A grassy perch at Sunset Park in Brooklyn, with Manhattan's skyline in the background. Photo / Karsten Moran, the New York Times
It’s so easy to get from Manhattan to Brooklyn. In fact, it takes 45 minutes using public transport. Here’s everything you should do once you’ve made the short journey over, writes Ingrid Williams
Brooklyn first established itself as a summertime destination for weary New York city dwellers over 150 years ago with beachside resorts and racetracks.
These days the United States borough overflows with seasonal draws: block parties, street fairs, WNBA Liberty games, barbecues in the park and lazy afternoons on a stoop with beers and some tunes.
Still, locals gripe about the humidity, the bugs, the city odours, on top of the ongoing gentrification that has rendered entire neighbourhoods unrecognisable — and unaffordable — to longtime residents.
This itinerary skips the most touristy and overdeveloped areas, including Williamsburg and Dumbo, and requires no restaurant reservations or advance planning.
Instead, you’ll find concerts in Prospect Park, a superlative exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum and fantastic food far and wide, from tacos in Bushwick and dumplings in Sunset Park to nostalgic soft serves in southern Brooklyn.
READ MORE: What to see and do in Brooklyn, New York
4pm | Bike along the water
Every year, millions of people visit Brooklyn Bridge Park, where formerly industrial piers are now home to verdant lawns and recreational areas, yet few venture farther down the waterfront. Hop on a Citi Bike and keep pedalling until you reach Red Hook, a neighbourhood about 3.2km south. The city recently announced plans to redevelop a dilapidated marine terminal on more than 40ha of Red Hook’s waterfront.
For now, this out-of-the-way neighbourhood still has the feel of a bygone era, with low-slung row houses, ageing industrial buildings and the odd cobblestone street. Stop for a beer at Sunny’s Bar, a beloved dive around since the 1890s, when dockworkers were regulars. Or pop over to Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie for a swingle, a US$7 ($11.60) frozen chocolate-covered mini Key lime pie on a stick, best enjoyed on the adjacent Valentino Pier with views of the Statue of Liberty.
6pm | Savour Asian flavours
For dinner, bike to neighbouring Carroll Gardens, one of Brooklyn’s many historically Italian neighbourhoods, for sweat-inducing Thai food at UnTable, a superb restaurant that opened on a quiet brownstone block last year.
At this walk-in-only spot, expect unconventional twists on Isan (northeast Thailand) cuisine from chef Aun Kampimarn. Cheerful servers, after checking your spice tolerance, will guide you through a menu that recently included creamy Chiang Mai-style khao-soi curry (US$25), crab croquettes with a hot-and-sour tom-yum puree (US$19) and the scorching “WHAT THE HELL!! Fried Rice” that’s labelled on the menu, accurately, with 12 chillies (US$26).
After dinner, cool off at Malai, a nearby icecream shop with South Asian-inspired flavours such as masala chai, lychee and my favourite: mango-and-cream (from US$6).
7.30pm | Attend a free concert
The borough has many outstanding performing arts venues, including the acclaimed Brooklyn Academy of Music in Fort Greene, the regal Kings Theatre in Flatbush and the beautifully restored Brooklyn Paramount in Downtown Brooklyn, which reopened in March. But on a balmy summer evening, no one wants to be cooped indoors when there’s a show in Prospect Park.
On the western edge of this lush 236ha park, the Lena Horne Bandshell hosts Celebrate Brooklyn!, an annual outdoor concert series presented by BRIC, a local nonprofit arts organisation. This year’s line-up includes singer-songwriter-rapper Meshell Ndegeocello, ska-punk band Fishbone and Afrobeat musician Seun Kuti. Performances are free and seats fill up fast, but there’s always space to unfurl a blanket on the surrounding grass.
10pm | Take in an encore show
When mosquitoes descend after dark, head indoors for an encore performance at LunAtico, an intimate, musician-owned bar with a tiny stage in Bedford-Stuyvesant (the neighbourhood everyone calls Bed-Stuy), northeast of the park.
