Brooklyn Cupcake

335 Union Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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347.762.2253

Cuisine: Bakery
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: Fairly Cheap
Hours: Sun- Wed 11am-7pm, Thurs-Sat 11am-9pm
Booze: None
Subway: L to Lorimer St.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: No
We say:

Brooklyn Cupcake’s owner Carmen Rodriguez comes from Puerto Rican and Italian Roots which she has successfully infused into the offerings at Brooklyn Cupcake. Our favorite flavors include tres leches, dulce de leche, guava con queso, rainbow cookie, and tiramisu. The cute bakery also serves coffee and tea.

c/o Gothamist

180 Franklin St
Brooklyn, NY 11222
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718.389.2806

Cuisine: American Cafe/Diner
Our Rating: ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Price: $
Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-5pm; Sat-Sun 9am-5pm (brunch)
Booze: None
Subway: G to Greenpoint Ave.; L to Bedford Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Free with $10 Minimum
NY Mag says:

Call it a bustling coffeehouse, an upscale diner, or a calculated hipster haven. This Greenpoint hot spot, on the bottom floor of the Astral Apartments, specializes in being whatever you want it to be. During the day, sunlight bleeds through the oversize windows onto the long, wood bar, where the “self-employed” sip bottomless mugs of coffee and pick at tempeh Reubens while pretty baristas keep the burr grinders buzzing. By nightfall, couples fill out the dark, cushioned corners—tucking into textbook crisp-skinned chicken or one of Brooklyn’s cheapest steak frites and contentedly conversing over a loud, Pitchfork-approved soundtrack. Sure, some menu items vanish mid-service and the disaffected waitstaff look and act like moonlighters from a roving indie band, but what makes this neighborhood haunt worthy of a train ride are the little touches—the whiff of cardamom in a near-perfect cappuccino, the Plugra butter generously provided for your basket of Ceci-Cela pastries, and the house-made hot sauce and ketchup for an otherwise average pile of fries.

City Search says:

This is the ideal Brooklyn neighborhood spot, complete with an unassuming crowd, hot comfort food and good coffee. During the crowded brunch service, plentiful light reflects off the yellow walls and the large restaurant is filled with morning chatter from everyone from athletic cyclists to hung-over hipsters. Details like patches of exposed brick and an artfully distressed ceiling add that funky Greenpoint touch. Homemade American fare like buttermilk fried chicken, biscuits and sausage gravy, burgers, and red flannel hash are all guaranteed to fill you up, while the Mayan, a velvety mix of hot cocoa, mildly spicy pasilla chili and two shots of espresso, will make sure you don’t get drowsy.

Cupcake Land

390 Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.388.5260

Cuisine: Bakery
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Price: $
Hours: Tue-Sat Noon-8pm; Sun Noon-7pm; Closed Mon
Booze: None
Subway: L to Bedford Ave. or Lorimer St.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: No
Metromix says:

Two childhood friends from Western Poland, Alexandra Wysoczanska and Kate Lech, are the rulers of Cupcakeland, a new Williamsburg cupcakery serving creative riffs on the NYC dessert classic. Unlike other bakeries, which rely on buttercream (cough, cough—Magnolia Bakery —cough, cough), Wysoczanska (she’s the chef) uses cream-cheese-based frostings on a rotating roster of flavors (they’re $2.25 a pop). Fun stuff that they’ve got going: There’s a light “strawberry shortcake” cupcake, a smooth chocolate ganache filled with vanilla cream, and even an apple pie version filled with apple chunks. The gals also have a loyal employee to help perk things up: a goldfish named Gary, who hangs out in a fishbowl beneath a happy Marimekko wall print.

Martini Boys say:

Taking a chance on a cupcake… that’s what first time owners Alexandra Wysoczanska and Kate Lech did when they dropped everything and put all their energy into opening Cupcakeland. Now, a month after they’ve been open, Head Baker Alex says that they have been doing well, the response to their opening has been exceptional, and they’re very excited for the future.

With cupcakes being the only thing on the menu, they managed to get creative with their flavours. Green Tea, Apple, and White Chocolate Raspberry are just a few examples of their eclectic approach to such a simple dessert… even if most people aren’t brave enough to attempt the Green Tea flavor. Other cupcakes include lemon (with actual lemon juice), peanut butter, red velvet, cookie, mocha, and, of course, chocolate and vanilla.

But these cupcakes are more than just dessert, they make for a beautiful atmosphere, acting as the artistic décor. Wysoczanska says that the only thing more popular than the cupcakes is the goldfish aquarium that most people come in and pose for pictures beside.

With so many people trying to invent new and strange desserts, this Polish duo is sticking with what they know. Their simple love for cupcakes is what prompted Cupcakeland, lets see if the customers love cupcakes as much as they do.

c/o flickr

154 Bedford Ave
(Near N.8th St.)
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.302.1810

Cuisine: Coffeeshop/Bakery
Our Rating: ★ ★★
Cards: All Major, $5 Minimum
Hours: Daily, 7am-10pm**
BOOZE: None
Subway: L at Bedford Ave.
NY Mag says:

The egg sandwich at Williamsburg’s coffee-geek bar El Beit strikes us as the happiest of compromises: Eggs are softly scrambled to order, mingled with fried sage, and crowned with a slice of New York State sharp Cheddar, then deposited inside that soft and chewy new Sullivan roll for an upgrade that will appeal to the sensualist without alienating the purist.

