21 picks worth planning around.

Before

Marsha P. Johnson State Park · 0.2 mi · 4 min walk

Seven acres of lawn on the East River at the foot of North 8th Street, on the site of the old Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal. It was East River State Park until 2020, when the state renamed it for Marsha P. Johnson. The Manhattan skyline sits directly across the water.

After

The Levee · 0.2 mi · 5 min walk

Twenty-odd years on the corner of Berry and North 3rd, pouring cheap beer and putting out bowls of Utz cheese balls for nothing. The kitchen does chili dogs and Frito pie. There is a pool table, a dartboard and a jukebox that has not been curated by anyone.

Before

Sophie's · 0.3 mi · 7 min walk

A pool table and cheap drafts have kept this East 5th Street bar useful. EV Grieve began in December 2007 as Sophie's Bar Blog, written to document the closing of this bar and Mona's after Page Six reported both were for sale. Neither one closed, and Rich Corton and Kirk Marcoe took Sophie's over in 2008.

After

2A · 0.2 mi · 5 min walk

A plain corner bar at Avenue A and 2nd, open since 1985 in a building that went up in the late 1860s as the Teutonia Savings Bank. The ground-floor windows run nearly the full height of the wall. Upstairs is a lounge called Old Flings. Berlin, the music venue, is the basement of the same building.

Before

Wu's Wonton King · 0.1 mi · 3 min walk

Large round tables under bright light on East Broadway, doing Cantonese roast meats, Peking duck and whole fried crab. The roast suckling pig has to be ordered ahead. There is no corkage at all, so people carry their own bottles in. It took over the old Wing Shoon storefront in 2016.

After

169 Bar · 0.2 mi · 3 min walk

A bar at 169 East Broadway that opened in 1916 and was known for years as the Bloody Bucket. A leopard-print pool table sits under the neon and the sound system stays on seventies funk. It opens at two in the afternoon and runs until four in the morning.

Before

Kopitiam · 0.2 mi · 3 min walk

Kyo Pang cooks the Nyonya food she grew up with, and the coffee is kopi, brewed strong and poured over condensed milk. Kuih and toast come out through the day rather than only at breakfast. It sits down on East Broadway, below the busy Lower East Side blocks.

After

169 Bar · 0.2 mi · 3 min walk

A bar at 169 East Broadway that opened in 1916 and was known for years as the Bloody Bucket. A leopard-print pool table sits under the neon and the sound system stays on seventies funk. It opens at two in the afternoon and runs until four in the morning.

Before

Hungry Ghost Coffee, DeKalb · 0.1 mi · 2 min walk

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.

After

Sound + Fury Brewery and Kitchen · 0.4 mi · 9 min walk

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.

Before

Arepas Cafe · 0.3 mi · 6 min walk

A narrow Venezuelan place on 36th Avenue that has been griddling arepas on this block since the late 2000s. You order at the counter from a board of about twenty fillings and the reina pepiada is the one most people come back for. There are a dozen or so tables and the turnover is quick. It sits directly across 36th Avenue from Melrose Ballroom's door.

After

Cronin & Phelan's · 0.4 mi · 8 min walk

A traditional Irish pub on Broadway that calls itself the longest-standing one in Astoria, in a building that goes back to the start of the last century. The current owner took it over in the early 1990s and it has stayed a darts-and-regulars pub rather than being made over. The kitchen runs Irish standards and there is a back garden. It opens in the morning and holds a 4am license.

Before

Mei Lai Wah · 0.5 mi · 10 min walk; 2 min ride

A Chinatown bakery and coffee counter opened in 1968 by Mr and Mrs Chan, who had come from Taishan. After more than fifty years on Bayard Street it moved to a larger space at 41 Mott. A roast pork bun and a cup of coffee is what people go in for.

After

169 Bar · 0.2 mi · 3 min walk

A bar at 169 East Broadway that opened in 1916 and was known for years as the Bloody Bucket. A leopard-print pool table sits under the neon and the sound system stays on seventies funk. It opens at two in the afternoon and runs until four in the morning.

