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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Alien Cafe

812 Grand St
Brooklyn, NY 11206
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347.294.4288

Cuisine: American Cafe
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All major
Price: Fairly Cheap
Hours: 7am-11pm, Daily
Booze: None for now
Subway: G to Grand St.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
Brooklyn Exposed says:

The new Alien Cafe in Williamsburg is not as foreign as you might think. Opened in early November, the space has been in owner Robert Sandoval’s family since 1999 – first as Grand Street Grill run by his father and then by Sandoval himself. The new cafe has a big name attached to it as well, with L’Artiste menu creator-chef Luis Santos at the helm of this menu. Cozy up at a two-top with warm butternut squash soup ($7) while you ogle at the designed wallpaper. Or select from varied and large servings of sandwiches ($8-10), omelettes ($6), and salads ($7-9). Real meal deals come in the form of duck ragout parpardelle ($14), a brioche bun burger ($12), and even a braised lamb shank with mushroom polenta ($18). And it would be no cafe with no cafe – robust Blue Bottle is available in drip or a personal French press. With that, skip straight to dessert for a perfect pairing with the nutella, banana, and berry crepe ($7). Though no liquor license as of yet, don’t wait to enjoy these earthly delights.

I Heart Brunch says:

There has been a lot said about the gentrification of Williamsburg over the last decade, and particularly the last few years since the rezoning of 2005 opened up the waterfront areas for development. Much of this “urban renewal” has taken place on the North and South sides, which are generally divided by Grand Street, but it’s the East side that is now experiencing a broader transition period.

Nowhere is this more evident than east of Union Ave on Grand Street where the gentrification process is noticeably making its way down the street, block by block.

Alien Cafe takes brunch in East Williamsburg up a notch.

Opening in early November, Alien Café aims to take the neighborhood up a notch. Formerly the Grand Street Grill, a quick-service takeout joint, Alien Café owner Robert Sandoval decided to revamp the space his family has owned since 1999 to create something a bit different and more refined. And he’s serious about the food, enlisting award-winning L’Artiste chef Luis Santos to create the menu.

On the exterior, Alien Café sports a spaceship sign that bulges from the front of the unassuming building and lights up at dusk. But don’t let the kitschy name and sign fool you. Once inside you’ll be eased by a casual bistro atmosphere, charming enough to bring a date, and impressed by food that may be the only thing otherworldly about the place.

Options like Eggs Benedict with chipotle hollandaise or French Toast with sautéed apples and walnuts are delicious and worth the visit, but it was the Three Color Omelet that truly impressed me. Perhaps the most perfectly cooked omelet I’ve ever had, the egg was light and fluffy and had a perfect ratio of mozzarella, fresh tomato and basil meticulously diced and speckled throughout the egg. Every egg dish is accompanied by mixed greens and nicely prepared home fries and I added a side of crisp apple wood smoked bacon to round it all out.

The food is as easy on the wallet as it is delicious – no breakfast entrée eclipses $7 and the lunch options are just a couple bucks more. Plus, coffee lovers will delight at the café’s use of the classic French press, emphasizing the bold flavors and captivating aroma of organic Blue Bottle Coffee.

Alien Café is a welcome addition to the East side that will delight neighborhood residents and hopefully continue the trend of culinary innovations in the area.

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 NY Mag

20 Skillman Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.218.7272

Cuisine: Comfort food
Our Rating: ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Price: $
Hours: Sun-Thurs 4pm-2am; Fri-Sat 4pm-5am
Booze: Full Bar
Subway: L to Graham Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
Citysearch says:

On the same stretch of blocks as Galapagos, Northsix and Sweet Water Tavern, Anytime appeases streams of bargoers with its round-the-clock eats. Its small industrial space is painted in white, gray and orange, and holds a takeout counter with a couple of suspended wooden-beam tables. The best thing about the space, though, is skipping it and getting snacks delivered to your door.Grilled sandwiches, soups and toasts (such as smoked mozzarella and roasted peppers) provide the primary sustenance, along with appetizers in the jalapeno popper/buffalo wing family. The eight-ounce burger arrives well-done on a shiny bun–comforting stuff, especially when accompanied by tater tots. Potato leek and scallion soup is green and flavorful, and the balanced fruit yogurt shake satisfies. Anytime’s menu shifts with the seasons, offering chilled soups and sophisticated salads in the summer.

New York Mag says:

Can a late-night restaurant with offerings that run the gamut from low-brow mozzarella sticks to ambitious pan-seared salmon actually be any good? Yes. And happily, this establishment on Williamsburg’s North Side succeeds in being most things to most people. Your image-conscious friends will dig its hipness: banquets swathed in nubby orange upholstery cradle Diesel- and Seven-sheathed behinds on a regular basis. Cash-strapped pals will appreciate the excellent value. After a couple of drinks, even you’ll be pleased with the availability of cheap, greasy tater tots and chicken fingers at post-last call hours. And once you’ve sobered up enough to have your culinary wits about you, try the silky and tangy hummus with a garlicky bite—a point of pride with the Israeli owner.

Aurora

70 Grand Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.388.5100

Cuisine: Italian
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $$$
Hours: Mon-Thu Noon-3:30pm (Lunch), 6pm-11pm (Dinner); Fri Noon-3:30pm (Lunch), 6pm-midnight (Dinner); Sat, 11am-4pm (Lunch), 6pm-Midnight (Dinner); Sun 11am-10pm
Booze: Full Bar
Subway: L to Bedford Ave.
Menu: Click Here Delivery: Yes
Zagat says:

Tucked away in a isolated southeast corner of Williamsburg, this cozy brick- and wood-lined Italian has immediately become a take-out, delivery and drop-in boon for culinarily starved types who like its cheap prices and homemade pastas via a chef from Piedmont; the place has the feel of a branch of Max, which bodes well for its future.

