Maria Haymandou’s latest blog post!
As a resident of Brooklyn, it’s very easy for me to take the borough’s many exciting hot spots for granted. However, no doubt there’s a good reason for the hype Brooklyn has received the past 10 years or so from young people; it’s a hot, exciting area with a lot of great stuff going on. I thought that I would share some of the places that I know and love, and that people should check out!
Barcade on a busy night.
A couple months ago, my Cousin and I were wandering through Brooklyn on a lazy Sunday afternoon and came across “Barcade”, a craft beer bar that is also filled with retro 80s arcade games. It’s a great spot to hang out, drink delicious beer and burn some quarters on such arcade classics as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Rampage. I’ve only been there on Sunday, so I have no idea how crowded it can get on a Friday or Saturday night, although I imagine that the wait to get in a round of Pac-Man could be a long one indeed. The one problem with the brilliant concept behind Barcade is that the control areas of many arcade games are slightly slanted, which can equal spilled beers. Thankfully, there are little plank areas near every game station for you to lay your beer glass.
A collection of delicious smoked meats and foods from Fette Sau.
Good barbecue in the Northeast is hard to find. But you know what they say: if you can’t find it in New York, you probably won’t find it anywhere. And sure enough, New York is home to some great places for barbecue. Manhattan is home to Mighty Quinn’s, while Brooklyn has got its fair share of delicious joints. The only one I’ve been to is Fette Sau in Brooklyn. The line to get in, especially on a weekend night, is a bit overwhelming, but the food is well worth the wait. Without a doubt, the tastiest thing there is the pork belly. When you go, it might be a good idea to avoid food with bones in it, such as ribs. This isn’t because they don’t taste good (they’re absolutely delicious), but because you pay for meat by the pound, you want to get your money’s worth. A lot of people have spoken about Briskettown as well, also in Brooklyn, although I have yet to check it out.
Lomzynianka is so small that you can very easily miss it.
Greenpoint is well-known for its large and vibrant Polish community. Even with the influx of young professionals into the region in and around Greenpoint, the neighborhood’s Polish culture remains strong. The streets are lined with countless Polish restaurants, grocery stores and butcher shops. The tastiest of these, however, is a little restaurant called Lomzynianka, located on Manhattan Avenue. The restaurant is very small, and poorly labeled, so unless you’re looking for it, you’ll probably miss it. Once you walk in, there are fewer than 10 tables of various sizes in this tight little space. The heavily-accented owners only accept cash, and if you want alcohol, you have to bring it yourself (thankfully, there’s a bodega right down the street readily stocked with beer). However, your dollar goes a long way out here, which is a rarity anywhere in New York borough; the portions are generous to say the least, and everything on the menu is under 10 dollars. One of my favorite things to order is the “Polish platter”, a large plate with all of the pierogies, bigos (a pork/sauerkraut stew), kielbasa and stuffed cabbage you can eat.
The interior of Tørst.
Less than a five-minute walk from Lomzynianka lies Tørst, a bar filled with exotic and exciting craft beers, all of which are served in fancy wine glasses. However, be careful: all of the beers have exceptionally high alcohol contents, which put even the biggest beer connoisseur’s tolerance to the test. Tørst’s owner is from Denmark, and has given his bar a minimalist, hardwood interior that reminds one of Scandinavia. I’ve never had the food there, but I’ve heard good things; every Sunday afternoon, they have a “Sunday Roast”, where $15 gives you a generous helping roasted pork shoulder, pickled red cabbage, cranberry beans and rapini.
The lanes of Gutter.
Not too far from Lomzynianka (or Tørst) lies Gutter, a dive bar that also has a bowling alley. Dimly lit, and covered from floor to ceiling with retro beer posters and filled with old, beaten-up tables and chairs, Gutter reminds one of a bar in 1970s Wisconsin or Minnesota. The eight bowling lanes come from a 1970s bowling alley in Ohio, and while they look extremely beaten-up and ratty, you can’t help but have fun when you’re there. In the back room is a small concert hall, where live shows play on the weekend. I’ve only been twice in my life: once on a Saturday night at 2am, when the buzz was dying down. Since it was pretty quiet, my friends and I were able to bowl a couple of rounds without much of a wait. The other time I went was early on a Friday night, when the bar was operating in full swing and a live band was playing in the back room. That time was a different story; my friend and I couldn’t even get a seat anywhere, and the wait to get a bowling lane was estimated at two hours.
Maria Haymandou 