Nightly shows often feature top local musicians — reggae saxophonist Anant Pradhan and trumpeter Jon Lampley are regulars — playing to a rapt crowd. Or roll into Gowanus, a former industrial zone along a notoriously polluted canal where, since a recent rezoning, shiny apartment towers are sprouting at breakneck speed.
On one still-undeveloped block, Public Records is a multiroom magnet for audiophiles that recently opened Upstairs, a loftlike listening lounge with sleek white banquettes and a high-tech sound system playing rare vinyl and tapes into the early morning.
8am | Start in Greenpoint
Arrive early to avoid the line that usually stretches down the block outside Radio Bakery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn’s northernmost neighbourhood. This cult-favourite bakery, which opened last year, excels in both sweet and savoury — Earl Grey-flavoured morning buns (US$5.50), croissants filled with roasted mushrooms (US$7) — but best are the sandwiches made with everything-spice focaccia, smoked salmon, cream cheese, pickled onions and dill (US$14.50).
Take your order to go and pick up a cappuccino (US$4.75) from Rhythm Zero, a new gallery-like coffee shop worthy of an interior-design magazine spread. Then claim a bench in the adjacent WNYC Transmitter Park for breakfast with views across the East River and, even closer, of the creeping construction of modern high-rises.
10am | Browse creative arts
Many Brooklynites start their Saturdays with a trip to a neighbourhood farmers market. The Fort Greene Park Greenmarket may be smaller than the one at Grand Army Plaza, at the top of Prospect Park, but has more of a community feel, with regulars chatting up vendors at the concurrent Artisans Bazaar and impromptu stoop sales occasionally popping up in front of adjacent brownstones.
Browse stalls where you might find felted wall hangings from Suri and Caya, hand-embroidered sweatshirts from Create the Culture, statement-making sunglasses from Eeny Eyewear and cute pet accessories from Gone to the Dogs.
Then grab a pint of raspberries from Wilklow Orchards, a Hudson Valley farm, and wander east into neighbouring Clinton Hill to the Pratt Sculpture Park (free), a secluded oasis of art and nature on the Pratt Institute’s leafy campus.
12.30pm | Explore Bed-Stuy
Adjacent to Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy is filled with independent shops and worth-a-detour food spots. On Tompkins Avenue, pop into the Word Is Change, a new-and-used bookstore with a social-justice focus; then visit Byas and Leon, an inviting boutique with sustainable apparel, handmade jewellery and vintage pieces.
Refuel a few blocks away at A&A Bake Doubles and Roti, a long-standing Trinidadian counter-service shop with delicious doubles (curried-chickpea-filled fried flatbreads loaded with tamarind and pepper sauces; US$2.50). Later browse Juneteenth posters, old Ebony magazines, VHS tapes and other collectibles related to black culture at BLK MKT Vintage, and flip through records and magazines at Black Star Vinyl.
Make a final stop at Fan-Fan Doughnuts, where many flavours, such as the churros-and-chocolate doughnut, are inspired by owner Fany Gerson’s Mexican roots (from US$3.50).
3pm | Admire art and nature
The Brooklyn Museum, near Prospect Park, will begin celebrating its 200th anniversary later this year, but go now to catch one of the current exhibitions. If there’s time afterward, stroll next door to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where the magnolia trees and the fragrant rose garden bloom in summer (admission US$22; last entry 5.30pm).
7.30pm | Eat tacos and a slice
Head to Bushwick for a food crawl through this traditionally Latino, rapidly gentrifying neighbourhood. Start at Taqueria Al Pastor, a casual favourite for carne asada and al pastor tacos (from US$4.50) and cinnamon-spiced Mexican horchata (US$4). Then walk through Maria Hernandez Park, where locals play soccer, basketball and ecuavoley (an Ecuadorean variant of volleyball), to Nenes Deli Taqueria for cheesy, braised-beef birria tacos (US$4.15).
Finish by crossing Flushing Avenue to the newly opened R.Slice, a New York-style slice shop from Roberta’s — the pizzeria, now an international brand, that put Bushwick on the culinary map back in 2008. Order a couple of slices, at least one of which should be the Fire and Ice, made with spicy ‘nduja sausage and fresh stracciatella cheese on a crisp, foldable crust (US$6).
