Kathy & Matthew
Things to Do / Eat
Brooklyn Bridge Park
With piers, parks, and views of Lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, we cannot recommend a park more. There are several ice cream shops (Ample Hills Creamery, Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, and L&B Spumoni's Gardens) and the Main and John Street Parks have excellent views and photo opportunities. Nearby the parks, you will find the Time Out New York Market (with views of Brooklyn Bridge Park from its rooftop), Jane's Carousel, and St. Anne's Warehouse (we got to see "Oklahoma!" here and it was one of our favorite nights out). The Brooklyn Flea Market is also held nearby on Sundays, to name a few things to do.
Prospect Park
Prospect Park has a running and biking loop, greenspace for picnics (you can also catch Quidditch matches on weekend mornings), dog beach (woof), zoo, carousel, botanical gardens, and a roller skating rink. The Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket, one of Brooklyn's farmer's markets, sets up at the main entrance to the Park on Saturdays. There is always live music and while all the vendors are great, our favorite thing to buy is the mint iced tea from Wood Homestead Maple's stand. It's our "medal" after many a park run.
Brooklyn Museum
Matt loves art (ask him about seeing "Starry Night"* for the first time) and art museums, and Kathy remembers visiting this particular one in 2002 to see the "Star Wars: The Magic of Myths" exhibit with her family, thinking it would be very cool to live nearby and work at a museum. From an impressive amount of paintings to the "YO/OY" sculpture out front, the Brooklyn Museum makes for a great day trip. The Prospect Park Zoo and Botanical Gardens are next door. Also nearby is one of our favorite restaurants, Tom's Restaurant, which has the best burgers (a high compliment coming from Matt) and pancakes around. *"Starry Night" is at MOMA, we just like this photo.
The Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club
Giant board games, a nightly food truck, live music, drinks, Flamingo wallpaper in the bathrooms (?), and of course, shuffleboard, but wait! Ample Hills Creamery is next door and Pig Beach BBQ, down the street. *Royal Palms is currently only open on Saturdays due to COVID-19, but hopes to fully re-open soon.
Main Street Exploring
There are so many cool shops (our picks include Books are Magic, Yesterday's News, CraftSpring, Woods Grove, and Sterling Place) and so, we recommend walking up and down: Smith and Court Streets through the Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, and Cobble Hill neighborhoods; Atlantic Avenue, 7th Ave in Park Slope, Van Brunt in Red Hook, and the whole of Brooklyn Heights neighborhood (including the Promenade for some views).
Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain
An apothecary in the 1920s, the Brooklyn Farmacy maintains the same decor, but today has excellent ice cream, sundaes, brunch, and most importantly, egg creams (admittedly, an acquired taste, but Kathy's favorite). This is the site of many a date night, especially on our anniversary, and if you buy a "Soda Jerk" t-shirt, you will get a free egg cream every time you wear it in the store. On Sunday mornings, there are Peter Pan donuts.
The Chocolate Room
Hot chocolate, chocolate, chocolate covered everything, and ice cream sundaes!
Hometown Bar-B-Que
The best BBQ in NYC. The lines are lengthy, but it's worth the wait. We really love the pulled pork tacos, mac + cheese, collard greens, cornbread, and banana cream pudding.
Court Street Grocers
Really the best sandwiches, especially for breakfast .
Awash
Perhaps our favorite restaurant in Brooklyn, or (big claim) ever. If you are new to Ethiopian food, we recommend starting with either the meat or vegetarian platters which are big enough for two. A second location, called Ras Plant Based Ethiopian in Crown Heights, is vegan.
Purépecha
This is a fairly new Mexican restaurant nearby and we would like to think that we (and our friends, Molly and Hicks) kept it going in its early months because we ate / still eat here a lot. We always order the ground beef enchiladas verdes and the tacos, but hear the burritos and nachos are great too.
Tacombi
You cannot go wrong with any of the tacos or the guacamole and chip situation here! The Center for Fiction is next door and has a great book shop. Urban Glass is also nearby and has a lot of artsy jewelry and homewares.
Ssam Korean Bistro
This is a great spot for Bibimbap and Korean tapas.