Bowling for Brooklyn

New Yorkers have to save up for certain activities, activities that are meant for plebeians but here are accessible only to society's upper echelon, most notably going to the movies and bowling. I can't exactly say Brooklyn Bowl is cheap (you have a cover charge, renting a lane and shoes, plus drinks), but it's  fantastic bowling alley--and a popular one--so reserve a lane in advance and cut loose. Pop music is plucked from the mid-90s, curious video projections stir up conversation, and a band you've never heard of will probably take the stage. Overall it's a great way to spend a Friday night and worth the money. Plus, you can finally show off both of your bowling dances--the triumphant strike-a-pose and the awkward dance of gutter ball regret.

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Bowling • Williamsburg

Thank Cod

Zenkichi makes me feel like I'm in Japan. The intimate setting gives you plenty of privacy--instead of having the waiter to come check in with you every five minutes, they have a buzzer at the table when you need them. The bamboo, stone, and wood decor immediately put me into a zen mode to enjoy my dinner. And the eight course dining experience for under $50? I can't complain. Zenkichi taught me raw Kobe beef can be soooo good! From start to finish, every dish has been well thought out. The presentation, the taste, they all perfectly compliment each other. My all time favorite is Grilled Black Cod. Full of flavor but not overwhelming, I have never tasted such amazing grilled fish anywhere else. Yet.

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Restaurants • Williamsburg

J(oy) Ride

Take the J Train Do you hate Manhattan, except for certain parts way downtown? Do you love riding trains that don't stop at major attractions? Do you enjoy a slight vertigo as an above-ground train appears to tip off the rails? Then the J train shall be your urban oasis. It's easy to forget about this line if you don't live on it, but in one fell swoop you can plan a fantastic New York City itinerary. You now have immediate access to the Museum of the American Indian (Broad St. stop), cheap eats and shopping in Chinatown (Canal St. stop), inexpensive restaurant supplies (Bowery St. stop), the scrumptious Doughnut Plant on the Lower East Side (Delancey/Essex stop), a scenic ride over the iconic Williamsburg bridge, Peter Luger in South Williamsburg (Marcy Ave. stop), beautiful public works by the Muralistas del Puente (Marcy Ave stop: head up Berry St.), and the rare occurrence of real Mexican food, obtained at the back of "Mexico 2000" on Broadway, featuring excellent pan dulce, huaraches, and tacos (Hewes stop). All this and more, in addition to one of my favorite activities: standing amidst the downtown Manhattan courthouses after dark and looking up at the stars, the finest possible view of Gotham City (Chambers St. stop).

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Subway Station (NYC) • Williamsburg

Steak of the Gods

To celebrate the three year anniversary of my initial desire to eat at Peter Luger, after three years of not devising an excuse to spend so much money on steak, I just went. Besides, you never know if even the famous institutions will survive a recession. Max Brenner in the East Village is now closed, so if people are no longer willing to pay high prices for meals crafted entirely of chocolate, maybe there are fewer foodies rushing out for a renowned cut of meat. Honestly, the meal at Peter Luger was fantastic. I shared the unbelievably tender and flavorful Steak for Two ($85), a sizzling half-fillet t-bone that they aged themselves, with some excellent not-too-creamy spinach. Even the onion rolls and the milk chocolate coins given with the check are excellent. Only small complaint: their barbecue sauce more closely resembles shrimp cocktail sauce. But how much is a meal ever really worth, even if it's nearly unparalleled? A million dollars? It's hard to assign it a numerical value based on an emotional response, but that doesn't mean it wasn't one of the best steaks I've ever eaten.

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Restaurants • Williamsburg

Walk This Way

Going for a run in New York can feel like a deadly game of Frogger. If you run in Central Park, and you're anything like me, you stop trying when yet another senior citizen speeds past you pushing his quadruplet grandkids uphill in a massive stroller. Prospect Park has its own confidence-killing athletes, particularly bikers who zoom past you ascending that final hill without breaking a sweat. The rest of us might want to try the McCarren Park track (serious runners need not apply). For anyone who merely runs for fun, feels intimidated when running alongside an Olympian geriatric, or is gearing up to run after a long hiatus, look no further. This track is small and manageable, and it's filled with people who move at their own pace. The track eliminates any need to look out for cars and, for people like myself, it helps me to focus. The catch? There are women with strollers who stand in the middle, there is little concept of letting the fastest people stick to the inside, and sometimes all eight lanes are occupied by an impenetrable chain of walkers. And there are sometimes flying soccer balls. But for the peace of mind that you’re not being judged, it’s worth it.

