285 Kent Ave (image c/o BrooklynVegan)

285 Kent Ave
At South 1st St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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Our Rating: ★★★
Hours: see event calendar
Cards: No
Booze: Full Bar
Calendar: http://toddpnyc.com
Subway: J, Z, M to Marcy Ave; L to Bedford Ave; G to Metropolitan Ave
Time Out says:

Todd P hosts DIY indie-rock shows at this Williamsburg space, which used to house Paris London West Nile.

image c/o BrooklynVegan
ADDRESS: 1089 Broadway, Williamsburg Brooklyn
CALENDAR: Click Here
MAP: Click Here
SUBWAY: JMZ to Myrtle
WE SAY: New bars and venues open constantly in this neighborhood–it almost feels like the community board consists of a solitary robot with a giant rubber “Approved” stamp for liquor license applications. To which I say “Huzzah!” because papa needs his sweet, sweet booze. Anyway, today we take a look at a new music venue in Bushwick called Bodega (1089 Broadway), which is run by those hip souls over at Chiefmag. The space holds 300 people and used to be an actual bodega–one which used to sell crack I am told, which goes great with beef patties and Boar’s Head turkey sandwiches. Most bands they host are of the Todd P variety, including Japanther, The Death Set, Ninjasonik, etc. Shows are usually in the $5-$6 range, perfect for the club’s young, eight-people-to-a-loft crowd. [review by Keith Wagstaff]

Briskettown (c/o Eater)

359 Bedford Ave
Williamsburg, Brooklyn 11211
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718.701.8909

Cuisine: Brisket
Our Rating: ★★★★
Cards: All Major
Price: Moderate
Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, Closed Monday, 6 to 6:30pm – Pre-Orders Only, 6:30PM to Sold Out – Open to Public
Booze: BYOB
Reservations: Yes
Subway: L: Bedford Ave, J to Marcy
Menu: delaneybbq.com
Website: delaneybbq.com
Delivery: No
Eater says:

Pitmaster Daniel Delaney learned how to smoke meat from barbecue big shots Aaron Franklin and Wayne Mueller. Delaney’s acclaimed brisket retails for $25 a pound, and the menu also includes traditional barbecue sides. In its first week of business, BrisketTown sold out of meat, several times, so show up early.

c/o Brooklyn Bowl

61 Wythe Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.963.3369
(Bowling Alley with food by Blue Ribbon)

Cuisine: American/Southern
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Price: $$$
Hours: Monday – Thursday 6pm-2am; Friday 6pm-4am; Saturday 12pm-4am; Sunday 12pm-2am
Family Days are Saturday and Sunday! Noon-6pm is ALL AGES!
Booze: Full Bar
Subway: L to Bedford
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: No
We say:

A stunning sprawling space, albeit pricey.

The New Yorker says:

We suggest that you eat with your non-bowling hand,” a note on the menu at Brooklyn Bowl states, in a nod, presumably, to both aim and hygiene, if not to the traditional carelessness of ten-frame dining. This converted warehouse at the northern edge of Williamsburg does triple duty as a bowling alley, a music hall, and a grub house. Its kingpin, Peter Shapiro, the former owner of the bygone jam-bandy club Wetlands, has dreamed up an emporium that combines hedonistic excess (deep-end leather couches, spiked milkshakes, brisket, live music) with eco-consciousness (reclaimed-cork floors, no bottled beer, live music). For the eats, he brought in the Bromberg brothers, the creators of Blue Ribbon, to draw up a rebuke to every limpid water dog and fossilized onion ring you’ve ever downed, then regretted, at Wherever Lanes. They tinkered with comfort-food classics, secure in the knowledge that no bowler will ever crave endive. It’s a menu that begs over-ordering, as well as this remark from your waiter, regarding the procedure for delivering the food: “You guys want it as it fits?” “Fits where?” is one reply; the table is bigger than the stomach.

Still, all you have to do, while stuffed, is take a few steps forward and drop a twelve-pound ball on the floor, so there’s no sin in downing the carefully considered greaseballs the Blue Ribbon boys sling your way. Their fried chicken, dipped in matzoh batter, seasoned with Cajun spices, and accompanied by white bread and honey, has Earl Anthony game. The calamari, commingled with fried jalapeño, is the Dick Weber of fried squid. The San Gennaro, loaded with finely ground Italian sausage, is the Johnny Petraglia of French-bread pizzas: crisp outside, fluffy inside, it has all of the virtue, and none of the vice, of Stouffer’s. There are a few gutter balls; some might find the mac and cheese too creamy and the “Really” Sloppy Joe really actually too sweet. But the score sheet shows more X’s than —’s.

On a recent evening, the lanes were busy but not loud; the pins hang on strings, which helps muffle the din. Giant video screens showed montages from raunchy old B-movies like “The Student Nurses” and “Caged Heat.” Around eleven, the Roots took the stage, the dance floor filled up, and a waiter came by with Nutella-bourbon shakes, a convergence that felt like nailing a spare on a four-ten split. (Open weekdays for dinner and weekends for lunch and dinner. Entrées $9-$19.)

