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Best “Old Brooklyn” Restaurants?
A Fort Greene newcomer asked New York Times restaurant critic Sam Sifton if he could recommend any “old Brooklyn” eateries, and Sifton replied: “You’ll want to visit the Mill Basin Kosher Delicatessen on Avenue T. You’ll want to have some clams at Randazzo’s in Sheepshead Bay. You should absolutely have pizza at Totonno’s in Coney Island and more at L & B Spumoni Gardens in the Gravesend neighborhood. You should jog back down to Sheepshead Bay to Roll-N-Roaster and get a roast beef sandwich, a meal that has been satisfying high school students for 40 years. You absolutely need a hero from Lioni’s in Bensonhurst.” Any other classic Brooklyn spots to add to this list?

Brooklyn Restaurant Openings
And outpost of Dao Palate is opening at 201 Fifth Avenue (between Union and Berkeley), in a storefront “that’s recently been home to a couple failed Japanese restaurants (Tamari, Hakone),” says Here’s Park Slope… At the forthcoming Brooklyn Heights restaurant Colonie, you can “expect seasonal, locally sourced American cuisine with an open kitchen and counter-top dining,” says ZagatBuzz. To help with start-up costs, the owners raised $15,371 from 91 backers on KickstarterEater says that there’s new signage at the Greenpoint branch of Calexico, and a restaurant called Juniper is opening at Berry at North 7th in Williamsburg… Eater also notes that the owner of Le Barricou is “opening new restaurant Maison Premiere at 298 Bedford in early January. The restaurant is reportedly based on the 1890’s French Quarter New Orleans and will mainly exist as a bar and oyster bar, offering 25 different types of oysters along with cocktails and an ‘old world’ wine.” … And Bed-Stuy Blog reports on the openings of the new Mexican joint Alcatraz and the new market/sandwich shop Cinnamon Girl.

After the jump: 3 new Brooklyn bars, where to eat near the Dyker Lights, and another look at the underrated Umi Nom

New Brooklyn Bars
Hanson Dry has finally gotten its liquor license and will open on Thursday at 8pm says Grub Street… And Grub Street also notes that the Drink is now open on 228 Manhattan Avenue, near Grand Street… The Brooklyn Paper ventures inside a new and “unmarked bar, located on a quiet stretch of Manhattan Avenue between Nassau and Driggs Avenues,” which looks like “a wood-paneled 17th-century Chinese tavern — but with a DJ spinning Motown hits and five beers on tap.” The Greenpoint spot doesn’t have a name yet — anybody have some ideas for the owner?

Where to Eat Near the Dyker Lights
One curious Chowhound asked for good places to dine her the Dyker Lights this season, and — despite a major dig against Park slope, Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn — fellow ‘Hound JFores shares a very helpful response. Recommendations include Gino’s Foccaceria on 18th Avenue for “Sicilian specialties,” Joe’s of Avenue U “who does most of these Sicilian specialties better” but is a 15-minute drive from the lights, L&B Spumoni Gardens for pizza, Villabate on 18th Avenue for pastries, and Bamboo Pavilion for Sichuan: “The pork chops with cumin (ziran) and crabs with chili are two of my favorite dishes here.”

Recently Reviewed: Umi Nom
433 DeKalb Avenue, “in a Sargasso Sea of a neighborhood between Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant;” (718) 789-8806
“It’s a Thursday evening well into the first semester of the school year, and Umi Nom is half-empty. Which is a shame, since nearly everything I’ve tasted there has been superb… There’s a salad of seared skirt steak served on a bed of shredded green papaya, with a tart dressing that contains a soupçon of fish sauce (an ingredient that’s been deleted from most Brooklyn Thai menus), and a salmon fillet bathed in green curry improved with lemongrass. [Chef King] Phojanakong never hesitates to bombard you with strong flavors.” [Village Voice]


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Definitely another vote for Sam’s on Court Street. The place hasn’t changed in decades.

    I don’t know how old you have to be to be considered “old school” but I am happy that “Pete’s” Waterfront Ale House has been around for more than 30 years now… I remember when they were across the street where Last Exit is now.