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Landmarks • Williamsburg

The O.G. of Local Food

If you read the restaurant blogs (admittedly, I do), new artfully-hodgepodge restaurants local/organic/ecoconscious everything are as profuse and obnoxious as the cut-off crowd to whom they cater. But above the who-did-it-first, who-does-it-best bickering between fickle foodie-lights stands Diner. Confidently cool, Diner has been doing what is suddenly hip for a while now, and they still do it best. The schtick of writing the night's specials on the paper tablecloth is still charming, like your server is crouched down divulging secrets deeper the seasonal vegetables. I'd never thought Brussels sprouts could extract cries of delight, but Diner's sent my heart aflutter. Despite the recent burger-surge, Diner's basic burger remains one of the best in the city. Even a simple homemade pasta, pictured, with shaved asparagus and an egg yolk, was unequivocal perfection. It's rare in W'burg that a restaurant dares to prepare excellent ingredients thoughtfully and simply; Diner dares, and conquers. Whether snuggled in a salvaged booth or lounging on the grey Broadway promenade, Diner's simplicity will always beat any of the copycats.

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Restaurants • Williamsburg

Two Hipster Thumbs Up

Colloquially billed as "the new Cake Shop," Bruar Falls could have been another harbinger of hipsterfication, further concentrating the disaffected-and-well-funded in the frustrating Bedford nabe. But like it's daddy's LES hood, Bruar's Grand Street location has managed to maintain some of its grittiness despite several boutiques and 'nice' restaurants cropping up like mouth-sores among certain hipster circles. This said, Bruar Falls is A-Okay! Cafe-by-day, venue-by-night, it has the same baked goods and bumping sound system as CS, just on a smaller scale. De rigueur dark n' shabby chic decor and retro video games at the front give way to the small stage and standing area at the back, where live music can nodded to for free or cheap every night. Understated without and within, populated by a smattering of off-Bedford archetypes, Bruar Falls will be a great hang-out spot...until the 21-year-olds catch on.

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Nightlife • Williamsburg

More Drinking Than Eating

Marlow & Sons is a great space. Lots of wood, a cozy back room with a nice bar to belly up to, and hordes of beautiful people (this is Billyburg 2009 after all). For happy hour and drinks, this place is perfect. For a late night date of beers and oysters, you can't do much better. But if you're looking for a real meal, you're probably better going around the corner to Relish, Dressler, or Diner. The cured meats (the nostrano especially) were nice and the salad stellar, but the mains (like the crawfish boil special) were just ok. But maybe we've just been spoiled by experiences in New Orleans. Can you say NFT New Orleans?

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Restaurants • Williamsburg

Another One Bites the Dust

...And so it comes time to bid farewell to another fabulous New York bar, Black Betty. Tonight is this Williamsburg watering hole's swansong, but what better way to say goodbye than having The Reverend Vince Anderson and His Love Choir gospel the night away--probably deep into the night, if we know our Reverend. If you've never had the pleasure of Black Betty, go and say hello; if you've never had the pleasure of the Reverend, you're in for a treat. We just hope his next venue can match the (now-defunct) supercoolness of Black Betty. If it's Union Pool, the answer is probably yes, but we're going to miss the heck out of Black Betty anyway. May the wind always lift your sails...

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Nightlife • Williamsburg

Intimate Vintage

For all the Salinger slip-ups the name likely begets, shopping at Franny & Roey's I felt a bit like Buddy browsing through his brother Seymour (An Introduction)'s bedroom--if Seymour were a teenage girl in the '60s. I slipped in the door, across the canary yellow room to the vintage wardrobe filled with blouses, skirts and the smell of old wool. I could see sweaters in the partially-open drawers of the matching dresser; moving to examine the contents more carefully, I spun round to see Francis behind me, sitting on the twin bed, it's multicolored spread neatly tucked and strewn with old magazines. "I'm sorry," I breathed, "I feel like I'm snooping..." She smiled: "Go ahead." More than a shop, it's as if the room's inhabitant has left for the soda counter, leaving me free to peruse her records and books, try on her hats, and tuck them away (after paying) taking a bit of her with me. A Glass-family experience without the guilt, Franny and Roey invite everyone in to browse around the bedroom.

