Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

Photo by Tejal Rao for Gothamist

Coming Soon: Umi Nom
We’re so excited that Kuma Inn, a great Filipino, Thai, and Southeast Asian small plates spot on the Lower East Side, is opening a sister restaurant at 433 DeKalb Avenue, on the border of Clinton Hill and Bed Stuy. Gothamist shares a first look at Umi Nom, which is scheduled to open on May 1, and reports that Chef/owner King Phojanakong “recently received some special sake pouring equipment to install at what will become a wood paneled bar where twenty sakes by the glass will be available.”

Return of the Red Hook Vendors!
Serious Eats says that the vendors will be returning to the Red Hook Ball Fields on Saturday, May 2. Cesar Fueuntes, executive director of the Red Hook food vendors committee, also told them that “We are close on signing up to be a part of an amazing festival in a very popular and historic Brooklyn location that will soon promise to be one of the most talked about events in NYC. Most of our vendors are planning to be a part of this festival and will be there weekends throughout the entire season. As soon as we secure our participation, we will make it official.” Any idea what he’s talking about?

Bahn Mi Bonanza
Today’s New York Times surveys the best bahn mi joints in the city, paying visits to Williamsburg’s Nha Toi and Silent H, as well as Sunset Park’s Thanh Da I and II and Ba Xuyen, a favorite in the Brownstoner restaurant files. Plus, Chow points out that you can also get your Vietnamese sandwich fix at Williamsburg’s “Mediterranean-accented” Simple Cafe (346 Bedford Avenue at S. Third Street), which “is temporarily rechristened Bep, or ‘kitchen’ in Vietnamese” every Monday — “when the café crew takes a break, a Vietnamese-Parisian cook settles in.”

After the jump: Brooklyn cleans up at TONY’s Eat Out Awards, the best Sichuan in the city, and a first look at Williamsburg’s Rye…

Time Out New York‘s Eat Out Award Winners
Brooklyn bars and restaurants cleaned up at last night’s Eat Out Awards. Some highlights: Buttermilk Channel in Carroll Gardens was named the best new Brooklyn restaurant, best new artisan pie went to Williamsburg’s Motorino, Cobble Hill’s Clover Club beat out some Manhattan spots to win best new cocktail lounge, Eton in Carroll Gardens won best new dumplings, and Williamsburg’s Walter Foods was named the best nouveau chophouse

Best in the City: Bamboo Pavillion
6920 18th Avenue, Bensonhurst; (718) 236-8088
After chowing down on dan dan noodles, tea-smoked duck, rabbit nuggets, and shredded jellyfish, the Village Voice‘s Robert Sietsema has declared Bensonhurst’s Bamboo Pavillion the best Sichuan resturant in the city: “Certainly, there are stalls on Flushing’s Main Street where the food is spicier. But Bamboo achieves a balance of flavors and a level of execution you won’t find in Queens—providing a convincing argument that Sichuan is, on its own, one of the world’s greatest cuisines.”

A First Look at Rye
275 S. 1st Street, Williamsburg
Grub Street shares a slideshow of the handsome new Williamsburg spot, Rye. Owner Cal Elliott, chef at DuMont and Dressler shows off the restaurant’s historic centerpiece, “the 21-foot-long bar. It’s made from quarter-sawed oak topped with mahogany, and has a mirror, a rose marble base kick, and bar and foot rails — Elliott believes it to be an Oxford model built by the Brunswick Manufacturing Company in Chicago circa 1890 to 1900.”