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A bright orange bowl of pasta with curly noodles, leaves, and tomato.
Café Mars opened in Gowanus last month. It’s been booked out ever since.
Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY

The 15 Hottest New Restaurants in Brooklyn, June 2023

A modern Israeli restaurant in a Williamsburg hotel and a booked-out Italian restaurant in Gowanus join the list this month

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Café Mars opened in Gowanus last month. It’s been booked out ever since.
| Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY

Eater editors get asked one question more than any other: Where should I eat right now? While many people still consider Manhattan the locus of New York’s dining scene, some neighborhoods in Brooklyn have become dining destinations in their own right. On this map, you’ll find the latest Brooklyn debuts drawing NYC’s dining obsessives.

New to the list in June: Mesiba, a modern Israeli restaurant at the Moxy Williamsburg hotel, and Café Mars, a maximalist Italian restaurant with Negroni jelly olives.

For more New York dining recommendations, check out the new hotspots in Manhattan, Queens, and the Hamptons.

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The stretch of Greenpoint Avenue near Transmitter Park has seen a wave of openings in recent years, including the tapas bar El Pingüino and the Mexican restaurant Panzón, said to be inspired by the street foods of Mexico City. Lingo landed on the scene last month, bringing “Japanese-influenced American food” to the block. Early hits from chef Emily Yuen, the former chef of Bessou, include teeny tamago sandwiches and a whole fried chicken topped with chile gremolata.

A collection of dishes on a table from Lingo.
Lingo opened in Greenpoint in April.
Andrew Bui/Lingo

Super Burrito

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North Brooklyn is home to some of the city’s best burritos right now, with help from New Mexican restaurant Santa Fe BK and the pop-up Border Town. Rounding out the scene is the new location of Super Burrito, which started with a stand on the Rockaway Beach boardwalk in 2017. The shop specializes in massive Mission burritos stuffed with rice, beans, cheese, and meats like al pastor or carne asada. Keep an eye on the restaurant’s Instagram for weekly specials, like California burritos and a riff on Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme.

Two hands hold unwrapped burritos.
Super Burrito started as a stand on the Rockaway Beach boardwalk.
Luke Fortney/Eater NY

Sushi On Me

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The city’s most unhinged sushi counter has touched down in Brooklyn. Sushi On Me, the underground Jackson Heights restaurant known for its sake-fueled parties, opened this second location in Williamsburg last year, and it’s managed to stay faithful to its rowdy roots. Workers behind the bar keep the sake flowing, while a live DJ perched overhead supplies the small, one-room restaurant with vibes. The $129 omakase includes 18 courses of sushi and sashimi, plus unlimited sake. Cash only.

A row of patrons seated on one side of the sushi bar are show toasting and drinking sake with chefs, who are standing on the opposite side of the counter.
Unlimited sake is a draw at Sushi On Me.
Alex Staniloff/Eater NY

Williamsburg is single-handedly restoring our faith in hotel restaurants. There’s Le Crocodile at the Wythe Hotel, Laser Wolf on the rooftop of the Hoxton, and now a modern Israeli restaurant at the Moxy Williamsburg. Found on the hotel’s ground floor, Mesiba opened earlier this year with an upbeat vibe and a menu meant for sharing. Start with an order of the frena bread, a fluffy Moroccan flatbread that goes with just about everything on the menu, and add on the fennel salad, topped with shavings from a block of yogurt that’s grated tableside. The entrees are formidable and only one is really needed to round out a meal: It should be the lamb neck, a mound of tender meat served with Yemeni bread, pickled vegetables, and fresh herbs.

Baby Blues Luncheonette

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Even before the pandemic, the city’s old-school diners were becoming an endangered breed: Eisenberg’s and Odessa are no longer here, but a new crop of more modern restaurants is helping to fill the void. There was MeMe’s in Prospect Heights before it closed, and Golden Diner in Two Bridges, still home to some of the city’s best pancakes. Baby Blues Luncheonette is the latest, providing a Greek spin on the theme. The menu has everything you need, from an “HLT” sandwich (halloumi, lettuce, tomato) to fig jam toast and baklava banana bread. Coffee is unlimited.