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Shopping • Williamsburg

Great Expectations Met

I love two things in this world: coffee and pastry. Okay, I'm shallow and will die lonely, fat, and caffeinated; back off. I have high expectations of my two loves. Bitterness--in smell, in taste, in the cool-as-fuck barista serving it to me--will not be tolerated in my coffee experience. And I could write you a book on what makes a baked good great, but I'll save you the time and me the effort and just tell you to go to Second Stop. The newest purveyors of Stumptown's finest beans are also masterbakers, creating delectable doughy wonderment in the bakery downstairs. Vegan carrot ginger muffins are sticky, not-too-sweet squares of enchantment, and who could rebuff a chocolate bundt cake soaked in 13-year-old whiskey? "It's the only whiskey we had," explains coffee-slinger-extraordinaire Sasha, the friendliest barista maybe ever. Already popular in the Lorimer 'hood (the SECOND Brooklyn L STOP), they've been running out of the some popular items, and seating is scarce on a Sunday. But I'll brave the sure-to-come crowds. I would die for love, and that's why they’ll have to drag my carcass out of Second Stop.

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Coffee • Williamsburg

Sleep Tight...

Wars are raging, stocks falling, glaciers melting; it would seem the apocalypse is just around the corner during 2009. Bring on yet another of the Plagues of New York: bedbugs. Everyone knows someone who's gotten 'em, and their NYC-comeback is now national news. Curb-shopping for furniture, a favorite recession pastime, may become passe as every cushion is suspect of harboring thousands of blood-sucking beasts seeking to infest your apartment, attack your flesh and leave you screaming, scratching, broke, and begging the Almighty to bring on frogs, incurable boils, anything less embarrassing and frustrating. Wrap your mattress, wash your sheets, call the exterminator, but pray you don't fall victim to their wrath before the darkness subsides. Bedbugs are back, baby!

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Landmarks • Williamsburg

Post-Junk/Pre-History

Looking to kill a half-hour in Williamsburg? You could do a lot worse than swing by the City Reliquary on Metropolitan. Specializing in random artifacts from NYC's not-so-ancient history, you can gaze and wonder at such items as the insanely large collection of Statue of Liberty postcards, old thermos and seltzer bottle collections, World's Fair memorabilia, Presidential Plates, manhole-cover rubbings, and antique pens. The best stuff, however, is simply the little bits and shards of old buildings and structures that are just lying everywhere--and what various folks at the Reliquary have decided to do with such pieces (see photo!). The current exhibit is showing some cool 1930s-era milk cartons. Never a dull moment at the Reliquary, we assure you.

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Landmarks , Museums • Williamsburg

Hot Mess

Laden with the guilt of a winter replete with whiskey and goat cheese, a cleanse seemed a most sanctifying option. What better way to bring oneself back to reality of the physical self than by stripping to skivvies and twisting one's body in equatorial heat amongst beautiful people more fit than one's wildest 'Buns of Steel' dreams? As sweaty, tedious, and masochistic as your greatest night clubbing (if you have those; I don't), Bikram yoga in hipsterville is nauseating in a thousand different ways. There is no way to look cool whilst balancing on one foot with the other over your soaking forehead, slowly slipping to the ground in a puddle of your own perspiration. So why choose to go to Bikram in W'burg? For the same reason you choose to do anything there--because once you've showered off your shame, you feel smugly self-satisfied and just a bit more badass.

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Yoga • Williamsburg

Sweet-Tea Dreams

The narrowing list of reasons for Williamsburgers to brave an L-train ride into Manhattan just got even shorter: bubble-tea is no longer a sub-14th Street specialty! The friendly franchise-folks at the grammatically confusing Saint's Alp Tea House have forded the East River and set up a second New York post to fulfill tapioca wishes and sweet-tea dreams. This W'burg shop has the same kooky combos as its 3rd Avenue counterpart--mung bean shakes and honey & yolk cocktails, anyone?--along with dim sum and noodles cheap and plentiful. The shop evokes a twee music video, outfitted in bubble-gum hued plastic that complements the syrupy sweet teas. For those who don't like the fish-egg texture of tapioca balls, don't expect Saint's Alp to convert you. But if you're a Brooklynite who enjoys a cuppa milky, chewy goodness, it's a far sight better than schlepping over the one on the island.