Before

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que · 0.4 mi · 9 min walk

The Brooklyn branch of the barbecue business John Stage started from a motorcycle-rally pit in Syracuse in 1988. It is a big loud space on Union Street with long tables, a full bar and ribs by the rack or the quarter. You can put your name down and drink while you wait, or eat at the bar on your own.

After

Canal Bar · 0.4 mi · 8 min walk

A dark bar on Third Avenue named for the waterway a block away, with a jukebox, a pool table and prices that have not tracked the neighborhood. Happy hour runs from three in the afternoon to eight, Monday through Friday. It closes at four in the morning every night of the week.

Before

Sullivan Street Bakery · 0.5 mi · 10 min walk; 2 min ride

Jim Lahey's bakery, with pizza bianca cut off the slab at the counter. A few stools face the ovens.

After

Empanada Mama · 0.5 mi · 10 min walk; 2 min ride

Forty kinds of empanada and a full arepa list, open well past when the rest of Ninth shuts. Start with the viuda.

Before

Arepas Cafe · 0.3 mi · 6 min walk

A narrow Venezuelan place on 36th Avenue that has been griddling arepas on this block since the late 2000s. You order at the counter from a board of about twenty fillings and the reina pepiada is the one most people come back for. There are a dozen or so tables and the turnover is quick. It sits directly across 36th Avenue from Melrose Ballroom's door.

After

Cronin & Phelan's · 0.4 mi · 8 min walk

A traditional Irish pub on Broadway that calls itself the longest-standing one in Astoria, in a building that goes back to the start of the last century. The current owner took it over in the early 1990s and it has stayed a darts-and-regulars pub rather than being made over. The kitchen runs Irish standards and there is a back garden. It opens in the morning and holds a 4am license.

Before

Mesa Coyoacan · 0.5 mi · 11 min walk; 2 min ride

Chef Ivan Garcia's Mexico City cooking on Graham Avenue, with a bar at the front and tables behind it. Weekend service starts at noon, which covers a day show. Weeknights it opens at 5pm.

After

Reclamation Bar · 0.5 mi · 10 min walk; 2 min ride

A bar off the Graham Avenue L built out of salvaged wood, with a back patio and a window where Howlin' Taco runs Austin-style breakfast tacos seven nights a week. It stays open to 4am every night. Happy hour runs 5pm to 9pm on weekdays.

Before

Village East by Angelika · 0.5 mi · 10 min walk; 2 min ride

A 1926 building that opened as the Yiddish Art Theatre, with a Star of David set into the domed ceiling and Moorish plasterwork around it. It has shown films since 1992 and both the interior and the exterior were designated city landmarks in 1993. Seven screens now, and the largest one is the original auditorium.

After

Amsterdam Billiards · 0.3 mi · 7 min walk

A pool hall on 11th at Fourth Avenue with a full bar at the front and tables behind it. Pool, ping pong and darts, open to 3am every night of the week. You can take a table for an hour or sit at the bar and not take one at all. Leagues run here, so some nights a section of the floor is spoken for while the rest is walk-up.

Before

La Parrillada Colombiana · 0.2 mi · 4 min walk

A Colombian grill on Metropolitan doing paisa platters, arepas and grilled meat, with a bar attached. It opens at 9am and runs to 11pm. On this stretch of Metropolitan that combination does not exist anywhere else.

After

Pearl's Social & Billy Club · short ride recommended · 3 min

A small corner bar on St Nicholas that has been the default Bushwick meeting point since 2011. Draft beer and cocktails come in mason jars. Board games sit behind the bar, and a DJ plays some nights. The 2pm open is the useful part.

Before

Milk Bar Nolita · 0.3 mi · 6 min walk

Christina Tosi opened the first Milk Bar in the East Village in 2008 and this Mott Street shop is one of five the company still runs in the city. The Compost Cookie and the Milk Bar Pie, which was called Crack Pie until 2019, are what people come for. You order at a case and carry it out.

After

Katz's Delicatessen · 0.4 mi · 9 min walk

Cutters have been hand-slicing pastrami behind this counter since 1888 and the ticket handed to you at the door is still the system. Order at the counter, tip the cutter, and you eat sooner than a table would let you. It runs straight through Friday and Saturday nights.

