A Brooklyn food tour is one of the best ways to experience this borough’s wonderfully diverse culinary scene. From neighbourhood favourites and family-run restaurants to innovative cafés, bakeries, bars and destination restaurants, Brooklyn has become one of New York City’s most exciting places to eat.
This is due to the fact that, over the past few decades, the borough has attracted artists, chefs, entrepreneurs and independent businesses, transforming neighbourhoods across Brooklyn into vibrant hubs of food and culture. Today, you’ll find everything from classic pizzerias and Jewish delis to inventive new restaurants and outstanding international cuisine.
So, if you’re ready to eat your way around Brooklyn, we’ve put together this self-guided Brooklyn food tour, organised by cuisine type, to help you discover some of the borough’s best bites.
Brooklyn Food Tour by Category
Bagels in Brooklyn
Bagels weren’t invented in Brooklyn (or New York, in general), but this dense bread product, usually slathered with cream cheese and topped with luscious lox, is very much associated with New York City, particularly Brooklyn. If you want a bagel in Brooklyn, point yourself to these spots.
Montague Bagels
Grab a bagel at this long-standing Brooklyn Heights favourite, then take it with you as you explore one of the city’s most attractive neighbourhoods. With the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, historic brownstones and leafy streets nearby, it’s an easy stop to combine with some sightseeing.
Shelsky’s Brooklyn Bagels
Shelsky’s has been putting a spin on classic bagels since 2011. Its hand-rolled, kettle-boiled bagels are made in-house and have earned a loyal following, The choice of fillings and generous sandwiches add plenty of reasons for repeat visits. The dedicated Brooklyn Bagels shop is in Park Slope, while the original shop remains on Court Street.
Brooklyn Fine dining
Manhattan once thought it owned fine dining in New York. Not anymore. Brooklyn has some exceptional upscale eateries, some that will go fork to fork, spoon to spoon, knife to knife with the best fine dining institutions in Manhattan. From Michelin-starred restaurants to casual but well-executed fare, these are some of the best fine dining options to anchor your Brooklyn food tour.
Aska
Aska brings Scandinavian cooking to Williamsburg, but this is far from simple Nordic fare. This Michelin starred restaurant serves an ambitious multi-course tasting menu built around seasonal ingredients and inspired by the landscapes and traditions of Scandinavia and the Northeast. Aska is one of Brooklyn’s top destinations for a seriously memorable fine-dining experience.
La Vara
La Vara explores the Jewish and Moorish influences that have shaped Spanish cuisine. Chefs and co-owners Alex Raij and Eder Montero put their own creative touch to traditional dishes. This Cobble Hill favourite is relaxed rather than formal, but the cooking is anything but ordinary, combining the warmth of Spanish home cooking with sophisticated, inventive flavours
Insider’s Tip: Looking for more Jewish and Kosher food in New York? We’ve got you covered.
Maison Premiere
Cocktails and oysters. That’s the big draw at Maison Premiere. A lovely restaurant in Williamsburg with a beautifully romantic, leafy garden. But there’s more than oysters on the menu here: spicy clam toast, lobster rolls, and steamed clams round out the menu. It has an elegant New Orleans-inspired atmosphere, and is a good option for cocktails!
River Cafe
River Cafe, set on the East River, has stunning views of the lower Manhattan skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge. Serving refined American cooking, it’s on the pricey side but also one of Brooklyn’s most memorable dining experiences.
Italian fare in Brooklyn
In New York, and Brooklyn in particular, it sometimes feels as though there’s an Italian restaurant on every block. Consider it a delicious local tradition. From old-school Italian-American joints to restaurants focused on regional Italian cooking, Brooklyn has plenty to choose from. The four below, a mishmash of elevated and old-school places, should give you your red sauce fix.
Al Di La
Translated loosely as “the great beyond,” Al Di La has long been a Park Slope favourite. This cosy neighbourhood trattoria focuses on Northern Italian cooking, with a menu of handmade pastas, hearty classics and seasonal dishes. It’s primarily a walk-in restaurant, so be prepared to wait at busy times.
Bamonte’s
Opened in 1900, Bamonte’s is one of Brooklyn’s great old-school Italian-American restaurants. This Williamsburg institution still serves classic red-sauce dishes and feels like a trip back to another era. The wonderfully old-fashioned dining room is filled with vintage photographs and traditional décor. Come for the chicken parm, lasagna and spaghetti and meatballs, and stay for the atmosphere.
Bar Ferdinando (formerly Fernando´s Focacceria)
Ferdinando’s Focacceria was a Brooklyn institution, serving from this spot since 1904. Today, the historic restaurant has been reimagined as Bar Ferdinando, bringing a fresh take on its Sicilian roots. Expect arancini, panelle, pasta, focaccia sandwiches and plenty of Italian wine in this Carroll Gardens favourite.