NY Mag says:

Rome native Gaspare Villa named his rustic new restaurant after a favorite place in Tuscany. “I used to drive two and a half hours to get there,” he says. The trip to Aurora from Manhattan is much quicker, and well worth it for big bowls of chef Riccardo Buitoni’s maltagliati ragu. Not to mention, Villa now reaps the biggest benefit of a Brooklyn lease: a huge garden.

Bahia

690 Grand St.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.218.9592

Cuisine: Salvadoran
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Price: $$
Hours: Mon-Thurs 11:30am-10pm; Fri 11:30am-11pm; Sat 9am-11pm; Sun 9am-10pm
Booze: Beer and Wine Only
Subway: L to Graham Ave. or Grand St.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
We say:

Our favorite under-the-radar restaurant Bahía was featured on the Food Network recently and we were delighted to see them finally get some props. If you haven’t tasted their pupusas yet, run out now and try them. (Pupusa are yummy corn pancakes filled with cheese, pork, etc). Their cerviche is also always fresh and delicious. Never had Salvadoran food? Do yourself a favor and try Bahía before everyone else discovers it. The atmosphere is bland, but the food is amazing. Note – the pasta dishes are ok, but are mainly included to please the heavily italian neighboorhood. Stick to the Salvadoran food.

Citysearch says:

Rows of glass-topped, red-tableclothed tables stretch back to the rear of the brightly lit space, whose white walls hold a few seafaring decorations–a boat painting here, a captain’s wheel there. The small wooden bar and counter up front incorporate a wine rack and dessert display. Neighborhood friends and families spread out with plenty of room to spare. The best surprises on the El Salvadorean menu are the appetizers. Pupusas, filled with pork, beans, chicken or cheese, are sumptuous pancakes bursting with the flavor of fresh corn. The simple corn tamale comes with a mild homemade sour cream, and the inexpensive enchiladas, prepared with expertly spiced strips of beef, could easily serve as an entree. Main dishes, such as the sirloin steak, are less robust, but the enormous mixed seafood grill, including stellar shrimp, salmon, calamari and mussels, stands out. Finish with a lovely flan.

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).

Bistro Petit

774 Driggs Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.782.2582

Cuisine: French
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Price: Moderately Priced
Hours: Mon-Fri 3pm-12am; Sat-Sun 12pm-12am
Cards: None
Booze: None
Subway: L to Bedford Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
Time Out New York says:

Jean Georges alum Seung Park combines his French training with his Korean background at this diminutive Willimasburg takeout spot. Expect East-meets-West crossover dishes, like kimchi bouillabaisse, made with local, seasonal ingredients.

NY Mag says:

French standards—duck confit, steak frites—are joined by a few international riffs, like the kimchee that is added to the bouillabaisse at Bistro Cafe.

Cariño

82 S 4th St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.384.8282

Cuisine: Mexican
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Price: $$
Hours: Sun-Thur 11am-11pm; Fri-Sat 11am-Midnight
Booze: Full Bar
Subway: L to Lorimer St.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
L Magazine says:

Well, it’s not that new… But thank crikey the geniuses behind beloved, now-shuttered Bedford Avenue mainstay Bonita (the staff and the cooks, to be specific), have managed to open a new spot just a block over on South 4th Street: Cariño. And boy is it good. The menu is simpler than Bonita’s, and the few specials seemed to reflect a trip to the market in Queens that very morning. We started with the house guacamole, a fantastic “more authentic” (we were told) version of the ubiquitous appetizer featuring a hard-to-get Mexican herb called papalo instead of lime juice and cilantro: it was peppery and bright, offering a complexity not often found in the more common recipe… (Unfortunately, papalo isn’t always easy to come by, so if “Ricardo’s Guacamole” is one of the specials, just order it.) We also shared a watercress, orange and jicama salad with a chipotle vinaigrette, a perfect balance of sharp and sweet.

We kept it simple with mains: fish tacos, and rajas (potato and peppers) tacos. Holy shit they were good. The (very fresh) fish was lightly deep fried and sat succulently (what’s with food writing and adverbs?) amidst the usual taco fixings, all fresh and finely minced, with a perfect drizzle of what must’ve been chipotle mayo. The same goes for my rajas, the finest, lightest version of it I’ve ever had.

Calyer

92 Calyer St
Brooklyn, NY 11222
view map
347.899.6323

Cuisine: Latin American
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All major
Price: Moderately Priced
Hours: Mon, Wed-Fri 6pm-11pm; Sat-Sun 11am-11pm
Booze: Full Bar
Subway: G to Greenpoint Ave. or Nassau Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
The New York Times says:

The owners of Anella in Greenpoint put one of their chefs, Gabriel Moya, in charge here. He adds touches of his native Puerto Rico in small plates like salt cod with a Scotch egg and plantain chips. Wines are from Spain and Portugal.

Brooklyn Exposed says:

The local Anella team have opened another Brooklyn restaurant, Calyer. A loose motif of Caribbean and South American cuisine is up for grabs at this lowly-lit, antique-laden spot. After weathering the anticipation of a storm, treat yourself by cozying up in one of the 45 spots on the banquette and fill your belly with the likes of stewed oxtail, fluke crudo with avocado and a flank steak with chimichurri. Nothing puts you back on the New York dining map like a warm, hearty meal.