Before

Faicco's Italian Specialties · 0.5 mi · 10 min walk; 2 min ride

A butcher counter and sandwich operation that has been on Bleecker Street since the start of the last century. The thing to order is the Italian special hero or a rice ball from the fried case by the register. It is takeout, so plan to eat it on a bench rather than at a table.

After

Kettle of Fish · 0.2 mi · 5 min walk

A dark bar on Christopher Street with darts and an old Ms. Pac-Man cabinet, plus couches people sit on for hours. It is the Green Bay Packers bar in New York, which on a Sunday in autumn means the place is full of Wisconsin accents by noon. The rest of the week it is quiet and cheap.

Before

Westway Diner · 0.1 mi · 1 min walk

A working Ninth Avenue diner where Seinfeld wrote. Breakfast runs all day and the counter turns over fast.

After

Rudy's Bar & Grill · 0.1 mi · 1 min walk

Cheap pitchers and a free hot dog with every drink. The duct-taped red booths have outlasted most of the block around them.

Before

Ukrainian East Village Restaurant · 0.3 mi · 7 min walk

Inside the Ukrainian National Home on Second Avenue, in a building that traces back to around 1830 and has been a private house, a YMCA and the Stuyvesant Casino along the way. Pierogi, stuffed cabbage, borscht and roast pork, run largely unchanged for more than fifty years.

After

Amsterdam Billiards · 0.1 mi · 1 min walk

A pool hall on 11th at Fourth Avenue with a full bar at the front and tables behind it. Pool, ping pong and darts, open to 3am every night of the week. You can take a table for an hour or sit at the bar and not take one at all. Leagues run here, so some nights a section of the floor is spoken for while the rest is walk-up.

Before

DeKalb Market Hall · 0.2 mi · 4 min walk

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.

After

Sunken Harbor Club · 0.5 mi · 10 min walk; 2 min ride

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.

Before

American Folk Art Museum · 0.2 mi · 4 min walk

A single floor of self-taught American art on Columbus Avenue, free every day it opens. The collection runs to quilts and weathervanes. Portraits by painters who never trained hang near the drawings of Henry Darger. You can walk the whole thing in forty minutes.

After

Malachy's Donegal Inn · 0.4 mi · 8 min walk

A small pub on 72nd Street a block from Strawberry Fields, trading under this name since 1989 and as the Blarney Castle before that. Wood bar, a few tables, televisions on for whatever is playing. It opens at noon and runs to two in the morning most nights.

Before

Ukrainian East Village Restaurant · 0.4 mi · 8 min walk

Inside the Ukrainian National Home on Second Avenue, in a building that traces back to around 1830 and has been a private house, a YMCA and the Stuyvesant Casino along the way. Pierogi, stuffed cabbage, borscht and roast pork, run largely unchanged for more than fifty years.

After

Old Town Bar · 0.4 mi · 8 min walk

Opened at 45 East 18th in 1892 and still running a dumbwaiter that hauls plates from the basement kitchen to the upstairs dining floor, the oldest one working in the city. Tin ceilings above a long mahogany bar, and a burger that has not changed much. The upstairs is where you go when the bar is three deep.

Before

Museum of the Moving Image · 0.5 mi · 9 min walk; 2 min ride

The museum occupies part of the old Astoria Studios complex on 35th Avenue, where Paramount shot silent pictures before the industry moved west. The core exhibition is hands-on, with a recording booth where you dub dialogue over a film clip and cases of cameras, costumes and props. Thursday afternoon admission is free. There is also a 267-seat theater that programs its own screenings.

After

Omonia Cafe · 0.1 mi · 3 min walk

A Greek cafe on Broadway with a refrigerated case of galaktoboureko, ekmek and cakes cut to order, and a coffee counter that works from six in the morning until half past one the next night. People order a frappe and sit an hour at a marble-top table without anyone minding. There is waiter service at the tables rather than a line at a register. The Astoria branch is one of three, the others being in Bay Ridge and on the Upper West Side.