The best Bushwick restaurants

At this vegetarian Ethiopian charmer, you’ll get a spread of traditional bites, including red lentils in berbere sauce, mashed split peas simmered with tomato, and a chickpea stuffing with kale. Cool the heat of the spicier flavors with a strip of injera.

A Taiwanese-American spot in East Williamsburg by Josh Ku and Trigg Brown serving sloppy baos, fried eggplant and sticky tofu with pickled kumquat. And if you can't get enough, their AM bakery, Win Son Bakery, is the spot for mochi dougnuts and scallion pancake wrapped BECs. 

With a chef who wears the title of the "Birria Taco King of Brooklyn," it is no surprise that there are good tacos to be found at Nene's Taqueria. While chef Andrés Galindo Maria currently runs three restaurants around the city, the OG started right here in Bushwick. Word to the wise: you'll need to palm through a few napkins as you sink into the pork-based Birria, lest the consomme drips on your clothes. 

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A pizza pioneer, this sustainable-food mecca and buzzed-about hangout spot proves that chefs can treat pies with as much care and creativity as fine dining. One of our favorites, the Bee Sting, boasts a perfect balance of tomatoes, mozzarella, caciocavallo, sopressata, chili, basil and spicy honey. Pro tip: Grab a seat outdoors, and order some salads and charcuterie to round out your feast.

Nowon takes the title of the first Korean-American pocha (or Korean street eatery). Remixing Korean ingredients with famed foods found in NYC, Nowon's heavy hitters include 'Chopped Cheese' Rice Cakes and the Legendary Cheeseburger made with kimchi two ways, roasted and blended in a special sauce. 

Once attached to House of Yes, Queen made the move down the street, taking its note worthy falafel with it. With offerings designed by Rivka Orlin of Cafe Mogador, the menu cycles through plates of hummus and chicken schnitzel and shawarma sandwiches. 

Calling all solo diners: Ramen chain Ichiran, which combats the social stigma of eating alone with individual “flavor concentration booths” at its 60 locations in Asia, brings its introvert-friendly service system stateside with a Bushwick outpost. The dining process consists of filling out an order form—the kitchen concentrates on pork-bone tonkotsu ramen, but you can specify preferences like “flavor strength,” “noodle tenderness” and “fat content”—and pushing a call button in the partitioned solo booth.

While the slices at this no-frills-yet-elegant eatery are indeed delicious—try the Juno, with broccoli rabe and potatoes—it’s natural wines list places it in a league of its own. People love Ops’ curation of choice bottles so much, the owners opened a wine shop, Forêt Wines, in nearby Ridgewood.

While many Bushwick residents frequent Santa Salsa past the midnight hour, the Venezuelan eatery is good any time of day. The Bushwick dive is home to double patty burgers, open-faced steak sandwiches and beef, chicken and even vegan hot dogs buried under a layer of guasacaca sauce, potato chips and balls of fried white cheese. 

Uruguayan comforts are found at Tabaré. Antique photos and old bottles line the shelves, bringing a type of rustic charm to it all.  Use the glow of the tableside lamps to pick and point to empanadas filled with caramelized onions, gruyere and fontina cheese and the country's national sandwich: the Chivito Completo. 

Inspired by a beloved Wisconsin supper club of the same name, The Turk's Inn keeps the spirit of the original alive. The Bushwick revival continues the kitschy, decadence of the original, quite literally, bringing in knickknacks and even family photos of the Gogian family who once owned the 80-year-old restaurant. The midwest meets the Mediterranean here with relish trays of smoked labne and muhammara, "jeweled pilaf" and Lamb Shish Kebab. 

Chef Henry Trieu brings a little Vietnam love to Bushwick. The San Francisco import—who imbued traditional Vietnamese flavors with fine-dining finesse at Charles Phan's acclaimed Slanted Door—roots through the street food of his childhood for this 54-seat joint. Named after his Chaozhou-bred father’s mispronunciation of the world Français, Trieu’s cross-cultural restaurant unites Vietnamese and French fare. The Saigon-style/ Southern Vietnamese cuisine offers dishes like the caramelized catfish claypot, Chinese okra, as well as Shaking Beef.

Located inside a Bushwick tortilla factory, this off-the-beaten-path taqueria serves tacos, tostadas and tortas filled with meats like salted beef, carnitas and chorizo. The digs are sparse—nothing more than a few plastic tables with folding chairs and paper plates—but it's one of our favorite places in whole neighborhood. Best part? It's BYOB.

This neon-red lit drinking den is hidden in plain sight. Just one peek over the mezzanine and you'll find a pull-down projector that screens Thai films and a palm-thatched bar for imbibing. But beyond the visuals of it all, there is good food to be had here too, like the fried chicken wings with homemade sour laab chili powder and roasted pork for sharing.