A plate of eggs with halloumi.
Eggs with halloumi at Baby Blues Luncheonette.
Emma Orlow/Eater NY

Lula Mae

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Lula Mae opened at the start of the year on a crowded stretch of Myrtle Avenue in Clinton Hill, giving the neighborhood a dedicated home for Cambodian cooking, still a rarity in most parts of the city. Helmed by Dan San, an alum of Manhattan restaurants Chinese Tuxedo and the Tyger, the atmosphere is casual, with a menu that lists oysters with fried shallots and a Chinese kway teow (fried pastry) served warm with tom yum butter and chicken pate.

A plate of dark noodles with a fried egg on top.
Lort cha, stir-fried rice noodles with an egg.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Slutty Vegan

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Meatless burger chain Slutty Vegan touched down in Fort Greene last fall, and the Brooklyn neighborhood may never be the same. Employees stand outside of the restaurant calling customers “sluts” through branded megaphones, and lines continue to wind down Fulton Street on weekends. Whether the company’s branding makes you want to squirm or get in line, it can’t be denied: These vegan burgers have fans, and the Brooklyn location is just the beginning of Slutty Vegan’s expansion plans in the five boroughs.

An orange sauce is drizzled onto several burgers at once.
Slutty Vegan wants to make meatless diets sexy.
Alex Staniloff/Eater NY

Ursula Brooklyn

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Ursula is off to a hot start at its new location in Bed-Stuy, a much-needed expansion for a New Mexican restaurant that used to operate out of a standing-room storefront. The new space is bigger, but nowhere big enough for the hordes of customers who amass out front on weekends in search of enchiladas and burritos smothered in green chile. Show up on a Sunday morning, and don’t be surprised to be quoted more than an hour wait for a table of two. Things are slower at dinner, when a separate menu is served and a bar supplies the restaurant with cocktails.

A child on a scooter is surrounded by a handful of adults waiting for a table in a restaurant.
The crowd out front of Ursula on a recent Saturday.
Luke Fortney/Eater NY

Bobbi’s Italian Beef

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Bobbi’s Italian Beef opened last fall, bringing Chicago dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, and other foods from the Windy City to Cobble Hill’s main thoroughfare, Smith Street. The restaurant used to operate out of the Dekalb Market Hall in Downtown Brooklyn, but a bigger storefront has made way for more sandwiches — there are around a dozen on the menu — and a dining room with about 30 seats. Order the Italian beef, a hunk of bread that’s split in two, dunked in meat juices, and stuffed with thin slices of top round.

A Chicago-style hot dog with a side of tater tots is served in a red basket with parchment paper.
A Chicago dog with celery salt tots, a classic order at Bobbi’s Italian Beef.
Luke Fortney/Eater NY

Café Mars

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Café Mars is the city’s newest maximalist Italian destination — over-the-top restaurants with greyhound dog statues and three-foot-tall pepper grinders in their dining rooms that feel par for the course in 2023. This one, in Gowanus, comes from a pair chefs whose resumes list some of the biggest names in the fine dining world: Noma, Momofuku Ssam Bar, Wd~50, and others. The restaurant’s aesthetic dining room and unusual menu of Negroni Jell-O olives have turned it into a spot that books out a month in advance. But time it right, and you could find a table tonight.

A selection of dishes made by co-chefs Paul D’Avino and Jorge Olarte.
Café Mars calls itself an “unusual Italian restaurant.”
Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY

Little Egg

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Egg anchored Williamsburg’s breakfast scene for more than a decade, serving pancakes and French toast until it closed during the pandemic. The restaurant reappeared earlier this year at a storefront in Prospect Heights, where Evan Hanczor, its longtime chef, is now running the show. Several of Egg’s most popular dishes are served, including its famed eggs “Rothko” with boiled tomatoes. New to the menu are egg katsu breakfast sandwiches and a lineup of seasonal pastries that includes rhubarb crullers and Cara Cara orange olive oil cake.