Brooklyn Rod and Gun

59 Kent Ave
(between North 10th and 11th)
Brooklyn, New York 11211
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About: The Bklyn Rod & Gun is a private social club located in Williamsburg across from New York’s East River. Our members have expertise in fly fishing and fly tying for both fresh and saltwater, bait-fishing, shooting, camping, hiking and boating (not to mention some top notch musicians!). As a group we aim to instill respect, appreciation and awareness of nature in our urban setting, while promoting safe and sensible use of these resources. In addition to club activities and meetings, we regularly open our doors to the community and have regularly scheduled music, barbecues and host other like minded organizations. Please come by and be our guests.
Our Rating: ★★★★
Cards: No
Price: ($0- $10) daily pass gets you 2 drinks
Reservations: Yes
Hours: varies, view calendar
Booze: 2 drinks (beer and/or whatever spirit they are serving) with day pass
Subway: L to Bedford Ave
Website: http://www.bklynrodandgun.com/
Calendar: http://www.bklynrodandgun.com/
NY Times says:

Something is clearly going on behind that modest blue door near the East River waterfront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Burlap sacks cover the windows, but music and laughter spill out. Strolling by, you might mistake it for a cozy house party. Fishing tackle belonging to Chris Raymond, the organizer of the club. But wander in and you will discover an old-timey dude’s world called Brooklyn Rod and Gun, a fishing club that welcomes anyone willing to follow a few simple rules: “No booze in. No booze out. Throw your peanut shells on the floor.” Black waders dangle from a coat rack, a four-foot bass sprawls across a wall, and dim lamps illuminate a long wooden worktable where members commune over fly-tying and American roots music. “I’ve lived in this neighborhood since the 1980s, when there were a lot of Polish and Italian social clubs, and I was always inspired by that idea of creating your own community center,” said Chris Raymond, 48, a fly-fishing enthusiast and the information-technology director for Abrams Books. His signature accessory is a worn red baseball cap stitched with the words “Fish Pimp.” So two years ago, when he was between jobs, Mr. Raymond organized a weekly hangout with 11 other mostly unemployed, musically inclined fathers in a two-story, 800-square-foot former warehouse they rented on an industrial stretch of Kent Avenue near North 11th Street. The agenda? Listening to records, drinking beer and talking about the great outdoors. They built their own furniture and tacked up fishing maps of the Catskills and Newtown Creek. They jammed on their guitars or headed to the ragged shore nearby to catch moss bunker and bluefish. Curious passers-by and friends of friends started dropping in. Now there are 80 members, and events almost every night of the week: hootenannies on Sundays, fly-tying tutorials on Mondays, secret-cinema night on Tuesdays and a rotating cast of small bands with names like the Buddy Hollers and the Calamity Janes on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Events are listed, along with photos of past outings, on bklynrodandgun.com, the club’s Web site. Members pay $100 to join, but anyone can get in for $10 a night. Though the crowd is predominantly male, women, families and even pets mix in. And despite the “gun” in its name, the group has not arranged any shooting events.

c/o The Downtown Diaries

188 Grand St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.218.7776

Cuisine: Spanish/Tapas
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: All major
Price: $$$
Hours: Mon-Fri 5pm-5am; Sat-Sun 11am-4am
Booze: Full Bar
Subway: L to Bedford Avenue
Delivery: No
Citysearch says:

Out of nowhere, one of the most beautiful restaurants in Williamsburg. Quietly under construction for more than a year, this Catalonian tapas spot seems to have been born fully mature, with weathered wood plank walls, double-height rusted iron ceilings and industrial light fixtures putting it on par with Dressler and Zenkichi in Williamsburg’s grown-and-sexy division. Despite its stunner status, Cadaques is a casual tapas spot in true Spanish style, eschewing the usual stateside small-plates scheme ($9 for a glass of wine, $12 for a saucer-sized snack–gracias, idiota!) for a menu that gives you a couple of tasty plates and a glass of wine to go with each for about $30, with tip. The early favorite is pulpo en su tinta (octopus served with squid ink, fig and tomato confit–after a 12-hour slow-cook, the octopus feels like a tender scallop) though specials like the foie gras a la plancha with peaches, figs and port wine-cinnamon reduction are hard to resist. Oh, and if you have any interest in fat, hairy Hungarian pigs, Cadaques is one of the only restaurants in New York that has cured hocks of mangalica, the almost mythical, sheepish hog prized for its fat-marbled flesh.

Metromix says:

Williamsburg diners have yet another option on the restaurant-clogged area surrounding Grand Street and Bedford Avenue: Cadaques, an airy Spanish tapas spot with shareable menu of classic plates like stuffed piquillo peppers ($9) and Serrano ham croquettes ($7), plus newfangled twists like churros with sea salted chocolate and raspberry-rosemary jam ($7). Between a kitchen that’s open until 2 a.m. on weekends (the bar, which is working on a signature Spanish-style cocktail, stays open later) and the weekly flamenco band, Cadaques looks to be hopping until the wee hours. Not a night owl? No worries—they’re also open for brunch on the weekends.