(more…)

Fortunato Brothers

289 Manhattan Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.387.2281

Cuisine: Old School Italian Bakery
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $
Hours: Sun-Thu 8am-11pm, Fri-Sat 8am-12am
Booze: None
Subway: L to Lorimer St. or Graham Ave.
Delivery: No
Cards: Cash Only
Citysearch says:

The shiny black tables and chairs in this bare bones cafe are perpetually packed with teen couples, old paisanos from the ‘hood and ice cream afficianados diving into some of the city’s best housemade gelato. Flavors range from standards to hard-to-find Italian options, like tiramisu, hazelnut and zuppa inglese. Other temptations include spumoni, tortoni, cannoli, cookies (try the pinoli), tarts and fluffy white cakes to order.

c/o Brokelyn

727 Grand St
New York City, NY 11211
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718.218.9441

Cuisine: Spanish/Bakery/Diner Food
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Price: $
Hours: Open 24 Hours!
Booze: None
Subway: L to Grand St.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
We say:

Great cheap tacos (provided you aren’t a vegetarian).

Brokelyn says:

I get the chicken torta with everything on it—fresh Mexican cheese, avocados, refried beans, mayonnaise, blah blah blah. It’s open 24 hours. It’s easy to eat junk a lot when you’re eating on a budget so it’s nice that you can get a sandwich with vegetables for $5.50. Anything to break way from those really obnoxious cold-cut sandwiches. People get really turned off by the amount of meat in our sandwiches.”

c/o The New York Times

171 Grand St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.486.8761

Cuisine: Mexican Bakery/Cafe
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $
Hours: Mon-Fri 6am-9pm; Sat 6am-8pm; Sun 7am-3pm
Booze: None
Subway: L to Bedford Ave.
Delivery: No
We say:

This family-run bakery has been in the neighborhood for years and has never raised their prices. For about $2 you are hooked with a massive bacon egg and cheese sandwich and another 50 cents you get a great coffee (with warmed milk). The employees there have no attitude and will even teach you a little spanish if you’re nice. They also have an ass-kicking selection of other cheap ($2.50) sandwiches which will put you in a food coma for the remainder of the day – I go with the pork or the chicken sandwich personally. Everything is so good and cheap – you’ll find yourself eating a chicken soft taco at anytime of the day – even if you’re totally full!

The New York Times says:

WHEN are they going to change the cakes? La Villita, a Mexican bakery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, has become a familiar presence on the corner of Bedford Avenue and Grand Street, with its curious window display of cakes. They look as though they were baked in the 1980s. Once-white icing has yellowed with time, marzipan rosettes have browned in the sunlight and dust has coated faded petals. Neighborhood residents often stop and check on the fossilized cakes. Some wonder if perhaps new ones have finally been baked, while others look to make sure they have not. Are the bakers avoiding the inevitable, like doing the laundry? A Busby Berkeley formation of storks and pink and blue babies decorates one cake. Dingy swans hold up the classical columns of a wedding cake in ruin. On a decrepit meringue island, a naked knockoff of a Barbie doll is marooned in the sugar sand next to an overturned toy bottle of champagne. The surreal scenes range from the absurdly comic to the nostalgic, like a snapshot of someone’s long-ago disastrous Communion. If La Villita’s kitschy, sprinkled confections were labeled as contemporary art, these creations might be ready for a gallery.

Inside, La Villita smells of café con leche. The walls are buttercup yellow, vibrating with the bass of Latin pop. Glass cases are filled with a pastel field of pink sweet buns, glossy guava-oozing pastries and their vanilla custard cousins, crispy, heart-shaped orejas (elephant ears, or, at French bakeries, palmiers), and conchas (shells). A pan of bright orange flan glistens with otherworldly texture and appeal. Alfonso Sosa, 40, baked the cakes in the window, frosting each with loops of lavender and sky blue. He cannot remember the exact date, but he noted that they were just meant to be samples. The edible ones, which he fills with pineapple, strawberry, chocolate, cherry or peach, made to order for $25, are pristine. Mr. Sosa arrives at 3:30 a.m. each day to bake everything himself at the family-run cafe, which he has owned for a dozen years. He has raised prices only reluctantly, by a nickel or dime.

Tasty soft tacos and sandwiches — Cuban, pulled pork or bacon, egg and cheese — are $2 to $4. Strong coffee (with warmed milk) is 60 cents. A chubby doughnut rolled in sugar is a quarter. Maribel Meza, 35, Mr. Sosa’s sister-in-law, works the morning shift at the counter, in front of a cellophane-wrapped crucifix hung next to a sign: “Please try our delicious baked goods.” At the mention of the cake adorned with the doll in the window, Ms. Meza remarked: “Oh, the sexy lady. Sometimes it’s embarrassing. It’s the most popular in the store.”