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Coffee • Williamsburg

Don’t You Take Me To

MonkeyTown is cool. Or hip, or rad, or bitchin' or whatever musicians-with-laptops say, it's that. How could I know? Well, I took my Cool Checklist. Relatively indistinguishable on a remote block an inconvenient walk from the Bedford L a.k.a. the epicenter of all things trust-fund-sappingly trendy? Check. Semi-secret back room/venue? Check. Cover charge AND a minimum? Check. Overpriced drinks? Check. Menu items unknown (truffled upma), confusing (Maine lobster, root beer flavor), or just plain stupid (hot pink mayo)? Check, check, check. Too freakin' dark to see the 'inventive'/pricey food you're eating? Big Check. I check-check-checked perched on the 'lounge' futon trying not to fall forward into my spring roll or backward kicking our drinks onto guitars, amps, and an accordion, squinting in the flickering light of four projection screens sputtering hallucinatory nonsense somewhere between Yellow Submarine and Deee-Lite. I managed to navigate all the rickety shin-height furniture without spilling anyone's martinis or veloutes, seeking refuge in the bathroom only to be greeted by a looped recording of a woman asking questions about my urinary tract. Check. Oh and I don’t know why it's called MonkeyTown--I'm not cool enough for that.

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Restaurants • Williamsburg

Metallica

Modern, shiny, expensive, foolish. Admittedly, Kellogg's newfangled back-to-the-future chrome exterior looks pretty cool. Unremittingly, it embarrasses me. When last I paid Kellogg's a call, I purchased a Reuben, which was far too expensive and bore no Russian Dressing. Impoverished of flavor, corpulent of cost: If I could base all Kellogg's purchases on that recently purchased Reuben, I would call it the nouveau-riche of one-time greasy spoons. But I dissolve into disagreeableness. Kellogg's doesn't deserve all my ire. I understand the Greek immigrant changing-with-the-times, money-grubbing thing. I've been there myself. Immigrant proprietors can't be concerned with artistry, or satisfying retrophiliac locals. That's a luxury for the second generation. Immigrants must survive. In a universally acknowledged New York Times article, Jay Espinal, a partner of the owners, inveighed "You can still come in here drunk at 3 am and feel comfortable... The only difference now is now it might be more conducive to staying and having another drink, at our full cocktail bar!!!" (Punctuation mine.)

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Restaurants • Williamsburg

Green Scene

Open a few months after a much-needed rehabilitation, the Grand Ferry Park is a rare and welcome green spot in North Brooklyn where pretty parks are sparse. Manhattanites were slumming in W'burg as far back as the 1840s, but the ferry carried its last passengers and Brooklyn-made goods 90 years ago. Remnants of the landing's past were preserved in the refurb: the brick smokestack from the Pfizer molasses plant (uh-huh) is a tiny memorial to industry, in the shadow of the Domino Sugar monolith next door. With a great view of four of the East River bridges, lush landscaping, and a restored boulder-wall at the water's edge, there's ample space to contemplate the rich history of interborough trade and travel, or that bespectacled cutie on the next bench.

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Landmarks • Williamsburg

The King and Thai

They may not know your name, but you'll forget Sam and Cliff the moment you step inside this far superior Cheers. The hunger-spiking essence of coconut, lemongrass, and chili hit the nose so hard that by the time you've buried it in the vast Cheers menu, everything looks good. Lucky for you, it is! Spicy Tomyum Goong soup is the way to warm up no matter what the weather. The broccoli and basil is a verdant, saucy wonder: bamboo shoots aren't just for pandas anymore! I've heard many claim the Pad Thai is the best in Brooklyn--in the (bizarrely) Thai-saturated Williamsburg/Greenpoint area, and I'd have to concur. Check out the picture postcards lining the booths and be transported to Thailand markets whilst grazing on summer rolls and steamed dumplings. On a recent visit, every table was full and the room warm and buzzing, but the lovely wait staff were fast, friendly, welcoming--a far cry from surly Sam or bumbling Woody--and they're always glad you came.

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Restaurants • Williamsburg

You Shall Overcome

Vintage dress shopping in New York is an exercise in ultimate humiliation. Enter and be immediately appraised by the bouffanted and retro-rouged shopgirl as if you are a more-than-gently-used suede coat up for consignment. Rifle through racks of polyester, lace, and sequins, arbitrarily sized and questionably fashionable. Surreptitiously attempt to find the price tag on a prospective buy, which is most inconveniently hidden. Before you know it you've knocked five dresses off their hangers, drawing another bored sigh from Shopgirl and revealing the tag printed with the exact price of your rent. Give up on old-school originality and head to the Gap? Not so fast. Flores Antique Clothing is vintage without the typical trappings. The sweet shop-owners don't judge or push. The stock is mind-blowing--cocktail dresses and cowboy boots galore! And the prices are--gasp!--reasonable. How refreshing to know buying second-hand clothes doesn't have to be a Pretty Woman style flirtation with catastrophe.

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Shopping • Williamsburg