Cameo

93 North 6th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.302.1180

Our Rating: ★★★★
Hours: see event calendar
Cards: All Major
Booze: Full Bar
Website: http://cameony.com/
Calendar: http://cameony.com/
Subway: L to Bedford Ave.
NY Mag says:

Brooklyn painters, bands, and comedians have a home base in the form of kaleidoscopic arts hub Cameo, hidden in the Lovin’ Cup Café. The Cup, named for that ageless Stones jam, plays gracious co-host to the performance space-gallery-recording-studio, dedicated to the still-kicking disciplines of artisanal handicraft and classic, shake-the-floors rock. The casual air coloring Cameo’s spacious gallery is a fresh alternative to the insular Chelsea crawl, and the venue’s sky-high ceilings allow for the sort of natural, Spector-sized reverb that haunts aspiring rockers’ dreams. The venue resembles a black box but functions as a high-design soundstage, providing an ideal showcase for local talents with an hour and a mike.

Club Europa

98 Meserole Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11222
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718.383.5723

Rating: ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Hours: Daily, 8pm-4am
Subway: G Train to Greenpoint Ave.
Food/Menu: No food available
Booze: Full bar
Happy Hour: None
NY Mag says:

Club Europa’s unassuming exterior–wood signage, semi-seedy sidestreet location–belies the nonstop, no-holds-barred, Euro-disco fantasy within. (Yes, there’s a smoke machine involved.) The crème de la crème of Greenpoint’s young, thriving Polish population packs the enormous dance floor amidst elaborately choreographed lightshows, neon faux-stained glass windows, and gilt and red velvet everything. Hilton-twin-lookalike cocktail waitresses shimmy to the beat, toting translucent trays full of vodka drinks and bottles of Zywiec. Though the language barrier impedes conversation (not to mention drink orders) for English-only strays, Europa’s unique ambiance allows you to skip the velvet rope of Manhattan clubland as you catch an Eastern European case of dance fever.

Metromix says:

Long-time Polish haunt just off the main drag of Greenpoint’s Manhattan Avenue, Club Europa, like neighboring Warsaw, offers a mix of old-warm charm with oddball musical bookings—from Jersey hardcore to Eurotrash (and proud of it) DJ nights. That means skin-hugging ribbed tees are never optional.

c/o Cubana Socíal

70 N 6th St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.782.3334

Cuisine: Cuban
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Price: $$$
Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-2pm, 6pm-2am, Sat 9am-3pm, 6pm-4am; Sun 9am-3pm
Cards: All Major
Booze: Full Bar
Subway: L to Bedford Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: No
Metromix says:

Remember the days when you could hop on a Cuban Airlines jet from Miami to Havana, pal around with Hemingway and Brando at the Tropicana, and be Stateside for breakfast? Neither do we. But Christina Bouza and partner Paul Tamburro are bringing a taste of mid-century Cuban arts and nightlife to New York via a refurbished industrial space in Williamsburg. “If you took an old cigar factory and turned it into a social club, that’s what it looks like,” says Bouza. Which means high ceilings, brick columns and an1840s general-store counter given new life as a bar. Cubana Social’s menu is “traditional Cuban with a modern twist,” Bouza explains, highlighted by the signature house Cubano Sandwich (roast pork, prosciutto cotto, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard) plus other affordable snacks like empanadas and platanos. Cocktails (Cuba Libre, Celia Cruz) pay homage to another Hemingway haunt, Sloppy Joe’s in Havana, while live music rounds out the entertainment.

NY Mag says:

Public Assembly manager Christina Bouza has tapped into her Cuban heritage and turned an old building-supply shop next to the performance space into a slice of fifties Havana. Bouza says the concept is “Havana meets Brooklyn”; she and her partner, Paul Tamburro,aim to feed hungry concertgoers (Music Hall of Williamsburg is also next door) with Cuban nibbles running from $3 to $9 (Jose Soto of Baba had a hand in the menu below). The cocktails (including a Cuba libre, Hemingway daiquiri, and the restaurant’s special mojito) will be priced between $8 and $10, while Daniel Kim, formerly of Café Grumpy, runs a coffee bar serving Intelligentsia.

Death By Audio

49 S 2nd St
Brooklyn, NY 1122
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No Phone

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Hours: Vary
Subway: L to Bedford Ave.
Food/Menu: No food available
Booze: Beer and Wine
Happy Hour: None
Calendar: www.myspace.com/deathbyaudioshows
NY Mag says:

Out of the tradition of DIY basement shows and illegal loft parties comes Death By Audio, a utilitarian two-room hall neighboring the Diamond Sugar Refinery on a low-traffic, industrial block in Williamsburg. Community performance spaces pop up (and disappear) constantly, and Death By Audio, a recording studio and gear factory by day, feels barely more established since the setup is deliberately minimal, and transient: a low-level stage flanked by large-scale pieces from a rotating cast of local artists; and a secondary room, often utilized as a dance hall (equipped with a projector for ambient screenings of dystopian seventies flicks and other trippy fare). Lineups of obscure noise-rock dudes or experimental electro German drone-pop come together anywhere between three or four days a week or once a month. Ubiquitous Todd P. often pulls the strings.