With uncommon stealth, Greenpoint has become one of the city’s top dining destinations. Located at the extreme northwest corner of Brooklyn, the neighborhood looks across the East River toward Manhattan on one hand, and across the fantastically polluted New Town Creek at Queens on the other. That pollution is the result of the industrial nature of Greenpoint in the 19th century, when it was home to oil refineries, chemical factories, smelters, leather tanners, and other smoke-belching manifestations of what were then known as the “industrial black arts.”
Now, the former factories are turned into loft residences, art studios, rock clubs, and tech startups, as a new wave of residents have migrated northward, fleeing the escalating rents of Williamsburg. But miraculously, Greenpoint has retained much of its Polish character, as seen along its main drag of Manhattan Avenue, where Polish language signs still abound and you can still score a kielbasy, a jelly-oozing paczki, or a bowl of pickle soup, and in the neighborhood’s hidden corners, spot a sign or two that still reads Obiady (“hot lunches”).
And, as new residents have appeared, bringing their restaurants with them, there are Japanese, Mexican, and even French enclaves, and wine bars and coffee shops galore. Improved service on the G train, which stops twice in Greenpoint on its way between Kensington and Long Island City, has something to do with it, too, in the neighborhood where Mae West, Awkwafina, Mickey Rooney, Kieran Culkin, and Pat Benatar once lived.
Here are some of our favorite newer spots to eat in Greenpoint, most less than two years old, in no particular order.
Café O’Te
A block or so from the northwest corner of McCarren Park find 50 Norman, a Japanese retail complex in a former warehouse. It provides fascinating browsing. Past displays of dangerous-looking cutlery, baseball caps and sweatshirts, dozens of types of dried fish, small sculptures and other artworks — sit a handful of eateries. Café O’Te specializes in “hamburgs” ($25): the Japanese idea of a hamburger, made with select cuts of beef, cooked in three stages, and presented without a bun, with a circle of admiring side dishes around it like some matinee idol. 38 Norman Avenue
Retro
This is the modern manifestation of the old-fashioned Polish lunch counter, with a few new flourishes, like an entrée of salmon with pesto. Sure, there’s a Polish plate featuring bigos, stuffed cabbage, pierogi, kielbasa, and more, though the best deal on the menu is probably a kielbasa sandwich along the lines of an Italian hero. And yes, you can still get a bowl of pickle soup, creamy and flavored with dill. Main courses with sides, $15 to $25. 853 Manhattan Avenue
Border Town
This homely spot has fit nicely into its Polish neighborhood near Msgr. McGolrick Park since it opened earlier this year, with merciful prices and a Tex-Mex menu that finds unexpected parallels with Polish food. One is the use of lard in its faddish flour tortillas, on a spare menu of tacos and larger plates (for vegetarians, lard-less corn tostadas may be substituted). The best taco is the simple one of beans and cheese, which tastes astonishingly like something you might get in San Antonio. Tacos, $5 and up; larger plates $8 to $30. 189 Nassau Avenue
Kelang
Greenpoint can now claim the city’s most innovative Malaysian restaurant. Kelang occupies an L-shaped space decorated with retro Southeast Asian products and posters, but the food is way more newfangled. For example, the paratha lies in a pool of red lentils, and comes dribbled with stracciatella cheese, while the inky noodles in kway teow come with an egg yolk jiggling on top — mix it in quickly with your chopsticks. And don’t miss Kelang’s version of rojak, a salad of crunchy fruits and vegetables perfect for summer. Dishes $15 to $48. 715 Manhattan Avenue
Socceria
From the folks who brought you Greenpoint’s premier taco stand — Taqueria Ramirez — comes this barnlike sports bar, where the recent FIFA World Cup filled the place up with cheering fans. Another reason to be cheering is the food, offered on three menus: lunch, happy hour, and dinner, each with its own delights. Sit down at the horseshoe-shaped bar and enjoy Mexican huevos rancheros, blue-corn tostadas, bacon-wrapped hot dogs, chicharron in salsa verde, and carne asada featuring a big steak. Most dishes $10 to $36. 46 Norman Avenue
Four Season Joyful
While Williamsburg has a contingent of successful Sichuan restaurants — places like Birds of a Feather and Antidote — Greenpoint has been remarkably lacking in them. Four Season Joyful is very much the neighborhood Chinese carryout, but with a collection of tasty Sichuan dishes, and a nifty $13 lunch special. Don’t miss the ma po bean curd, or the spicy brisket noodle soup. Most dishes $8 to $26. 55 Driggs Avenue
Uzuki
It’s been years since the city has had a restaurant so obsessed with buckwheat soba noodles, and Uzuki fills that gap. The noodles are freshly concocted, deposited in a bowl handmade by the chef, then — whether cold or hot — are buttressed with luxury ingredients that include uni, black truffles, imported salted plums, and lots of Japanese vegetable ingredients. Apps are mainly unusual salads, many incorporating buckwheat in one form or another, and desserts include shiso sorbet and soba ice cream. You get the picture: utter obsession, and enjoyable food as a result. Soba $26 to $72. 95 Guernsey Street
Bersi
This restaurant makes its own injera — the sourdough flatbread that underpins all Ethiopian meals — and offers a beguiling all-vegan menu, served on trays of injera, including lots of pulses (beans, lentils, and peas), root vegetables, and leafy greens, along with a few unexpected ingredients like avocado and tofu. In addition, Bersi is one of the few Ethiopian restaurants that offers the traditional coffee service, as well as Ethiopian beer and tej, a honey wine. Apps and small plates $6 to $19; shareable trays $22 to $65. 1049 Manhattan Avenue
Raizes Churrascaria
Cavernous, and decorated like the hold of a ship, Raizes, which means “roots” in Portuguese, may be Greenpoint’s only Iberian restaurant, but it’s also something of a neighborhood honky tonk. Seafood is a focus of the menu, offering raw clams and oysters, shrimp po’boys, salt cod fritters, fish tacos, grilled fresh sardines, and mussels done several ways on “Mussels Mondays.” Grilled meats are a secondary focus, and you can call ahead for a full-blown churrascaria assortment. Most dishes $10 to $42. 139 Nassau Avenue
Pizza 4Ps
Greenpoint has gradually become a pizza destination, a trend that began with Paulie Gee’s and has evolved with Chrissy’s and Diamond Slice, all with quirky elements. Now the most unusual of all has arrived, the first American branch of a Vietnamese pizza chain. The pizzas have Japanese flourishes, and besides basics like a margherita made with homemade mozzarella, the usual prosciutto and arugula, and a four cheese that features pungent blue cheese, there are more innovative selections, including one pie with crunchy lotus root, pickled mustard seeds, pork sausage, and arugula, atop a perfect wood-oven crust. Pizzas $19 to $35. Also 38 Norman Avenue