Lilia
Missy Robbins’s Lilia is one of Williamsburg’s most popular Italian restaurants, and for good reason. The menu combines handmade pasta, wood-fired seafood and simple Italian cooking, with dishes that change with the seasons. Start with the legendary cacio e pepe frittelle before moving on to one of the beautifully made pastas.
Pizza: The best of Brooklyn´s best
Pizza and Brooklyn are pretty much synonymous at this point. Generous amounts of cheese and a crispy underside dough thanks to the gas-burning ovens. Slice shops are ubiquitous in Brooklyn but if you want to ensure you’ll get a quality pie in the borough, add one of these five spots to your Brooklyn food tour.
L&B Spumoni Gardens
L&B Spumoni Gardens has been a Bensonhurst institution since 1939. Known for its crisp base, fluffy crust, tangy tomato sauce and generous layer of cheese. Don’t leave without trying the homemade spumoni, the old-school Italian ice cream that helped put this Brooklyn landmark on the map.
Lucali
Show up to Lucali, a BYOB pizza place in Cobble Hill and put your name on the wait list which opens at 4pm. Then you can go somewhere for a drink and wait to be called. It might be hours. But it’s worth the wait at this legendary pizzeria.
Ops
Located in Bushwick, Ops is one of the best pizzerias in the city. The wood-fired pizzas have a distinctive sourdough crust, and the restaurant has an excellent natural-wine list to match. It’s a great combination of seriously good pizza and a relaxed neighbourhood wine-bar vibe.
Paulie G’s
Inventive wood-fired pizzas in Greenpoint. Paulie G’s is a popular stop on the Brooklyn pizza tour of any self-respecting pizza lover. You can get pies topped with guanciale, kale, orange blossom honey, red grapes, or brisket from Hometown Bar-B-Que. There’s also a good selection of vegan pizzas, making this a crowd-pleaser for just about everyone.
Roberta’s
This Bushwick pioneer helped put the neighbourhood on New York’s culinary map. And its wood-fired, Neapolitan-inspired pizzas remain the main attraction. The thin-crust creative pizzas are excellent and the famous Bee Sting, topped with soppressata, chilli and honey, is a favourite on the menu, alongside plenty of other creative pies.
Top-notch Brooklyn sandwiches
The sandwich might be one of the world’s simplest foods, but here they know how to turn it into something special. From classic deli creations to oversized Italian heroes piled high with flavour, Brooklyn is home to plenty of sandwiches worth seeking out. Here are a few of the best.
Brennan & Carr
Since 1938 Brooklynites have been patronizing Brennan & Carr for its great roast beef sandwiches. It’s served on a Kaiser roll and then doused in its own rich pan drippings.A gloriously messy, old-school sandwich experience.
Defonte’s
Defonte’s has been piling Italian-American goodness onto bread since 1922. This Red Hook institution serves an enormous selection of overstuffed heroes, from roast beef and fresh mozzarella to sausage and peppers – and its famous Nicky Special.
Nathan’s Famous
Is a hotdog a sandwich? It’s been debated for years, but we had to include Nathan’s. It’s certainly closer to a sandwich than pizza or steak. The original Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island is where the legendary July 4 hotdog eating contest takes place each year. Nathan’s has been serving its classic hotdogs since 1916, making this one of Brooklyn’s most iconic food institutions.
Brooklyn´s Stand-out Steakhouses
Manhattan may have the bigger reputation when it comes to New York steakhouses, but Brooklyn can more than hold its own. Peter Luger has been serving legendary steaks in Williamsburg for more than a century, while the beautifully restored Gage & Tollner brings a newer energy to the borough’s steakhouse scene. Whether you’re after old-school New York dining or a more contemporary take on the classic steakhouse, these are essential stops on any Brooklyn food tour.
Peter Luger
Peter Luger is a must-visit for anyone who loves steak, and one of Brooklyn’s great culinary institutions. The Williamsburg steakhouse has been serving its famous dry-aged, USDA Prime beef since 1887, and its old-school atmosphere remains remarkably unchanged. It famously lost its Michelin star in 2022, prompting plenty of debate among New York food critics, but that hasn’t diminished its legendary status. If you’re looking for a classic New York steakhouse experience, Peter Luger remains a Brooklyn food-tour essential.
Gage & Tollner
Gage & Tollner first fired up its steak-cooking burners in 1879 and went through the 20th century as one of the most popular restaurants in Brooklyn. It shut down in 2004 and the space became a TGI Fridays and then an Arby’s. But in 2021 something miraculous happened: the original Gage & Tollner reopened in the space and today is serving up some of the finest steaks in the borough.
Hometown Bar-B-Que
This Red Hook meat mecca isn’t a steakhouse but we’d be remiss to pass on Hometown Bar-B-Que anyway. After all, it’s the best barbecue in the city, if not north of the Mason-Dixon line.
St. Anselm
Nearly everything at this superlative Williamsburg restaurant is cooked over an open fire. Including the stunningly delicious steak. St. Anselm’s ax-handle ribeye is a mountain of meaty goodness.