An overhead photograph of a plate with french toast.
The French toast at Little Egg.
Audrey Melton/Little Egg

Bar Mario

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Bar Mario opened earlier this year, inheriting a corner space that was once home to the area’s popular Fort Defiance cocktail bar. (It’s since moved up the street.) The new tenant is a proper Italian restaurant, whose throwback chandeliers and retro tile flooring make it feel a bit like a movie set. Consider a few appetizers, like diminutive slices of veal, fried artichokes, and charcuterie, as well as gnocchi and daily pasta specials. True to its name, the restaurant doubles as a fantastic place to drink Italian wines and cocktails.

Vitello tonnato at Bar Mario.
Vitello tonnato.
Melissa McCart/Eater NY

Masalawala & Sons

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Masalawala & Sons is the latest opening from Roni Mazumdar and Chintan Pandya, the pair behind New York’s only Michelin-starred Indian restaurant. The spot gets its name from a restaurant Mazumdar’s father, Satyen, once ran on the Lower East Side. He can be seen in the dining room from time to time, but his menu has been overhauled with dishes that aim to bridge the gap between what’s eaten in Indian homes and served in Indian restaurants. Highlights include the macher dim (a sac of fish roe poached in curry) and daab chingri (tiger prawns served in a young coconut shell). Be warned, it’s one of the hottest tables in town.

A close-up shot of red and orange sauce and food in a red clay bowl, garnished with shredded green herbs.
Macher dim, a sac of fish roe poached in curry.
Adam Friedlander/Masalawala

Find Syrian and Korean food — not Syrian Korean fusion — at this popular Windsor Terrace takeout shop. The menu is divided into two sections: Korean dishes on the left and Syrian ones on the right, with kimchi fried rice, chicken shawarma, bibimbap, mezze, and banchan prepared in the same kitchen. One of the most popular dishes here is the bulgogi “fat boy,” a barbecue beef burrito wrapped in a greasy pancake that can also be ordered with chicken or tofu kimchi.

A person wearing a red sweater clutches a burrito overflowing with bulgogi.
The bulgogi “fat boy” from SYKO.
Luke Fortney/Eater NY

Hainan Chicken House

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As the name suggests, Hainanese chicken rice, in all its permutations, is the star at this Sunset Park restaurant. The dish can be found at restaurants across the city, but Hainan Chicken House is one of the only places to make a Malaysian version, where the rice is shaped into a ball and served on the side. In addition to traditional versions of chicken over rice, the menu lists curry laksa mee and other noodle soups. Portions are large and prices are quite affordable.

Curry laksa mee and the roast chicken thigh set.
Roast chicken thigh and curry laksa mee at Hainan Chicken House.
Emma Orlow/Eater NY

Lingo

The stretch of Greenpoint Avenue near Transmitter Park has seen a wave of openings in recent years, including the tapas bar El Pingüino and the Mexican restaurant Panzón, said to be inspired by the street foods of Mexico City. Lingo landed on the scene last month, bringing “Japanese-influenced American food” to the block. Early hits from chef Emily Yuen, the former chef of Bessou, include teeny tamago sandwiches and a whole fried chicken topped with chile gremolata.

A collection of dishes on a table from Lingo.
Lingo opened in Greenpoint in April.
Andrew Bui/Lingo

Super Burrito

North Brooklyn is home to some of the city’s best burritos right now, with help from New Mexican restaurant Santa Fe BK and the pop-up Border Town. Rounding out the scene is the new location of Super Burrito, which started with a stand on the Rockaway Beach boardwalk in 2017. The shop specializes in massive Mission burritos stuffed with rice, beans, cheese, and meats like al pastor or carne asada. Keep an eye on the restaurant’s Instagram for weekly specials, like California burritos and a riff on Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme.

Two hands hold unwrapped burritos.
Super Burrito started as a stand on the Rockaway Beach boardwalk.
Luke Fortney/Eater NY

Sushi On Me

The city’s most unhinged sushi counter has touched down in Brooklyn. Sushi On Me, the underground Jackson Heights restaurant known for its sake-fueled parties, opened this second location in Williamsburg last year, and it’s managed to stay faithful to its rowdy roots. Workers behind the bar keep the sake flowing, while a live DJ perched overhead supplies the small, one-room restaurant with vibes. The $129 omakase includes 18 courses of sushi and sashimi, plus unlimited sake. Cash only.

