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, we’re riding the R, N, D, and Q lines back down to Bay Ridge to continue our exploration of what might be one of New York’s most exciting food destinations at the moment.

It’s in large part due to Sofra, a new Egyptian restaurant on Fifth Avenue that’s putting sumptuous modern spins on the classics owner Mohammad Shaaban grew up with—all approved, for the sake of authenticity, by his mother, of course.

Shaaban’s appeal to the future of Egyptian cuisine pairs well with something more traditional, like what you’ll find on the northern end of Fifth at Port Sa’id, the sensational pick-your-fish adventure the borough has desperately needed (because why should Astoria have all the fun?)

And finally, we’re ending (for now, but not for long) with Bar Chuzo, the unexpected Bay Ridge spot (just blocks away from Sofra) that came our way courtesy of you, dear reader, when you crowned it the best restaurant in Brooklyn in our first annual Readers’ Choice Awards (more on that soon) around this time last year. Since then, Chuzo’s not only been a go-to for excellent Ecuadorian food and items uncommon to these (or any) parts of NYC, but is also a contender for one of Brooklyn’s best bar menus if you’re looking for something that feels more like a restaurant proper than a watering hole.

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

Photo by Scott Lynch

Egyptian Classics Get Sumptuous Modern Spins at Sofra in Bay Ridge

Mohammad Shaaban lived all over the world, and led a lot of different lives, before he (semi-)settled in Bay Ridge last year. Among the many bullet points in his bio: growing up in a small town outside of Alexandria, Egypt, earning several master’s degrees, and currently enjoying a successful career as a “drilling engineer” in Texas.

But as he told Brooklyn Magazine, what Shaaban really loves to do is invite people to sit at his dining table—his sofra—for hours of lively conversation, a cup of tea or six, and as many platters of soul-satisfying food as everyone can handle. Which is exactly why Shaaban is now here in Brooklyn, and why he and his partners (both of whom he’s known since childhood) spent the better of a year building out Sofra, their sumptuous new Egyptian restaurant in Bay Ridge.

“Sofra means the dining table. In my culture, this is where everything happens, where we gather every day,” said Shaaban. “We wanted a spacious place where people could stay for as long as they want. As long as you’re here, you’re sitting at my sofra; and if you’re sitting at my sofra, you’re my personal guest.”

In addition to acting as host at Sofra, Shaaban is also the chef. And though some of the stalwarts here have been given a bit of a contemporary update, everything is based on the home-cooked food he and co-owner Mohammed Elbhery grew up on. In fact, Shaaban said his mom had to approve every innovation and every dish before he put it on the menu.

Photo by Scott Lynch

Brooklyn Finally Gets a Great “Pick-Your-Fish” Restaurant

The concept of the Pick-Your-Own-Seafood restaurant, exemplified by Queens legends like Astoria Seafood and AbuQir, is so simple and fun and genuinely transportive (“it feels like we’re on vacation!!”) that it’s kind of wild that they haven’t popped up all over the city. In fact, until just recently, there were approximately zero of these things in this big, beautiful borough.

Adam Kohlani—born in Yemen, married to an Egyptian, a Bay Ridger for almost 14 years now—thought the absence was borderline tragic. And so, at the start of the summer, he opened Port Sa’id Seafood, a casual and welcoming spot celebrating all manner of swimmers on Third Avenue just off Bay Ridge Avenue.

If you’ve never been to one of these sorts of places, here’s how Port Sa’id works. The core of the “menu” is a case of raw seafood located in the back room of the restaurant. On display, lolling on ice, are whole fish like branzino, sardines, and red snappers, as well as mollusks, crustaceans, and cephalopods like squid, scallops, and shrimps. You point at what you want, tell the counter person how you’d like it prepared, and about 15 minutes later, lovely plates of screamingly fresh seafood start hitting your table.

Photo by Scott Lynch

Bar Chuzo Wins BKMAG’s Readers’ Choice Award for “Best Restaurant” in Brooklyn

One of the best things I ate this year, which I ate too late in the year to include in my official “best things I ate this year” list, was a dish I had never even heard of before heading down to Bay Ridge last week to check out Bar Chuzo, the winner of BKMAG‘s 2025 Readers’ Choice Award for best restaurant.

It’s called ceviche Jipijapa, named after a town in the Manabí region of Ecuador, which Ronny Jaramillo, who runs Bar Chuzo with his wife Dana Morrisey, describes as “a beautiful, unique coastal area, where all the farms meet the beach. My grandmother and my mom are from there, and there’s a heavy African influence to the cuisine. Lots of seafood, and lots of peanuts. So, in Manabí, we pour peanut paste in our ceviche and mix it all together. Other Ecuadorians think it’s crazy.”

More like crazy delicious! Bar Chuzo serves its ceviche Jipijapa as a special, a mountain of shrimp, scallops, branzino, celery, ginger, lime, cilantro, onion, avocado, and, of course, the famous Manabí peanut paste. It’s briny, it’s bright, it’s luscious, it’s refreshing, it’s toasty, it’s got bite, it’s grounded in a deep earthiness—there’s just a whole lot happening in this bowl.