Chrome Canyon at Cameo Gallery

With its weekend crowds and its surplus of shops and eateries, navigating North 6th street can be as confounding as it is invigorating. There’s the overcrowded tourist trap known as Sea. There’s Future Perfect where beautiful, artisan-crafted statement armchairs, are displayed in a storefront only blocks away from more affordable wares at Artists n’ Fleas. There’s an American Apparel on North 6th too: chicken or egg? And, of course, its main attraction are its live music venues all in a three block radius of each other: Music Hall of Williamsburg, Cameo Gallery and Public Assembly.

Electronic, indie, pop, international and domestic; from Lemonade to Sky Ferreira to A$AP Rocky, I feel confident in saying your favorite artist probably made at least one appearance on this bougie block. So, where to eat when you’re pressed for time, Toro y Moi is coming on in 10 minutes, and MHOW can’t even scrounge up a bar snack for you? These five dining options are the cream of the primarily Asian-influenced crop of eateries, and with a range of flavors to enjoy, from Japanese to Cuban, you’ll be able to enjoy your dish, tip your waitress and make it into Cameo while there’s still a square of space to stand.

Cubana Social

For filling and affordable without much time to spare, Cubana Social’s ‘bocaditos’ will have you sated and stuck in the winding line heading into either of its next door neighbor venues in no time.  For less than $5, vegetarians and carnivores can find an empanada to their liking and bite into crispy, flaky heaven. Heartier options to prepare for the fortitude of an open bar range can be found in Cubana Social’s sandwiches stuffed with plantains, black bean patty, or eight-hour long roasted pork between deliciously thick Cuban bread. The dim lighting and a rotation of older films showing on a projector cast a relaxing lull over the eatery. And speaking of music, they provide their own. Stop by for live jazz on Saturdays.

Cubana Social
70 North 6th
718.782.3334

Chai Home Kitchen

Less intense than the winding maze of Zenkichi and lacking the shadowy air of intimidation at Sea Thai, Chai Home Kitchen is a cozy, traditional Thai eatery on the corner of 6^th and Berry to indulge in a heaping pile of pad thai or slurp some tom yum noodles and broth.  Starters from the sweet corn fritters to the satay are reliable favorites to quell hunger and pair with a Thai iced tea. Suspended bird cages and isolated daisies floating in pools of water provide a very calming vibe; perfect to forget about how hard you’re about to be pushed into a wall by an erratic electronica enthusiast at Public Assembly.

Chai Home Kitchen
124 North 6th
718.599.5889

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Julian Casablancas at Torst

Last week, SXSW began and the resulting exodus from Brooklyn for warmer climates, made nightlife in NY seem a little slow, right? Not too many costume parties, must-see shows or reasons to stand out in the cold were happening. But, where were you this weekend when Madonna and her break dancers cast aside their plates of guancetta and bowls of tortellini al formaggio for an impassioned performance of Music, turning Antica Pesa’s rustic Roman floors into a dance floor?

Did you think to check Julian Casablancas’ Twitter on Sunday? Probably not. But if you had you would’ve seen this. You could have pestered him over a frothy Tørst brew about the new Strokes album, even buying him a pint with the promise that the album would be 1/10^th as good as Is This It. North Brooklyn is overflowing with self-important people — and not just Lena Dunham filming Girls — but what about when you want to see the REALLY important people? These four places are on the celebrity heat map in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, and if creeping on celebrities is your game, you may need some hobbies, but be our guest, stalker!

Isa
Cringe levels were at an intolerable high upon learning that Brooklyn had been “gooped” by the insufferable Gwyneth Paltrow, for her weekly newsletter. Per Paltrow, Isa’s simple but effective menu and décor are “very cool”, but this is not surprising, as owner Taavo Summer is also responsible for “very cool Freeman and Peels in the city”. Ignoring Paltrow’s poor analogies and reference to Manhattan as “the city”, I will still take the advice of both a friend of Madonna’s and a fellow celebrity when trying to spot other celebrities. Hang around the rustic eatery and dig into the popular grilled skirt steak or Tuscan kale salad while keeping an eye on that sunglasses-wearing figure near the wood-burning stove. She also gives some love to Rye, Parish Hall, Marlow & Sons, and Blanca.

Isa
348 Wythe Ave.
New York, NY 11211
(347) 689-3594

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Photo credit: williamsburgnyblog.com

Kent Avenue keeps it gritty, grimy and just inconvenient enough to trek to, that your typical G and L train traffic will probably give up mid-journey and bail for The Whiskey. If you’re looking for a DIY dance party, mosh pit under a parachute, or the occasional gathering of like-minded Brooklynites who’ve decided to paint feline features on their faces, all roads point to Kent. The usual suspects of nightlife-friendly food are well-represented on Kent and given a gourmet edge, from hearty chorizo burritos to grass-fed burgers and fries. Take in the waterfront and maybe even explore an abandoned warehouse or two; who knows when the old Domino’s Sugar Factory is going to finally be developed into the “Williamsburg’s version of the Highline”?  These are the spots to get your grub on before braving that steamy-walled pile of bodies that is the Woods.