A row of patrons seated on one side of the sushi bar are show toasting and drinking sake with chefs, who are standing on the opposite side of the counter.
Unlimited sake is a draw at Sushi On Me.
Alex Staniloff/Eater NY

Mesiba

Williamsburg is single-handedly restoring our faith in hotel restaurants. There’s Le Crocodile at the Wythe Hotel, Laser Wolf on the rooftop of the Hoxton, and now a modern Israeli restaurant at the Moxy Williamsburg. Found on the hotel’s ground floor, Mesiba opened earlier this year with an upbeat vibe and a menu meant for sharing. Start with an order of the frena bread, a fluffy Moroccan flatbread that goes with just about everything on the menu, and add on the fennel salad, topped with shavings from a block of yogurt that’s grated tableside. The entrees are formidable and only one is really needed to round out a meal: It should be the lamb neck, a mound of tender meat served with Yemeni bread, pickled vegetables, and fresh herbs.

Baby Blues Luncheonette

Even before the pandemic, the city’s old-school diners were becoming an endangered breed: Eisenberg’s and Odessa are no longer here, but a new crop of more modern restaurants is helping to fill the void. There was MeMe’s in Prospect Heights before it closed, and Golden Diner in Two Bridges, still home to some of the city’s best pancakes. Baby Blues Luncheonette is the latest, providing a Greek spin on the theme. The menu has everything you need, from an “HLT” sandwich (halloumi, lettuce, tomato) to fig jam toast and baklava banana bread. Coffee is unlimited.

A plate of eggs with halloumi.
Eggs with halloumi at Baby Blues Luncheonette.
Emma Orlow/Eater NY

Lula Mae

Lula Mae opened at the start of the year on a crowded stretch of Myrtle Avenue in Clinton Hill, giving the neighborhood a dedicated home for Cambodian cooking, still a rarity in most parts of the city. Helmed by Dan San, an alum of Manhattan restaurants Chinese Tuxedo and the Tyger, the atmosphere is casual, with a menu that lists oysters with fried shallots and a Chinese kway teow (fried pastry) served warm with tom yum butter and chicken pate.

A plate of dark noodles with a fried egg on top.
Lort cha, stir-fried rice noodles with an egg.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Slutty Vegan

Meatless burger chain Slutty Vegan touched down in Fort Greene last fall, and the Brooklyn neighborhood may never be the same. Employees stand outside of the restaurant calling customers “sluts” through branded megaphones, and lines continue to wind down Fulton Street on weekends. Whether the company’s branding makes you want to squirm or get in line, it can’t be denied: These vegan burgers have fans, and the Brooklyn location is just the beginning of Slutty Vegan’s expansion plans in the five boroughs.

An orange sauce is drizzled onto several burgers at once.
Slutty Vegan wants to make meatless diets sexy.
Alex Staniloff/Eater NY

Ursula Brooklyn

Ursula is off to a hot start at its new location in Bed-Stuy, a much-needed expansion for a New Mexican restaurant that used to operate out of a standing-room storefront. The new space is bigger, but nowhere big enough for the hordes of customers who amass out front on weekends in search of enchiladas and burritos smothered in green chile. Show up on a Sunday morning, and don’t be surprised to be quoted more than an hour wait for a table of two. Things are slower at dinner, when a separate menu is served and a bar supplies the restaurant with cocktails.

A child on a scooter is surrounded by a handful of adults waiting for a table in a restaurant.
The crowd out front of Ursula on a recent Saturday.
Luke Fortney/Eater NY

Bobbi’s Italian Beef

Bobbi’s Italian Beef opened last fall, bringing Chicago dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, and other foods from the Windy City to Cobble Hill’s main thoroughfare, Smith Street. The restaurant used to operate out of the Dekalb Market Hall in Downtown Brooklyn, but a bigger storefront has made way for more sandwiches — there are around a dozen on the menu — and a dining room with about 30 seats. Order the Italian beef, a hunk of bread that’s split in two, dunked in meat juices, and stuffed with thin slices of top round.

