Photo by Scott Lynch
Where to Eat in Brooklyn This Week
The red-sauce renaissance is upon us
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.
Well, it’s somehow the last day of summer. As we bid her adieu—along with the many miraculous combinations of meats, sauces, sides, stoop sessions, roadtrips, rooftops, nutcrackers, park hangs, by-appointment rap star residencies, and once-in-a-lifetime confluences of professional sports she’ll be remembered by—it feels important to note (for the sake of our collective sanity) the fall should not be slept on. Sure, it has the odd, shitty luck of following the fairest, most adored of the seasons, but let’s not forget how many layering configurations are ahead, the commencement of new seasons in basketball, hockey, and football, and, thanks to what we’re gonna go ahead and call “the red-sauce renaissance,” a chance to twirl an ungodly amount of preciously plated pastas with earned abandon.
We’d start at Sam’s, the iconic Italian spot in Cobble Hill, where its first non-family owner in many generations is rebooting the near-century-old institution with a new menu, a new chef, and a ton of personality. The gravy here comes in bowls, on pies, and slathered over showstopping parm dishes—knockouts across the board. Speaking of second (and even third) lives, you can try, but it will be hard to miss at JR & Son in Williamsburg, where stars of the NYC dining scene (with a team comprised of Kellogg’s Diner, Pan Pan Vino Vino, and Thai Diner alums) have come up with inspiring (and seductively spicy) updates on Italian classics, like a bar-setting spaghetti and meatballs and a Calabrian chili-spiked chicken parm to rule them all. Finally, for the connoisseur, there are regional rarities to discover and behold at Osteria Radisa, an Emilia-Romagna specialist in Carroll Gardens serving sauces of all shades and creeds over tagliatelle, passatelli, and a perfectly charred octopus.
See where to eat this week in Brooklyn below, and check back for more recommendations every Monday.
Photo by Scott Lynch
Sam’s, A Cobble Hill Red-Sauce Institution, Gets a Gentle Reboot
Sam’s has been holding it down on Court Street since 1930, sending out an array of classic red-sauce dishes—as well as pizzas, steaks, chops, sea food, and “relishes”—to generations of Brooklynites feasting in those shiny red vinyl booths. And for nearly all of those 96 years, if you went to Sam’s, you were guests of the Migliaccio family.
Until this year, that is, when the famously gruff Lou Migliaccio, who had spent his entire life at Sam’s (literally born in the building), finally decided he had enough and handed the place over to Georgia Fulton, a perhaps unlikely on-paper successor. Aussie by birth, Brooklyn by choice, and Long Island Bar server by trade, Fulton had the one qualification Migliaccio cared about: she loved Sam’s as much as he did.
“I truly just stepped in the door about five years ago and immediately fell in love with the place,” Fulton told Brooklyn Magazine. “So I committed myself to coming once a week for all those years, to develop a relationship with Lou and with the space. I thought it was magical, so layered, and so full of history.”
Photo by Scott Lynch
Old School Vibes and a Killer New Menu Bring JR & Son Back to Life
If you didn’t know the story of this place as you walked in the door, you’d never guess the story while you’re sitting here. Such is the thoughtful renovation and detailed preservation of Williamsburg’s 90-year-old JR & Son, which, thanks to the same team who did an equally bang-up job down the block at Kellogg’s Diner, just reopened last weekend after five years of sitting dark and empty.
It’s the third or fourth life for the space—it was an Italian social club called Charlie’s before JR and his son took over in 1976—but, as executed by restaurant designers Nico Arze and Matthew Maddy, it feels like a local hangout that’s evolved organically over the past nine decades. The massive wooden bar, for example, which dominates the long and narrow front room, dates back to 1934. And Arze discovered the original black-and-white flooring when he ripped up the layers of linoleum installed during the 1980s, when the place was in one of its most divey stages.
Plus the “son” part of JR & Son gave Arze the collection of framed photos that cover the walls—mostly of NYC sports legends and autographed Frank Sinatra shots, but also of locals and regulars from when the spot lowkey vibed like a mob hangout. New additions to the space include maroon booths and ornate sconces, both of which fit so well with everything else it’s like they’ve been here all along.
Photo by Scott Lynch
Outstanding Pastas and Regional Rarities are The Stars at Osteria Radisa
Osteria Radisa, which opened right at the beginning of summer on a prime Smith Street corner, is heading into the fall primed to become a true neighborhood favorite.
First off, it’s just a very pleasant place to hang out, eat, drink, and spend time with whomever it is you’re spending time with that night. The restaurant’s interior is earth-toned and cozy, with some cool contemporary touches (love the donkey print); there’s a lushly landscaped outdoor dining situation running down Douglass, and the whole place just exudes that comfortable, family-run-business vibe.
Actually, two families—both of whom also run Clinton Hill’s popular Aita. The front of the house is the domain of Fernando Trujillo and his partner Althea Codamon, who’s also the beverage director. Radisa arrives by way of executive chef Roberta Aita, his partner Giulia Pellicioni (whose current post is in an osteria in Romagna, from whence she sends chefs to work in her Brooklyn kitchens), and Giulia’s brother Luca, who is also a business partner here.
But you don’t need to know any of that to appreciate the most important reason Osteria Radisa will almost certainly end up on our Best of Brooklyn 2025 list. Namely, and obviously, the food. Especially the pasta, but also kind of everything. Seriously: Radisa rules, and we can’t wait to go back.
