c/o NY Mag

1116 Manhattan Avenue
(at Clay Street )
Brooklyn NY, 11211
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718.349.8429

Cuisine: Mexican
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All major
Price: $
Hours: Mon-Fri, 8am-10pm; Sat-Sun, 9am-10pm
Booze: Beer and wine
Subway: G to Greenpoint Ave.
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image c/o Flickr

600 Metropolitan Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.599.4440

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Hours: Mon-Fri, 3pm-4am; Sat-Sun, 1pm-4am
Price: $
Subway: G, L at Metropolitan Ave.-Lorimer St.
Food/Menu: Free pizza when you buy a pint
Booze: Full bar
Happy Hour: No, but they have free pizza!
We say:

The dive meets frat boy decor is nothing to write home about, but the free brick over pizza (which is actually REALLY good) makes it hard to pass up.

NY Mag says:

Inside what was once the Galleria pizza place, this bar’s turquoise walls, pink flamingoes and Romanesque details don’t quite gel, yet one crucial feature remains intact: the arched, wood-burning oven. Because of the owners’ sensational idea of serving free personal pizzas every night until 3:30 a.m., this unremarkable joint has turned into a loveable hangout that’s a great first or last barhop stop. Young and old Williamsburg folk congregate along the bar, in the maroon, open-angle vinyl booths, and around the green pool table. A booming jukebox and Big Buck Hunter Pro game in back provide entertainment. A selection of 10 draft beers complements the delicious crisp-crust pies, which are on the house with every drink; toppings like pepperoni, caramelized onions and flavorful sweet sausage are available for an extra $2.

Amarin

617 Manhattan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11222
view map
718.349.2788

Cuisine: Thai
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $
Hours: Mon-Thurs 11am-10:30pm; Fri-Sat 11am-11pm
Booze:None
Subway: G to Nassau Ave
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
Time Out New York says:

If you’re seeking refuge from the wave of glammy Thai spots to hit Williamsburg in recent years, head north, to where the only frills are the local artwork on otherwise bare green walls. All the brilliance here goes into the food: A pair of golden, crisp crab cakes are first good, then great when dunked in rich, coconutty peanut sauce. Basil chicken, ordered medium spiced, is quite hot; shrimp with asparagus is scattered with nicely crunchy cashews. So much spice begs for a light finish: Try the tasty, if un-Thai, chocolate mousse.

New York Magazine says:

Reminiscent of many restaurants in Bangkok, Amarin Cafe is essentially an extension of its noisy kitchen. Chefs maneuver around each other nonstop as they sautee, steam, and fry, and from time to time the kitchen emits a beep or buzz and someone grabs the delivery bags and rushes out the door. The simple space is brightly lit, making the speed of the kitchen and the one-man waitstaff seem all the speedier. Stop for beer or wine on your way because there’s no time to run out after ordering: appetizers arrive mere minutes later. Green papaya salad ($3.75) is a refreshing palate cleanser, and though it’s hard not to get caught up in the rush of activity, slowing down to savor the spicy entrees is advised. The beef with basil is better quality than you’d expect for $6.25, and the flavors in the shrimp with asparagus and cashews ($7.25) meld together perfectly.

c/o Flickr

179 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.599.4550

Cuisine: Pizza
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $
Hours: Sun-Thurs 11am-11pm; Fri-Sat 11am-2am
Booze: None
Subway: L to Bedford Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
New York Mag says:

For Williamsburg hipsters who are slowly being priced out of their hood, Anna Maria’s provides a taste of the old days when thing were still cheap and authentic under the L train. Two dollars will buy a thickish slab of cheese pizza–slightly oily but better than average, and large enough to keep a hipster’s jeans safely around his hips. $3.50 will buy some more vitamins, in the form of a specialty slice topped with a veggie and/or meat combo. A soggy $4 calzone is worth it only if you need to fulfill your RDA of grease, but 8 smackers will buy a bona fide hot meal, like chicken cutlets or tortelloni, albeit on a disposable plate. All of this affordable nourishment is available late into the night, so starving artists, as well as crowds of drunken bar-goers, can fuel up whenever inspiration strikes.

Metromix says:

When the bars on Bedford Ave. let out, finding a post-debauchery nosh can be somewhat difficult. Enter Anna Maria Pizza, open until 2 a.m. on the weekends and 11 p.m. during the week. Heavy on the toppings and convenient to the L train, Anna Maria is difficult to refuse. For your more sober moments, try their hot lunch specials.

