Bushwick

Chef Eric Tran, who trained at Blue Hill at Stone Barns under Dan Barber, does Vietnamese-Mexican fusion. It’s super untraditional, but it’s very him—and very good. Go for fried rice and egg rolls (Tran’s dad’s recipe), honey-glazed pork shoulder, Prince Edward Island mussels swimming in soupy red curry, and sticky, tender duck neck. The five-spice lamb neck, which comes with tortillas and salsas, is massive. Come with friends and order one of everything to share. Or bring someone you want to impress—Falansai is effortlessly cool—and go for the set menu. (Tran calls it đặc biệt, Vietnamese for “special.”)

With a background in editorial, photojournalism, and fashion photography, Jennifer MacFarlane adds a cool, unrehearsed edge to traditional wedding photography. Based in Bushwick, MacFarlane brings an exuberance that’s all her own to the day. Weddings carry a heavy logistical load from the outset, but MacFarlane is a seasoned pro at planning out the scheduled shots and ensuring that none of the intimate moments are missed.

The combination of puffy, charred crust, and sweet-salty tomato sauce at Roberta’s in Bushwick is, to us, the perfect pizza. Along with those still-delicious pizzas, the restaurant is delivering make-your-own pasta kits, too, complete with detailed instructions. For those who like their pies piping-hot, check out Roberta’s thoughtful how-to-reheat illustrations on the site.

For the mornings when only a French baguette will do, there’s Bushwick staple L’imprimerie. The bakery is keeping up with bread and pastry orders, plus pantry items like sauerkraut, dried beans, coffee, granola, yogurt, and wine. L’imprimerie is giving free pizza assembly kits to essential workers (which means anyone keeping the city running—drivers, medics, restaurant workers, etc.), and you can buy them as well. And all those looking to master the art of sourdough should make a beeline for the bakery’s starter kits.

In this part of Bushwick, Dweebs (on the corner of Dekalb and Wilson) acts as the neighborhood’s communal office, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a small, flower-filled patio to draw in the area’s creative minds. There are outlets everywhere and a printer that actually works. And as any local will tell you: The bagels and coffee are the best you’ll find off the Jefferson L train stop. Photo courtesy of Bridget Kenny.

There’s no place like Honey’s—and not just because you feel like you’ve stepped out of Bushwick into some other realm as you sit in one of the wooden booths surrounded by cinder blocks and concrete. (Fun fact: The space, once a restaurant-equipment repair shop, was designed by one of the set designers for the movie Beasts of the Southern Wild.) Honey’s is a meadery/mead bar—the only one we’ve come across in Brooklyn—and it serves exquisite cocktails infused with the ancient alcohol. (Made from honey fermented with well water and mixed with various spices and herbs, mead figures strongly in Norse mythology but is much older than that.) The herbalist owners pick many of their ingredients upstate, which is reflected in fresh, always-inventive drinks.

At the Three Diamond Door, the tattooed bartenders look as imposingly cool as they are friendly and easygoing. There’s no bar in the area more festive on Friday and Saturday nights, when every inch of the place is packed, including the yard and back bar room where amazing dance music blares. There’s prosecco on tap, an excellent selection of beers, leather booths to sink into, and incredible people-watching.

There’s no dearth of awesome tiny bars in New York City—but Nowadays is something else entirely. With its sprawling outdoor space that easily fits DJs, dance parties, and picnic tables, it’s the ultimate spot to while away summer Saturdays sipping cocktails and grazing on incredible food (the White Rhino sandwich is cauliflower-caper-Gruyere heaven). On the border of Bushwick, Brooklyn, and Ridgewood, Queens, the breezy hangout is a fantastic time day or night. In colder months, everything moves indoors—you lose the whimsy of partying with friends under the night sky, but you gain a dance floor that goes all night on Saturday evenings—from 10 p.m. until the next afternoon.

A vintage-clothing mecca if there ever was one, Urban Jungle is huge and brimming with all manner of treasures: Perfectly tattered Levis, t-shirts and sweatshirts from the ‘80s and ‘90s so soft from wear and awesome that most NYC vintage stores would get away with charging a cool hundred for them (Here, most of the t-shirts go for under $12.) You’ll also find vibrant Mexican blankets, army fatigues, cowboy boots, ponchos, fur coats, everything and anything, really—and all inexplicably reasonably priced. The one criticism, if you can even call it that, is that the place is truly sprawling (it spans almost a whole block), so just make sure you’re in the mood to do some serious rack sifting.

With rustic wall-hangings and candles tucked into cozy corners, and a curio-shop feel, the atmosphere at Pearl’s is a draw in and of itself, but the cocktails are incredible. There are shots of bone broth (the same broth also infuses their perfect Bloody Mary) or tequila-spiked kombucha; beers galore, and wine, much of it served in adorable Mason jars. The bartenders dole out delicious snack bowls with pretzels, sesame-crunchy-things, and other savory crisps to accompany your drinks. This is the sort of place that compels you to stay and sip into the night—unless you happen to be there on a sunny day, of course, when sitting outside with a bone-broth Bloody Mary is heaven on earth.