11pm | Stay up late in Bushwick
After dinner, join the crowd bouncing along to synth and Italo-disco tunes at Danger Danger, a rollicking rock bar. For a chiller vibe, there’s Ornithology, a cozy jazz club nearby with late-night jam sessions and great cocktails (US$10 cover).
Or dance at Elsewhere, a club in a converted warehouse with several rooms and a rooftop terrace (entry from around US$30). The surrounding area, an industrial zone, is worth revisiting in the daytime for its art scene, including the Bushwick Collective street art murals and the International Objects gallery.
10am | Dine in Sunset Park
Hop aboard the South Brooklyn ferry to Sunset Park, a multicultural neighbourhood where the flavours change from block to block. Begin on Fourth Avenue at Yafa, a serene Yemeni cafe serving specialty drinks including a locally roasted, single-origin Yemeni pour-over coffee (US$7). Then walk to La Flor de Izucar, a Mexican bakery and cafe on Fifth Avenue, for a fluffy vanilla concha (US$1.50). Pause in the adjacent park, also named Sunset Park, to admire the sweeping views across Brooklyn, the lower Manhattan skyline, New Jersey and Staten Island.
1pm | Stroll the boardwalk
It’s a summertime rite of passage to join the cast of characters sauntering along Coney Island’s Riegelmann Boardwalk, a nearly 5km-long oceanfront promenade. Amusement options abound, but skip the (expensive) rides in favour of a baseball game. The minor league Cyclones play in Maimonides Park, a small stadium beside the boardwalk where roller coasters rumble beyond the centre-field fence (tickets from US$20).
The Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park hosts Celebrate Brooklyn!, an annual series of free outdoor concerts presented by BRIC, a local nonprofit arts organisation.
Radio Bakery, in Greenpoint, sells Earl Grey morning buns and breakfast sandwiches made with everything-spice focaccia, smoked salmon and cream cheese.
L&B Spumoni Gardens, a southern Brooklyn institution open since 1939, serves thick Sicilian-style pizza squares and heaping scoops of spumoni.
At Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie, there’s the swingle, a frozen chocolate-covered mini Key lime pie on a stick.
UnTable, a restaurant serving unconventional twists on Isan (northeast Thailand) cuisine, is on a quiet brownstone block in Carroll Gardens.
Malai, an icecream shop in Carroll Gardens, serves South Asian-inspired flavours including masala chai, lychee and mango-and-cream.
Rhythm Zero is a new coffee shop steps from the waterfront in Greenpoint.
A&A Bake Doubles and Roti, a long-standing Trinidadian counter-service shop in Bed-Stuy, serves delicious doubles (curried-chickpea-filled fried flatbreads loaded with tamarind and pepper sauces).
Fan-Fan Doughnuts, a small bakery in Bed-Stuy, offers many flavours, like the churros-and-chocolate doughnut, inspired by owner Fany Gerson’s Mexican roots.
Taqueria Al Pastor is a casual favourite in Bushwick for carne asada and al pastor tacos and Mexican horchata.
Nenes Deli Taqueria, southwest of Maria Hernandez Park in Bushwick, serves cheesy, braised-beef birria tacos.
1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, near the northern edge of Brooklyn Heights, is a luxurious option with outstanding views from the rooftop pool and bar as well as from many of the 195 neutral-hued guest rooms. Rooms start at US$680.
The Ace Hotel Brooklyn, steps from the downtown Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station, has a clubby lobby lounge and 287 industrial-chic rooms. Rooms start at US$279.
The Penny Williamsburg is a pet-friendly property, with 118 apartment-style rooms (each has a kitchenette) and a scenic rooftop bar. Rooms from US$225.
GETTING THERE
Fly non-stop from Auckland to New York City with Air NZ and Qantas. Brooklyn is a 30-minute drive west of John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
DETAILS
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Ingrid K. Williams
Photographs by: Karsten Moran
©2023 THE NEW YORK TIMES
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