Atlas Cafe

116 Havemeyer St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
view map
718.782.7470

Cuisine: Coffeeshop
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $
Hours: 7am-10pm Daily
Booze: None
Subway: L to Lorimer St., J,M,Z to Marcy Ave.
Menu: Click Here Delivery: No
New York Mag says:

There’s something about this coffee shop that has the feel of a college town cafe. The two floor-to-ceiling windows of the corner place fill the room with sunlight, making it particularly attractive for the laptop writers who occupy their tables for hours at a time, digging the free Wi-Fi and occasionally spacing out to the wall-sized map of the world. Large, milky pendant lights and wooden tables lend a softness to the room, and two outside benches take on some of the extra traffic when the turnover slows down. Everything is served at the counter, and hot and cold drinks run the typical gamut-cappuccino, espresso, mocha, sweet and spicy chai latte, and a strong yet delicately foamed macchiato, as well as Odwalla juices and Boylan’s sodas. The edibles cover basic breakfast pastries-soft scones, danishes and muffins from Tomcat Bakery in Long Island City-as well as a few lunch items, like mozzarella, pesto and tomato or a nicely mashed tuna salad on a baguette. Bagels also go over big, especially topped with creamy hummus or tender slices of lox. The cafe largely empties out by nighttime, leaving plenty of seats for freelancers on an evening schedule. Recommended Dishes: Bagel with cream cheese and lox, $6; tuna salad on baguette, $6

c/o The Brueklyn

483 Grand St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.387.0270

Cuisine: Coffee shop
Our Rating: ★★★
Cards: Yes
Price: $
Hours: Mon-Sun 6am-9pm
Booze: None
Subway: L to Lorimer St., J,M,Z to Marcy Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes

Banh Mi

580 Grand Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
view map
718.599.5015

Cuisine: Vietnamese
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $
Hours: Noon-10pm Daily
Booze: None
Subway: L to Lorimer St.
We say:

Great news for all Vietnamese food lovers-Bánh Mì has opened an expanded Williamsburg location in the former Curves Gym on Grand Street. The owners Vu Bui, Dung Trinh, and Thomas Bui are three Brooklyn-raised Vietnamese (“Brooklyn-mese”, as they called themselves) friends who met on a handball court as children. Now they’ve joined forces to open their third Vietnamese restaurant in Williamsburg (they also own the sit-down restaurant An Nhau on Bedford Avenue).

The larger Bánh Mì location on Grand Street is airy and bright with a colorful mural painted by okMitch who has also done work for Tarif, Northern Spy Food Co., St. Anslem, and many other local eateries. okMitch received inspiration for the mural from photos the three owners took during their various trips to Vietnam. Owner Dung Trinh said they wanted to expand their menu from the Bedford Avenue take-out shop and offer more rice dishes, pho, additional appetizers, Vietnamese milk shakes, and bubble tea along with ample seating. The dark wood tables scattered around the restaurant all have Café Du Monde coffee canisters to hold the spoons, forks, and chopsticks. When asked about the containers, Vu Bui said, “we’re Vietnamese, that is what we do. We take everything and recycle it, even the canisters from our coffee”.

We tried the Chicken Pho ($8), which is served with rice noodles, shredded chicken, bean sprouts, lettuce, chives, and fresh mint. The pho wasn’t too oily and had the perfect balance of broth and noodles. We also sampled the Lemongrass Chicken Sandwich ($5.50), which came on a toasted baguette with cucumber, pickled carrots, daikon, cilantro, and French mayo. Often Bánh Mì shops go overboard with the mayo on the sandwiches, but the mayo to sandwich ratio was perfect. If ordering the sandwich, we’d suggest getting a side since they aren’t particularly large. If you’re looking for something more filling we would suggest the Grilled Pork Chop served over rice ($9) or the Grilled Salmon with Sweet Lemongrass sauce and sugar snap peas on the side ($12). There are also a few options for vegetarians: Spicy Lemongrass Vermicelli with Tofu and Mushroom ($11), Vegetarian Banh Mi with Tofu and Mushrooms ($6), and the Summer or Veggie Roll (($5).

Slow dripped Vietnamese coffee is served with condensed milk ($2), along with home brewed Iced Tea ($2.50), Iced Coffee ($3.50), and Limeade ($2.50), which is a homemade traditional fresh-squeezed lime juice drink. The owners are working on their Beer and Wine license, which should be finalized in a few weeks. There is no dessert offered yet, but except to see bubble tea, ice cream, sorbet, and chocolate lava cake in next month or so. Delivery is coming soon.

c/o Brownstoner

45 Richardson Street
Brooklyn NY,11211
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718.599.1645

Cuisine: Brazilian
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $
Hours: Tue-Thurs 5:30pm-12am, Fri 3pm-1am, Sat 10am-1am, Sun 10am-11pm. Brunch Sat-Sun 10am-4pm. Closed Mondays.
Booze: Full bar
Subway: L to Bedford Ave
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: No
NY Mag says:

Williamsburg’s Beco is located in a sort of Williamsburg-Greenpoint netherland, and the owners kept the place a neighborhood secret while getting it off the ground. Rather than a full-blown restaurant like Miss Favela, David Giddings says he and his partners envisioned it as a modest Sao Paolo boteco, where you can laze about while popping made-to-order pao de queijo and sip cocktails made with fresh passion fruit and pressed sugar cane. As Giddings describes it, the decor harks back to the days of Pele, and “doesn’t scream ‘Brazil’ in your face, but it’s more like what a boteco is — a real hangout.” You can hang there during brunch that includes acai and granola, omelettes, bife a cavalo (Brazilians refer to their steak and eggs as “steak on horseback”), and a feijoada that’s prepared over the course of two days by a Carioca chef, Casia Steinberg (Fabiane Lima, the Brazilian owner of Fabiane’s, also consulted on the menu).

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c/o The New York Times

346 Bedford Avenue
(Near South 3rd Street)
Brooklyn NY, 11211
view map
718.218.7067

Cuisine: Vietnamese
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $
Hours: Mondays from 12-10 pm, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights from 6-10 pm
Booze: Beer and wine
Subway: L to Bedford Ave., J,M,Z to Marcy Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
NY Mag says:

A few days a week, An Nguyen Xuan, a Vietnamese chef who was born and raised in France takes over Simple Café in Williamsburg and operates it as Bep (meaning “Kitchen” in Vietnamese): “I serve Vietnamese staple dishes like pho, bánh mì, bun, and fried spring rolls.” There are also specials, like caramelized pork belly with pickled bean sprouts. Xuan is using natural ingredients and hoping to offer an alternative to current Vietnamese restaurants, which she says are sometimes too expensive and use too much MSG. Hmmm. We have yet to encounter these expensive Vietnamese joints, but if she claims hers is cheaper and better, we’ll see her soon!

In January, An Nguyen Xuan opened Bep, which means “kitchen” in Vietnamese, at the Simple Café in Williamsburg. At first, the concept was confined to Mondays, restaurants’ day of doldrums. But the experiment proved so popular that last month Bep expanded its hours to Thursday through Saturday nights. Mr. Xuan’s food tends to the Hanoi style, which uses herbs and spices more subtly than its southern counterpart. Texture is key. Cha gio ($4.50), fried spring rolls, are chubby with pork and mushrooms, their rice-paper skins crisp and bubbled without being oily. A steamed rice crepe is tucked around crunchy pork and silky Vietnamese ham ($10). Many of the brief menu’s supplemental specials deserve to be staples, like the catfish, coppery with turmeric and aromatic with dill, atop vermicelli ($10), and a tangy salad of mango, cabbage and banana blossoms ($9). But the pho ($8) lacks character, and the banh mi ($5.50) are filled with too gentle a hand. Still, it’s rare at this price to find such exquisite details as the dried sour plum bobbing among the mint leaves in the house-made lime soda ($3).

c/o NY Mag

197 Bedford Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
view map
718.599.2707

Cuisine: Coffee/Tea/Sandwiches/Wine Bar
Cards: All Major
Price: $
Hours: Mon-Fri 8am-2am; Sat, Sun 10am-3am*
Booze: Beer and wine
Subway: L to Bedford Ave
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: No
NY Mag says:

Evangelos Roumeliotis of Oleput and Sparrow in Queens planned to open a dive bar in Brooklyn before he came across this corner space on Bedford’s main drag, which he knew “had to be a café.” Furnished with mostly found wood pieces like a massive oak mechanic’s desk that now displays wine bottles, and otherwise built from similarly worn, recycled wood by partner Tom Fade, Blackbird feels like an old-world European coffeehouse. Italy’s Danesi espresso spikes cappuccinos and lattes (with soy and skim substitutions nodding to the hood), treats are sophisticated like eggier-than-usual brioche baked by Manhattan’s Tisserie, and dainty nubs of ground walnut and honey melomakarouna cookies from Artopolis bakery in Astoria (all delivered daily). Meats for a small platoon of panini come from the best purveyors in town; jambon is D’artagnan and chorizo, Despaña. Come nightfall, France and Spain are tapped again for a wine list that focuses on small, mostly unrecognizable vintners, so young, squatting writers (and readers) can spoon up the last of their awesome root beer floats and switch to pinot in the evening.

Metromix New York says:

Cafes and wine bars are as rare in Williamsburg as faux-hawks and sidewalks, but combining the two is a bit more interesting. Hipsters hover here mostly during the day, when the European-style hangout (the owners are Greek) serves dark coffees, loose-leaf teas, grilled cheese and pastries on its central wooden communal table. By night, it gets dimmer and the vino flows.