New York’s best Greenpoint restaurants include new-school Jewish delis, primo pizza spots and tasting-menu restaurants
Greenpoint may not have the name-brand cool-kid cred like its southern sibling, Williamsburg, but it’s packed with plenty of quality eateries to keep you coming to the northernmost neighborhood of north Brooklyn. The best Greenpoint restaurants are some of the best restaurants in Brooklyn, ranging from nouveau New York delis to a pizza powerhouse to one of the best donut shops in NYC. Here’s where you should be eating next time you’re in the nabe.
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Wood-fired brick-oven pies are sprinkled with herbs and vegetables grown in the restaurant's greenhouse. Freshly picked arugula, for example, might be combined with eggplant, bresaola and Parmesan, and locally grown figs may be matched with prosciutto and Gorgonzola. Too esoteric for your family? No worries: Try the basic marinara or Margherita. You can't go wrong with any of the pies here.
Pizza hobbyist turned pro Paul Giannone produces truly original pies at this rustic Greenpoint eatery. The best pizzas here are mixed-media masterworks with gorgeously blackened crusts covered in crispy nooks and pillowy bubbles. The Honey Jones—a frequent special featuring honey from a Brooklyn beekeeper, Gorgonzola, mozzarella, cherries and wispy prosciutto—beautifully balances sweet and salty. The Rooftop Pie includes crunchy Brooklyn-grown kale, gorgeously singed atop mozzarella and sausage. Ask for a seat in the back for a view of the roaring oven—a custom-built, while-tiled dome that burns up to 1,000 degrees.
When the globe-trotting chef Daniel Burns teamed up with Danish brewer Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, it looked like another imperious tasting-menu restaurant was in the works. With these two avant-garde figures, all the signs pointed to a little hauteur: The duo’s restaurant, Luksus, would be hidden in the back of Jarnit-Bjergsø’s Greenpoint bar, Tørst, and only esoteric beer would be on offer; not even one bottle of wine for those disinclined toward suds. But these high-handed guideposts proved misleading: Burns is an affable host behind the counter, explaining his process like a soft-spoken professor for those who ask, and his crew of servers soothe any beer snobbery with pretenseless briefs of accompanying brews.
A century-long family history in fishmongering is, oddly, not why entertainment lawyer Vincent Milburn built this north Brooklyn seafoodery. After music-industry pal Adam Geringer-Dunn noticed a plethora of butchers but zero fish shops in the nabe, the pair began hosting pop-up lobster bakes. Now they’ve ventured into purveying, sourcing only seasonal and sustainable—and sometimes local—catch like wild Alaskan salmon and Arctic char at a retail counter. They put the fresh goods to use in dishes like lobster rolls, kelp-noodle pad Thai and Baja-style fish tacos dressed with citrus-cabbage slaw and chipotle-lime mayo, doled out in a tiled space outfitted with marble counters and high-top tables.
Raised on Jewish-food landmarks like Barney Greengrass and Zabar’s, brother-owners and Upper West Side natives Zach and Alex Frankel (former chef at Jack’s Wife Freda and half of Brooklyn synth-pop duo Holy Ghost!, respectively) preserve the traditions of their lox-peddling elders with menschy earnestness. There are no revisionist latkes or molecular-gastro matzo balls here—just the deli staples they, and New York, grew up on. The malt-sweet, hand-rolled bagels come from Baz; the smoked fish (kippered salmon, sable), from Acme. What Frankel’s gets right is the balanced ratio of its ingredients: ribbons of Irish organic salmon, equal parts oil and silk, has just enough fresh salinity and wood-chip smokiness to stand up to a creamy spread of whitefish salad and a few plucky capers on a bagel sandwich.
You’ll find doughy fritters, not Tinkerbell, at this Greenpoint standby. Dip your lightly glazed raised doughnut into steaming coffee at the curved counter or box up a dozen still-warm chocolate cake rounds and black-raspberry jellies—just some of the 20-odd varieties baked daily.
In an old industrial glass factory, chef Eldad Shem Tov bring a touch of the breezy Mediterranean coast to the gritty Greenpoint waterfront. Tov oversees a menu that spans Spain, Greece and the Middle East, in dishes such as cauliflower with labneh and fresh marjoram, bone marrow with pistachios and challah, and carved lamb with smoked salsify and pine nuts.
Erin Patinkin and Agatha Kulaga, the duo behind the popular wholesale bakery, showcase their quirky pastries in their first retail location—a stylish 13-seat café decked out with herringbone tile and green-and-white patterned wallpaper. Take your Brooklyn Blackout Cake (made with Brooklyn Brewery beer and salted chocolate pudding) or Bloody Mary Scone (studded with fresh horseradish, tomato and celery salt) with a Stumptown coffee.
Moto and Smith & Mills designer John McCormick went for a sunken-ship look when outfitting the nautical Greenpoint café, from first-time restaurateurs Jud Mongell and Kathy Mecham. You’ll find distressed wood and portholes, along with marble tables etched by Brooklyn tattoo artist Scott Campbell. Some eats bear an Australian stamp—the house grass-fed burger comes the Down Under way with beets, pineapple and a fried egg. Others, like a breakfast of toast topped with sliced radishes and Evan’s Farmhouse butter, are French by way of upstate New York. If this project sounds familiar, it may be because of the involvement of actor Heath Ledger, who helped fund the eatery prior to his passing.
French classics get an update at this Greenpoint brasserie, where apple-mustard rabbit terrine and candied-orange chocolate crémeux are presented on Provençal-inspired plates.
Catalan-bred owner Elena Manich updates the tapas of her native Spain at this Greenpoint small-plates spot, outfitted with a marble bar and vaulted ceiling. Inspired by Barcelona's hipster-baiting El Born district, the 50-seat restaurant offers shareable dishes like octopus legs a la piedra (cooked on a stone) with potatoes and pimentón. A mix of Spanish and local wines are also available.
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