A Chicago-style hot dog with a side of tater tots is served in a red basket with parchment paper.
A Chicago dog with celery salt tots, a classic order at Bobbi’s Italian Beef.
Luke Fortney/Eater NY

Café Mars

Café Mars is the city’s newest maximalist Italian destination — over-the-top restaurants with greyhound dog statues and three-foot-tall pepper grinders in their dining rooms that feel par for the course in 2023. This one, in Gowanus, comes from a pair chefs whose resumes list some of the biggest names in the fine dining world: Noma, Momofuku Ssam Bar, Wd~50, and others. The restaurant’s aesthetic dining room and unusual menu of Negroni Jell-O olives have turned it into a spot that books out a month in advance. But time it right, and you could find a table tonight.

A selection of dishes made by co-chefs Paul D’Avino and Jorge Olarte.
Café Mars calls itself an “unusual Italian restaurant.”
Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY

Little Egg

Egg anchored Williamsburg’s breakfast scene for more than a decade, serving pancakes and French toast until it closed during the pandemic. The restaurant reappeared earlier this year at a storefront in Prospect Heights, where Evan Hanczor, its longtime chef, is now running the show. Several of Egg’s most popular dishes are served, including its famed eggs “Rothko” with boiled tomatoes. New to the menu are egg katsu breakfast sandwiches and a lineup of seasonal pastries that includes rhubarb crullers and Cara Cara orange olive oil cake.

An overhead photograph of a plate with french toast.
The French toast at Little Egg.
Audrey Melton/Little Egg

Bar Mario

Bar Mario opened earlier this year, inheriting a corner space that was once home to the area’s popular Fort Defiance cocktail bar. (It’s since moved up the street.) The new tenant is a proper Italian restaurant, whose throwback chandeliers and retro tile flooring make it feel a bit like a movie set. Consider a few appetizers, like diminutive slices of veal, fried artichokes, and charcuterie, as well as gnocchi and daily pasta specials. True to its name, the restaurant doubles as a fantastic place to drink Italian wines and cocktails.

Vitello tonnato at Bar Mario.
Vitello tonnato.
Melissa McCart/Eater NY

Masalawala & Sons

Masalawala & Sons is the latest opening from Roni Mazumdar and Chintan Pandya, the pair behind New York’s only Michelin-starred Indian restaurant. The spot gets its name from a restaurant Mazumdar’s father, Satyen, once ran on the Lower East Side. He can be seen in the dining room from time to time, but his menu has been overhauled with dishes that aim to bridge the gap between what’s eaten in Indian homes and served in Indian restaurants. Highlights include the macher dim (a sac of fish roe poached in curry) and daab chingri (tiger prawns served in a young coconut shell). Be warned, it’s one of the hottest tables in town.

A close-up shot of red and orange sauce and food in a red clay bowl, garnished with shredded green herbs.
Macher dim, a sac of fish roe poached in curry.
Adam Friedlander/Masalawala

SYKO

Find Syrian and Korean food — not Syrian Korean fusion — at this popular Windsor Terrace takeout shop. The menu is divided into two sections: Korean dishes on the left and Syrian ones on the right, with kimchi fried rice, chicken shawarma, bibimbap, mezze, and banchan prepared in the same kitchen. One of the most popular dishes here is the bulgogi “fat boy,” a barbecue beef burrito wrapped in a greasy pancake that can also be ordered with chicken or tofu kimchi.

A person wearing a red sweater clutches a burrito overflowing with bulgogi.
The bulgogi “fat boy” from SYKO.
Luke Fortney/Eater NY

Hainan Chicken House

As the name suggests, Hainanese chicken rice, in all its permutations, is the star at this Sunset Park restaurant. The dish can be found at restaurants across the city, but Hainan Chicken House is one of the only places to make a Malaysian version, where the rice is shaped into a ball and served on the side. In addition to traditional versions of chicken over rice, the menu lists curry laksa mee and other noodle soups. Portions are large and prices are quite affordable.

Curry laksa mee and the roast chicken thigh set.
Roast chicken thigh and curry laksa mee at Hainan Chicken House.
Emma Orlow/Eater NY

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