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. 

We here at Brooklyn Magazine have devoted many hours and pages to chronicling the many deaths and rebirths of diner culture in the borough. It’s not a fixation so much as a love of the genre: plush booths, simple menus, and accessible price points, ideally available as late as we need them.

It’s why we were thrilled to see one land in the old Fort Defiance (then Pitt’s) space in Red Hook, which has recently been converted into the spectacular, unfussy, and ego-less Val’s by a trio of new owners proudly toting a collective half-century of hospitality experience (much of it in that very neighborhood, where they all live).

But the emergence of Val’s got us thinking about some of the heaters that have hit in recent years. There is, of course, Kellogg’s in Williamsburg, where Nura alum and a prestige pastry chef revamped the neighborhood haunt and its menu with a Tex-Mex twang (and managed to keep prices from budging too much in the years since). And those looking for something adjacent at a more reasonable hour can find their fix at Fat Rabbit in Fort Greene, where breakfast is served all day in a space that’s been home to one diner or another for at least three decades now (RIP Mega Bites and Andy’s before it).

If those somehow don’t hit the spot, we’ve got a couple of lists of diners and late-night options that should get you the meal you deserve at whatever hour of the day the itch sets in.

See where to eat this week in Brooklyn below, and check back for more recommendations every Monday.

Photo by Scott Lynch

The Spectacular Simplicity of Val’s Diner in Red Hook

Victoria Viscusi, chef Allie Gassaway, and Laine Pelka are three best friends who, as Pelka told Brooklyn Magazine, have spent a combined 50 years total working in hospitality—mostly in Brooklyn, where Viscusi was born and raised and where all three now live.

And though they’ve been talking about creating their own place together for as long as they can remember, it wasn’t until the ideal corner spot opened up (RIP Fort Defiance 2.0, and then Pitt’s) in the heart of their favorite neighborhood (Red Hook, where much of that shared work experience accumulated) that the trio knew they had to finally take that leap of faith and live out their dreams.

“I live right here on Van Brunt and think this community in Red Hook is very, very strong,” said Gassaway. “So all we’re trying to do is to give the people what they want.” And if the love and support the team received from locals on opening weekend is anything to go by, what the people want is Val’s.

As is promised on the hand-painted signage outside, Val’s (an acronym built from the trio’s first names) functions equally well as both a diner and a bar, with satisfying, unfussy food and drinks, served in a warm and welcoming environment.

Chef Gassaway runs the kitchen, sending out a tight menu of expertly-executed classics. “I want the food to be accessible,” she said. “Stuff you can eat multiple times a week and not have to think about it. There’s no ego attached to this. It’s a diner. We’re keeping it simple.”

Photo by Scott Lynch

A Star is Reborn: Kellogg’s Diner is Revamped as a Tex-Mex Triumph

The most amazing thing happened at Gov Ball this past summer. All weekend long the festival grounds were buzzing about Chappell Roan, who wasn’t slated to go on until the final hours of the final day. It’s all anyone wanted to talk about. And when she finally hit the stage late Sunday afternoon, the biggest single crowd I’ve ever seen was there to greet her, tens of thousands of people in pink cowboy hats stretching back farther than I could see. And Roan? She nailed it. It was like watching a star being born in real time. The people went nuts.

I thought of all this the other night at my first at what will be many, many meals at the newly reopened, lovingly revitalized Kellogg’s Diner, a landmark Williamsburg restaurant that’s been holding it down on the corner of Metropolitan and Union Avenues for nearly a century. Everyone I know had been buzzing about this opening for almost a year, ever since we first heard that the brilliant and inimitable Jackie Carnesi, whose most recent cheffy triumph was the great Nura in Greenpoint, was put in charge of the kitchen after restaurateur Louis Skibar rescued the place from the wrecking ball.

So, the Chappell Roan in the Kellogg’s scenario is the unimprovable Carnesi, along with her kick-ass pastry chef Amanda Perdomo, formerly of Wildair and Cool World. Also on board are co-owner Skibar, who worked similar magic at Old John’s Luncheonette on the Upper West Side among other places; and co-owner Nico Arze, also of Nura and who, along with Matthew Maddy, was in charge of Kellogg’s redesign.

And the audience going nuts? Everyone who was fortunate enough to be sitting in Carnesi’s new “pink palace.”

Photo by Scott Lynch

Fun, Boozy Diner Fat Rabbit Opens in Fort Greene 

Like all good local diners, Fat Rabbit, a funky new spot that opened a few weeks ago in the heart of DeKalb Avenue’s restaurant row, is useful in many different situations.

Breakfast food is served all the time, so if you want eggs for dinner, you got ’em. It’s open late(-ish), and makes for a solid last-stop-before-home spot to soak up the alcohol after a night at the bars. The menu stars some greasy bangers, but you can also get a nice big salad. It’s kid-friendly. There’s music playing at a pleasantly head-bopping volume (Jonathan Richman, Hendrix, Blondie, Bowie). There’s brunch and lunch all day. And there are cocktails, as well as beer and wine, if you’re in the mood to linger.

It’s not surprising that the place would serve the community in so many ways. Fat Rabbit is owned and operated by two long-time Fort Greene residents and hospitality veterans Sam Barron and Jill Cuticello.

“I had been talking to the landlord for about a year before we signed the lease, and he was very adamant that the place stay a diner,” Barron tells Brooklyn Magazine. “We feel like we’re participating in a lineage and a history here for sure. Before Fat Rabbit, it was Mega Bites, and before that, going back like 30 years, it was Andy’s. It’s kind of cool to be a part of that.”