Continuing our round-up of…

Monk Bar and Pizzeria
Mercado on Kent’s replacement, this Neapolitan pizza parlor leaves behind the prior tenant’s Basque cuisine for, in their words, “simple Italian food.” The kamut pizza, with every square inch of surface space covered in prosciutto and bufala mozzarella, is a good place to start. Pizza is of course a well-known hangover helper and greasy friend on the path back to sobriety; the name Alligator Lounge ring a bell? But this more upscale establishment maintains an underground vibe thanks to low-hanging lights and expansive metal bar meeting hardwood surfaces. Consider it the perfect pit stop before lowering your classiness and stashing your coat in the bowels of Glasslands.

Monk Bar and Pizzeria
291 Kent Ave
(718) 782-8810

Mole NYC
The first location to open literally across the bridge, Mole NYC’s contribution to Kent Avenue is pretty crucial. Mexican staples from a large tableside bowl of guac to queso fundido are available in spades, and tacos stuffed with every meat and veggie, as well as the acclaimed cochinita pibil of shredded pork and salsa verde. Making it to Mole’s 4 pm to 7 pm happy hour is pretty much an impossible feat, unless you work locally or arrive for the early show at 285 Kent. But if you are able to partake, keep it in check, or you may find yourself sinking into the couch in 285′s lobby a few hours later (I don’t recommend this; the removal process for such people looks more than a little unpleasant).

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Aska - Drawing crowds on Wythe (c/o NY Times)

If you broke through the New York Times website’s pay wall in July of last year and found a familiar sounding street featured prominently atop Fashion/Style, you may have felt nervous while reading “All Roads Lead to Wythe.” From Bowl Train to the Brewery, the Times had blown up the block. My summer haunt was a style trend, and “The Next Big Thing”. I mourned the loss for a few days, before joining the hordes of locals in “predictable ripped Acne denim and thrift-store T-shirts.”

Cut to almost eight months later, and the Times was definitely on to something. With the late January opening of Output, the warehouse-style dance club with a $30 cover charge and the newest tourist trap to hit the strip, Wythe has officially usurped the crown of the most popular Billyburg avenue from Bedford. But rather than wait in line at the much-hyped Reynard or Aska, I’m happy to continue my patronage of Wythe. Here are the spots to fuel up for a fun night out on the avenue. Whether that means finding a seat at the latest Kinfolk restaurant installation or grinding to Output’s endless stream of house music for hours on end, who are we to judge? Just get a good meal in first!

Café de la Esquina, newest occupant of the old Wythe Diner space, is retro on the outside, gothic-chic on the inside, and serving up a full jar of salsa with your order of chips, it’s the perfect place to stop in with a group.  The taqueria menu has affordable favorites like the pepito torta ($8) and tacos from pescado a las brasas to carnitas, all for less than $5. Visit on a weekday before 7 pm or all day Tuesday to take advantage of Happy Hour.

Café de la Esquina
225 Wythe Avenue
718-393-5500

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Xi'an Famous Foods

Xi’an Famous Foods has been drawing crowds to Queens and Manhattan for the past seven years, and with the opening of its newest location on 86 Beadel Street between Morgan and Vandervoort, the signature ‘tingly and spicy’ lamb burgers, slurp-able cold skin noodles and spicy cumin lamb burgers are now ready for you to bite into in Brooklyn. Stake out a stool, hunker over your steaming burger/buckwheat noodles/bowl of soup, and don’t look up from the meal until you feel tears streaming from a mercilessly tasty mélange of spices.

Occupying an abandoned warehouse, the self-identified Greenpoint/East Williamsburg spot is the brand’s fourth location, opened on February 9. Created as a commissary cum eatery, the newest Xi’an Famous Foods serves as the production station for food served in all four of the brand’s locations, as well as a storefront for locals to dig into the Northern Chinese cuisine. Feeling a bit heavy from Hungarian pie and other popular Polish indulgences? Detour off of Nassau, pass the residential row of Morgan, and turn right on the desolate Beadel Street. If you can’t smell the chili oil cooking, you’ll soon see the snaking long line.

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Aska

Welcome to February. There are only two acceptable reasons to ever leave the house in this most bitter of months: to eat, drink and then return home to sleep the pain away. Seamless, GrubHub and crew have made it almost too easy to receive sustenance, survive the winter, and never see another living soul again. But until a booze delivery service is developed or HBO is purchased, trips to the outside world are a must. Allow these five new players to hit the Brooklyn food scene to woo you out of your self-imposed hibernation, with promises of pizza, poutine, chicken and waffles and braised beef cheeks.

Aska
Was I the only local woefully unaware that Kinfolk Studios hosts a rotation of seasonal restaurants? Aska, a Scandinavian creation boasting dumplings, Scandinavian-style hot dog and an assortment of stomach-filling fare, is operating in the same locale you’ve spent a Saturday night sipping Japanese beer and feeling slightly discomfited by interpretive dancing. Indulge in the $65 tasting menu and enjoy earthy fare beginning with fried pike skin, followed by an assortment of root vegetables and locally-sourced seafood, until finally arriving at the restaurant’s crown jewel: the deboned pork trotter. Wash down the hearty meal with a cider or a quick injection of Aquavit, and you’ll forget you have to walk home all the way from Wythe Ave.

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