Momofuku Milk Bar

382 Metropolitan Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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No Phone

Cuisine: Bakery
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Price: $$
Hours: Sun-Thurs 9am-10pm; Fri-Sat 9am-11pm
Booze: None
Subway: L to Bedford Ave. & Lorimer St.
Delivery: No
The Feast says:

The menu offers the same roster of cakes, cookies, pies, breads, and other assorted sweets as its Manhattan siblings, but will benefit from its close proximity to the kitchen next door by offering various “off-menu” test items. For example, stop by today and try the pistachio croissant or a piece of black olive-kimchi focaccia, neither of which may ever make its way onto Milk Bar’s menu.

Saltie

378 Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.387.4777

Cuisine: Sandwiches/Bakery
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $
Hours: Tue-Sun 10am-6pm; Closed Mon
Booze: None
Subway: L to Bedford Ave. or Lorimer St.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: No
NY Mag says:

As opening chef at Williamsburg’s Diner, Caroline Fidanza watched the bootstrap operation grow from a small, quirkily restored Kullman diner into a five-unit restaurant group, with a boutique butcher and grocery, a staunch commitment to local and sustainable agriculture, and an in-house literary gastromag to which she contributed both text and recipes. Ten years later, in 2009, Fidanza’s starting small again — this time in a nearby storefront she and her partners, Diner alums Elizabeth Schula and Rebecca Collerton, have converted from a retail bakery into a minimalist eight-stool cafe with the help of local designer Joseph Foglia, whose distinctive work you might know from Dressler. They’ve named the space Saltie, which refers not only to an oceangoing ship, but also to the three chefs’ predilection for tempering sweet flavors with salty ones, and, says Fidanza, “for the personalities involved.” But Foglia’s design doesn’t deploy marine motifs as much as evoke the sea, with blue accents in a bright, modern, mostly white space, furnished with seats and counters crafted from white-powder-coated metal and maple.

Saltie will begin the day with goat-cheese-and-jam breakfast tarts and loaf cakes in flavors like ginger or olive oil, then segue into sandwiches with nautical names — “because it amuses us,” says Fidanza. The Captain’s Daughter, for instance, combines sardine, pickled egg, and salsa verde, and the Longshoreman is, contrary to whatever you might be picturing, cherry-and-pistachio-studded Israeli meatballs with herbs and yogurt. The chefs plan to bake everything in-house, from the focaccia, naan, and Parker House sandwich rolls to the lavender shortbread cookies and plum scones they’ll be previewing at this Sunday’s New Amsterdam Market. And their sourcing will be as meticulous as Fidanza’s was at Diner, with dairy coming from an organic Amish farmers’ cooperative in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and produce from Guy Jones at Blooming Hill Farm. Saltie is eschewing cupcakes but embracing ice cream in flavors like Eton Mess (blueberry ripple with meringue) and a salty-caramel ice-cream sandwich. One thing the place won’t have is a liquor license, which means that any real longshoremen (or neighborhood hipsters) will have to spin their yarns over watermelon agua frescas, peach lassis, or a house-blended herbal iced tea.

Metromix says:

After elevating Williamsburg’s Diner and Marlow & Sons to destination-dining status, former chef Caroline Fidanze is starting small with her next venture. She and her partners have revamped the former Betty Crocker–chic Cheeks Bakery and turned the tiny shop into a sleek but inviting takeout spot. The nautically named eats (The Captain’s Daughter sandwich features sardine, pickled egg and salsa verde; the Ship’s Biscuit is a soft scrambled egg and ricotta) fit with the blue-and-white decor that evokes a maritime feel. If your sweet tooth still yearns for the former occupant’s baked goods, the scones, tarts and ice cream sandwiches should help you get your glucose fix. And the fair trade French Press coffee from Uganda’s Crop to Cup will take care of any caffeine cravings.

c/o NY Mag

524 Lorimer St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
view map
718.486.6850

Cuisine: Coffeeshop/Cafe/Sandwiches
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Price: $
Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-10pm; Sat-Sun 8am-10pm
Booze: None
Subway: L to Graham Ave.
Delivery: No
We say:

Second Stop is one of our favorite coffee shops in Williamsburg. The coffee served is Stumptown which is always a plus in our books. Their muffins (especially the donut muffin) and pastries are baked in house and are always tasty and fresh. We also love their new expanded menu which includes bagels, sandwiches, soup, salads, and light snacks.

Citysearch says:

Owner Paul Degruccio can still point out the divots in his café’s old wooden floor, made by his grandparents as they stood near the cash register of the Italian-American grocery store they opened in 1935. Today, it’s populated by Williamsburg’s attractive young hipster set, but yellowed family photos and antique bric-a-brac salvaged from the family-owned building lend a distinctly homey vibe, despite the indie rock playing in the background. Famed Portland roaster Stumptown provides the coffee (a rotating selection of four different beans that changes every two weeks), while ICE grad Merin Frazier bakes an innovative array of pastries in-house.