Downtown Brooklyn

Forty counters in the basement of City Point, including Katz's Delicatessen's only Brooklyn outpost and Fletcher's for burnt ends and cornbread. You order at whichever window you want and eat at the communal tables in the middle. It is open to 10pm every day, which makes it the widest set of options within three minutes of Brooklyn Paramount.

Every day, 11am to 10pm. Breakfast counters open at 8am, a few at 7am

Rebecca Fitting and Jessica Stockton Bagnulo opened Greenlight on the corner of Fulton and South Portland in 2009, raising part of the money from Fort Greene neighbors. Tall shelves, a wide front table of new fiction, a children's section at the back and handwritten staff cards all the way through. It runs author events most weeks and stays open until 10pm every night, which almost no other bookshop in Brooklyn does.

Every day, 10am to 10pm

A walled yard on the corner of Fulton and South Portland with picnic tables, a solar-powered kitchen, a bike-powered blender and a converted Airstream serving corn on the cob and Cuban sandwiches. It is the outdoor sibling of Cafe Habana in Manhattan and it runs as a seasonal operation, roughly April into October, shutting for the winter. Order at the window, find a table, and on a Sunday there is usually a flea market in the yard.

Seasonal, roughly April to October. Mon to Thu, 10am to 11pm. Fri and Sat, 10am to midnight. Sun, 10am to 11pm. Closed for the winter

A small Hungry Ghost shop on DeKalb a block off Flatbush, with an espresso bar, a pastry case and a handful of seats and a window counter. The company roasts its own and has been opening shops around Brooklyn since 2009, so the coffee is consistent rather than experimental. It opens at 7am and closes at 5pm seven days a week, which makes it a daytime stop only.

Every day, 7am to 5pm

Harry Rosen opened Junior's on the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb in 1950 and his family still runs it. The front is a bakery counter selling cheesecake by the slice and the whole, and the back is a large dining area of orange booths with waiters and a menu that goes from a brisket sandwich to a full dinner. It opens at 7am and runs to 11pm, and on a weeknight you are seated as soon as you walk in.

Mon to Thu, 7am to 11pm. Fri and Sat, 7am to midnight. Sun, 7am to 11pm

The museum occupies the decommissioned Court Street station, and you reach it down a set of subway steps on the corner of Boerum Place and Schermerhorn. Downstairs on the platform sit around twenty restored subway cars from 1907 onward that you can walk through and sit in, with the period advertising still in the frames. Admission is ten dollars for an adult and five for a child or a senior. It is closed Monday and Tuesday and shuts at 4pm, so it only works for an afternoon plan.

Wed to Sun, 10am to 4pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday

Six thousand square feet on Lawrence Street with the tanks visible behind the bar, a long list of its own beer and a wood oven turning out pizza. It opened as Circa Brewing in 2016 and renamed itself Sound + Fury at the end of 2023 with a reworked beer lineup, same building and same brewery. It is big enough that a group walking in after a show does not have to wait.

Mon to Thu, 3pm to 10pm. Fri and Sat, noon to 11pm. Sun, noon to 10pm

Up the stairs on the second floor above Gage & Tollner on the Fulton Mall, fitted out like a ship's saloon with brass, dark wood and a long rum list. It takes no reservations at all and runs first come, first served, so going early is the way to get a seat. It is 21 and over after 7pm.

Sun to Thu, 5pm to 11pm. Fri and Sat, 5pm to midnight

A corner place on DeKalb at Cumberland with windows on two sides, a bar along one wall and a menu of burgers, roast chicken and a few pastas. The kitchen runs straight through from 11am, so there is no dead hour in the middle of the afternoon when most of Fort Greene is shut. Happy hour is four to six Monday through Thursday and weekend brunch starts at 9am.

Mon to Thu, 11am to 11pm. Fri, 11am to midnight. Sat, 9am to midnight. Sun, 9am to 10pm