c/o NY Mag

1116 Manhattan Avenue
(at Clay Street )
Brooklyn NY, 11211
view map
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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Amarin

617 Manhattan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11222
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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
view map
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
view map
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

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
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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.

1015 Manhattan Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11222
view map
718.569.0077

Cuisine: Colombian Tapas/Coffee Shop
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash only
Price: $
Hours: Mon 8am-4pm; Tues-Thurs 8am-10pm; Sat 9am-11pm, Sun 9am-10pm
BOOZE: Full bar
Subway: G to Greenpoint Ave
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
City Search says:

In keeping with its Colombian roots, this charming cafe’s takeout menu translates the word Greenpoint into its Spanish equivalent, Puntaverde. Bright yellow walls, local artwork and couches set a festive scene for consuming iced cafe con leche and sampling the arepas–the Alimbar packs ham, queso blanco and guava, while the Medellin appeases vegetarians with cranberry beans and green plantains. Seven kinds of salads and sandwiches made with Petrossian bread provide further fuel for bopping along to DJ-provided beats.

The Village Voice says:

This novel Greenpoint coffee shop and wine bar translates Colombian cuisine into the tapas bar genre, with some success. If you’re a fan of East Village arepas–– the moist, white–corn flatcakes that are a staple starch in Colombia and Venezuela–– you won’t be disappointed here: most of the two dozen or so evening menu choices are centered on an arepa topped with a salad or meat-bearing assemblage. Many are quite good, although figuring out what these warms lumps contain is a challenge in the dim light. We especially liked the Medellin (beans, plantains, white cheese, hogao sauce) and the cordillera (rice, beans, Colombian chorizo). A handful of toasted sandwiches, salads, and skewers round out the menu, but the real treat here is the off-priced South American wines.

c/o Time Out New York

645 Manhattan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11206
view map
347.763.2129

Cuisine: Mexican
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All major
Price: $
Hours: Tues-Sun 11:30am-4am
Booze: Beer and wine
Subway: G to Greenpoint Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: No
Time Out New York says:

Taco fiends listen up: We just got word that the three brothers behind the Eat Out-award-winning Cal-Mex street cart are set to open their second brick-and-mortar location tomorrow—this time, in Greenpoint tomorrow. The new 65-seat spot, featuring a diamond-cut steel facade reminiscint of its mobile outposts, will expand on the Calexico Carne Asada menu with new items like Baha-style fish tacos, elote (grilled corn with queso cotija and cilantro) and a 645 burger (a blend of brisket, chuck and short rib on a ciabatta bun with their signature chipotle “crack” sauce). For the first time, you will be able throw back a brew alongside your carne asada burrito. The joint will have a full bar serving both south-of-the-border and local beers, including house label El Barrio (a dark Mexican-style ale made by Six Points), and cocktails such as a Jalapeño-Mint Margarita and the Manhattan Ave, a riff on the manhattan blending Partida Anejo tequila, Carpano Antica, and rhubarb bitters. Come summer, the eatery—outfitted with formica tables, a 25-foot white oak bar and antique mirrors—will open a 50-seat garden, but for now, you can get your taco on indoors Tue–Sun from 11:30am–4am.

Calexico, the quickly expanding chain of local cart and brick-and-mortar outlets for the best Mexican food in NYC that has grown from its humble beginnings as a pair of Soho food carts to include a delicious spot in Red Hook/Columbia Waterfront District and a mobile unit at Brooklyn Bridge Park, has just opened its latest restaurant at 645 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint. Looks like it’s going to be an all-burritos-n-tacos holiday menu for North Brooklyn this year.