Pok Pok NY, Brooklyn

Taking its culinary cues from the pastiche that is NYC, Brooklyn offers some of New York’s most

innovative and cutting-edge new restaurants. Fuhgeddaboudit! Dine

like royalty in the Borough of Kings.

worDs AARON PEASLEY PhoTograPhY NiNA chOi

hooked on bROOkLYN

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Bridge Park, Brooklyn, with Jane’s Carousel, a 1922 merry-go-round;

graffiti in Williamsburg (below)

ONcE uPON A TimE, the words brooklyn and “food scene” evoked the simple, albeit guilty pleasures of coney Island hotdogs or the cheap accessible food beloved by the borough’s diverse immigrant communities. As a place defined by its firm

proletarian history, brooklyn has always seemed like an unlikely candidate to become America’s culinary darling.

today brooklyn is considered the United States’ most innovative fine-dining incubator, producing world-class restaurants that, in many cases, outshine their Manhattan counterparts. International cachet arrived last year when chef’s table at brooklyn Fare, an idiosyncratic 18-seat restaurant located within a local food market, became the first brooklyn restaurant ever to be awarded three Michelin stars. At first glance, the humble dining room – aluminium stools positioned at an industrial work counter – seems to have little in common with other ultra-elite restaurants.

then again, first impressions are often misleading in brooklyn, a sprawling collection of hard-to-characterise neighbourhoods. despite its newly elevated position in the food world, evidenced by an increasing bounty of Michelin stars, the borough of kings grips steadfastly to its egalitarian identity. this is fine dining with a laid-back brooklyn patois: don’t expect starched tablecloths, a strict dress code or airs and graces. Just bring your appetite along.

Pok Pok ny127 Columbia Street, Red Hook.(718) 923 9322. pokpokpdx.com The arrival of Andy Ricker, the James Beard Award-winning chef from Portland, Oregon, has made Big Apple Thai food fanatics rapturous. As with the original West Coast location, Ricker has done away with any unnecessary frills, unveiling a tiny space just off the industrial Brooklyn waterfront. The menu is similarly faithful to the chef’s northern Thai specialties, which include salted black crab, spicy green papaya salad and the sensational cha ca la vong (marinated Vietnamese catfish).

Isa348 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg.(347) 689 3594. www.isa.gg Taavo Somer is equal parts art director and restaurateur (Freemans, his first restaurant, ushered in Manhattan’s penchant for taxidermy). His delightfully individualistic Brooklyn debut is more muted, with a woodsy, Nordic-inspired dining room featuring exposed timber, found art and tree branches. The menu – described by chef Ignacio Mattos as “primitive modern” – also follows the nature beat, showcasing local produce with dishes such as beef tartare with Jerusalem artichokes and raw scallops paired with beet and pistachio.

Frankie’s 457 Spuntino457 Court Street, Carroll Gardens. (718) 403 0033. www.frankiesspuntino.com Populated by a crowd Eater website described as “ageing hipster in the best possible way” and exuding a kind of instantly accommodating elegance, this Italian restaurant is quintessential Carroll Gardens (known to some as grown-up Brooklyn). You could say similar things about the cuisine, which draws on Italian classics such as meatballs and reinvents them in interesting ways. There is something for everyone: inspired salads, house-cured meats and wonderful pastas such as the signature cavatelli with hot sausage and browned sage butter.

talde369 Seventh Avenue, Park Slope.(347) 916 0031. taldebrooklyn.com Following in Momofuku owner David Chang’s footsteps is Dale Talde, Filipino-American chef and

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Isa (above and below)

“Talde delivers a creaTive menu packed wiTh wiTTy, innovaTive dishes”

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veteran of television’s Top Chef. Drawing on diverse Asian cuisines, Talde delivers a creative menu packed with witty, innovative dishes such as the pretzel dumplings filled with pork and chives. Other exceptional items include the crispy Korean-style fried chicken served with a side of kimchee yoghurt sauce, and the oyster and bacon pad Thai.

chef’s table at brooklyn Fare200 Schermerhorn Street, Boerum Hill. (718) 243 0050. www.brooklynfare.comDinner at this Michelin three-star restaurant consists of more than 20 plates composed of exquisite, globally sourced ingredients. With his attention to detail, perfection and freshness, Mexican-born chef Cesar Ramirez’s food owes a debt to Japanese omakase tradition. Like Japanese, superlative seafood dominates many of the dishes, but the chef keeps diners guessing with plenty of global influences and unusual, almost molecular techniques. Reserve far in advance.

Peter Luger Steakhouse178 Broadway, Williamsburg.(718) 387 7400. peterluger.com Besides feeling like an extra in a Woody Allen film, the best thing about visiting a restaurant as iconic as this is that all the choices are more or less made for you. Established in 1887, this steakhouse just across the Williamsburg Bridge is famous for its sumptuous porterhouse steak, the perfect marriage of succulent, tender

meat, marbled fat and richly charred exterior. Order the sliced tomato salad, creamed spinach and a gin martini. No credit cards taken except Peter Luger’s own (the restaurant has its own credit card that diners can apply for).

diner85 Broadway, Williamsburg.(718) 486 3077. www.dinernyc.comReinventing a dilapidated 1927 dining car as a serious culinary destination seemed revolutionary when this beloved restaurant opened in 1999. Today it remains both a neighbourhood staple and the kind of place worth travelling for. Besides a couple of staples, such as the transcendent grass-fed burger served with hand-cut fries, the menu changes each night depending on what’s fresh and available. Whether it’s a roasted half-chicken or beer-battered softshell crab, the kitchen’s blend of classic technique with American creativity is bound to impress.

roberta’s261 Moore Street, Bushwick.(718) 417 1118. robertaspizza.com With its dynamic DIY decor, Bushwick’s most of-the-moment restaurant looks as if it has been decorated by a magpie with ADHD. But don’t let that – or its chicly scruffy habitués – distract you from experiencing one of the city’s best Neapolitan-style pizzas, cooked to perfection in the restaurant’s wood-fired oven (the Beastmaster, topped with Berkshire pork sausage and gorgonzola, is a fine choice). The gluten-averse

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Talde (above); Diner (right and below)

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will gravitate towards locally farmed seasonal salads and the marvellous steak for two. Do not pass go.

Vinegar hill house72 Hudson Avenue, Brooklyn.(718) 522 1018. www.vinegarhillhouse.com With its agrarian antiques, moustached waiters and cobblestoned location, this restaurant would be a cliché, if it weren’t so damn cute. Reflecting the artfully up-cycled decor, the seasonal menu leans heavily towards rusticity, with French-inflected dishes such as chicken liver mousse and bone marrow with toasted bread (the Red Wattle Country pork chop, served on a wooden chopping board, is a signature main course). Arrive early: despite the slightly out of the way location near DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge

Overpass), the restaurant remains perennially popular.

reynards at the Wythe hotel 80 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg.(718) 460 8004. wythehotel.com With its studied, slightly rough-hewn insouciance, this cool new 72-room boutique hotel has been tailored to appeal to both the music and design crowds. But foodies haven’t been left out: the hotel features the bistro-chic Reynards dining room developed by Brooklyn restaurateur Andrew Tarlow (Marlow & Sons, Diner). Reynards and its menu are centred around an open wood-fired oven, employed to prepare seasonal, meat-driven dishes. c

Roberta’s (above and far right);

Vinegar Hill House (right and below)

“reFlecTing The arTFully up-cycled

decor, The seasonal menu leans heavily Towards rusTiciTy”