Where to Eat in Brooklyn This Week

By Brooklyn Magazine

Keeping up with the culinary action in Brooklyn is almost futile. Even with our help, there aren’t nearly enough meals or minutes in the day to hit them all, which is why we’ve been trying something new these last few weeks, sending some suggested destinations directly to your inbox, so you always know where to eat, no matter which corner of Kings County you might be exploring. 

This week, any view of the end of this bitterly brick first month of 2026 will probably be obstructed, physically and spiritually, by a few small mountains of snow and the sloshy remnants of the most impactful winter storm to hit the city in recent memory. So any meal worth the intricate layering and determined trek to and from better have some damn good heat on the other end of it. Luckily, the borough was seemingly fated for a culinary warm-up, as evidenced by the arrival of not one or two, but three, radiant new entries to the local dining circuit in January. We’ll start with our latest, Border Town, arguably the originator of the flour tortilla craze (and one of the most anticipated openings of the last year), finally finding a permanent residence in Greenpoint, where chefs Jorge Aguilar and Amanda Rosa are importing their flour directly from Sonora to deliver perfectly soft, fluffy, lardy, and lovely bites of home. On the other end of the taco spectrum, there’s Wayne & Sons, the Williamsburg via East Village nostalgia blast specializing in the deeply gratifying crackle of tacos housed in classic, crunchy corn tortillas. Last but far from least, there’s some wholly otherworldly spice coming out of Höp, another pop-up eyeing its brick-and-mortar debut, and building the buzz with a blazing menu of Cambodian heaters during its residency at Runner-Up in Park Slope.

See where to eat in Brooklyn this week below, and check back next week for another batch of recommendations.

(Photo by Scott Lynch)

Border Town, and Their Phenomenal Flour Tortillas, Find a Permanent Home in Greenpoint

Those early-pandemic food pop-ups and Instagram businesses were fun and exciting and, frankly, kind of vital for our collective sanity at the time. But it’s pretty amazing to see how many of those often ragtag endeavors have evolved into thriving, integral parts of the Brooklyn restaurant landscape today. Think: Edith’s Sandwich Counter in Williamsburg, L’Appartement 4F in Brooklyn Heights, and the mighty Ramirez in Greenpoint, to name just a few.

And now we get maybe the most fun and exciting one of them all, Jorge Aguilar and Amanda Rosa’s banging new Border Town, a kind of flour tortilla paradise the couple started back in 2020 by selling tacos in a Home Depot parking lot, has transformed into a spiffy new corner restaurant on Nassau Avenue. “When the pandemic hit, we were just at home,” Aguilar told Brooklyn Magazine. “We live in Greenpoint, but I grew up in Mexicali, in Baja, eating flour tortillas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we couldn’t find any good ones here. So I was like, alright, I’m bored at home, I might as well learn how to make them for us.”

And, holy shit, did he ever figure it out. Aguilar’s tortillas are the cornerstone of just about every dish at the new place, and they are perfect every time: soft, fluffy, lardy, lovely. “Jorge’s stepfather’s family is from Sonora,” Rosa said. “And we are bringing all of our flour directly from there. We got four tons delivered on opening night! It’s our secret ingredient. It’s the softest, most supple flour. It tastes exactly like home.”

(Photo by Scott Lynch)

Wayne & Sons’ Famous Crunchy Tacos Come To Williamsburg

Wayne & Sons, the fun, funky Tex-Mex party spot that opened last week in Williamsburg after moving across the river from the East Village, was something of an instant hit when it first arrived on 14th Street just a little over a year ago.

The reason for all the immediate love, other than perpetual good vibes and strong drinks? The Wayne & Sons tacos, which, unlike virtually every other newcomer in our current, glorious NYC tacoissance, are served crunchy-style, with fillings—meats, mushrooms, queso, salsa, what have you—nestled within a crackling tortilla shell. I can’t think of anywhere else in town doing it exactly like this right now.

Wayne’s is run by a dynamic trio. There’s chef Oscar Hernandez, a co-founder and former “master taquero” of Tacombi who grew up in Guadalajara, Justin Seitzler, who acts as beverage director and whose roots in Dallas inspired Wayne’s whole Tex-Mex deal, and Tiffany Collings, the group’s “hospitality guru” who, among other responsibilities, spearheaded the move to Brooklyn after the DOT razed their East Village outdoor seating area, effectively destroying their ability to remain at that location—E-Vill’s loss, Willy-B’s gain.

(Photo by Scott Lynch)

Chef Bun Cheam Teases a Killer Khmer Menu at Hōp Residency in Park Slope

Red Hook Tavern executive chef Bun Cheam was just kicking it after service following one of his periodic “Chinese food nights” at the perpetually packed Van Brunt Street restaurant when Tavern boss Bill Durney put it plainly to him. “What’s your dream? What do you want to do?” Cheam recalled Durney asking him. And when Cheam replied, “I want to open a Cambodian restaurant,” Durney was instantly onboard. “All right, let’s do it.” Simple as that.

With Durney’s backing, sometime this summer Red Hook will get Hōp, a bold, unapologetically Khmer restaurant coming to Van Brunt Street from Cheam and his partner Cait Callahan that I predict will easily be one of Brooklyn’s best new restaurants of the year.

Why am I so confident Hōp is going to be so good? Because last week my friend Molly and I feasted at Cheam and Callahan’s preview in Park Slope, which is now about four months into its residency at Runner Up and, despite kitchen limitations (no gas, tiny space), was one of the most exciting, deeply pleasurable meals I’ve had in ages.