Dessert in Brooklyn
Brooklyn does sweet stuff too. There are ample amounts of ice cream parlors, bakeries, and sweet shops, you could do a Brooklyn food tour on dessert alone. But if you want classic Brooklyn desserts, here are two spots to put on your radar that have both stood the test of time and generations.
Peter Pan Donuts
Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop has been a Greenpoint institution since 1953. Still family-owned and operating from its original Manhattan Avenue location, this old-school doughnut shop turns out thousands of fresh doughnuts and pastries every day. The Blueberry Buttermilk remains one of its most popular choices, but with dozens of varieties to choose from, you may want to pick up a few and make your own tasting box
Junior’s
Junior’s didn’t invent cheesecake, but it has been perfecting its famous version since 1950. Today, the Downtown Brooklyn institution is almost synonymous with New York-style cheesecake, and its original recipe is still used more than 75 years later. Creamy, rich and famously indulgent, Junior’s cheesecake is hard to resist – don’t leave without ordering a slice.
More Brooklyn Food Favourites
Not every restaurant can fit into a neat Brooklyn category. But we cannot have a guide for a Brooklyn food tour without including the below restaurants. They’re too good to ignore and if you’ve come to New York to eat, these are, to borrow the famous phrase from Michelin, ”worth a special journey.”
Aunts et Uncles
Aunts et Uncles puts a modern Brooklyn spin on Caribbean-inspired plant-based food. This favourite serves creative vegan versions of Caribbean classics, from hearty sandwiches and bowls to flavour-packed sides and its signature Peppa Sauce. Located on Nostrand Avenue, it remains a standout for plant-based dining in Brooklyn.
Bonnie’s
Bonnie’s Cantonese-American cooking in Williamsburg blends family recipes with playful modern dishes. Including fuyu cacio e pepe mein and a cha siu McRib – a play on the McDonald’s classic. It’s become one of Brooklyn’s most talked-about restaurants, so booking ahead is a good idea.
Diner
Diner is located beneath the Williamsburg Bridge and is housed in a beautifully preserved Pullman dining car dating from the 1920s. It helped establish Williamsburg as a destination for serious food lovers. The menu focuses on creative, seasonal American cooking, served in a wonderful setting.
Oxomoco
The restaurant has held a Michelin star since 2019, and is an elegant Mexican restaurant in Greenpoint. Oxomoco’s wood-fired oven means there are plenty of dishes sporting fork-tender meats, plus tacos and seafood. This is one of Brooklyn’s standout destinations for modern Mexican cuisine.
Llama Inn
Llama Inn puts a contemporary spin on Peruvian cooking in Williamsburg. The menu draws on the country’s diverse culinary traditions, with dishes ranging from ceviche and tiradito to grilled meats, noodles and inventive vegetable dishes. It’s a stylish spot that shows just how exciting modern Peruvian food can be.
Sofreh
Sofreh brings the rich flavours of Persian home cooking to Prospect Heights. The menu includes particularly good options for vegetarians, with beautifully spiced vegetable dishes alongside succulent kebabs and other meat dishes. It offers a warm, elegant setting and generous cooking, making it an appealing choice.
Taqueria Ramirez
Taqueria Ramirez has a devoted following for its excellent tacos, served from a tiny Greenpoint space with just a handful of counter stools. The menu focuses on traditional Mexican tacos, with a particular emphasis on tacos al carbon. Seating is limited, so be prepared to wait, or take your tacos to go.
Ugly Baby
Ugly Baby is a much-loved Brooklyn Thai restaurant. The spice levels are famously intense, so be prepared to leave with singed taste buds. Once located between Carroll Gardens and Gowanus, it has now relocated to Willamsburg.
FAQs – Brooklyn Food Tour
Is eating in Brooklyn expensive?
Brooklyn has restaurants to suit almost every budget. You can grab an excellent slice of pizza, bagel or taco for just a few dollars, while a meal at one of the borough’s top restaurants can easily cost $100 or more per person before drinks and tip. For most visitors, a good mix of casual eateries and one or two special meals is the best way to experience Brooklyn’s food scene without breaking the bank.
Is it easy to park when eating in Brooklyn?
Parking can be difficult in many of Brooklyn’s busiest neighbourhoods, particularly Williamsburg, DUMBO and Park Slope. Street parking is available, but spaces can be hard to find and parking regulations vary from block to block. If you’re planning to visit a popular restaurant, public transport or a taxi/rideshare is often much easier than driving. If you do drive, allow extra time to find a space or look for a nearby paid car park.
Do I need to book restaurants in Brooklyn?
It depends on where you eat. Popular restaurants and fine-dining spots often require or strongly recommend reservations, while many casual pizzerias, taco shops, delis and neighbourhood restaurants operate on a walk-in basis. For sought-after restaurants such as Lilia, Aska or Lucali, check the booking arrangements before you go, and book as far ahead as possible.
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