’s End

$$$

44 Henry St, Brooklyn (Right near the Brooklyn Bridge and DUMBO)

Recommended Dishes: From the Game menu: Turtle Soup, Game Charcuterie Plate, Elk Chops, Pappardelle