Williamsburg – Dining

There’s a lot for foodies to love in Williamsburg. First and foremost might be Smorgasburg, the alfresco food court that hosts dozens of vendors at Marsha P. Kent State Park during the warm-weather months. There’s also Williamsburg Market, an indoor food hall that launched in October 2022 where you can get everything from shrimp and grits at Harlem Seafood Soul to vegan quesadillas at Méxology. And of course there are scores of restaurants both casual and formal specializing in just about any cuisine you can dream of.

 

Bohemia

Its name might lead you to believe that the cuisine is Middle European, Bohemia being a part of Czechia. But this restaurant, which opened in December 2022, actually offers a free-spirited, “bohemian” take on Southeast Asian street foods. Amid hanging lanterns, bamboo stalks, and lush greenery meant to evoke Bali, you can feast on small plates such as watermelon crudo (with coconut, lime, yuzu, mint, and other atypical crudo flavors) and an Indonesian version of empanadas made with Waygu beef. There are large plates  too, such as kari ikan (fish curry) and lamb ribs with a crispy cumin-coriander crust.

 

Kru

What Bohemia is to Indonesian food, Kru is to Thai cuisine. Don’t come here expecting pad Thai; do expect layers of flavor and spice you might not have encountered before. The menu varies with the seasons. Among the century-old dishes given new life are winter melon chicken soup made with half of a Cornish hen, shiitake mushrooms, and pickled lime; vegan apple curry; and ma hor, hors d’oeuvres that combine the sweet and the savory. All dishes are designed for sharing, making Kru an ideal evening out with friends.

 

 

K’Far

The team behind buzzy skewer restaurant Laser Wolf, located on the roof of the Hoxton hotel, opened this Israeli-style eatery on the hotel’s ground floor in November 2022. Persian lamb shank with sour cherries and pistachio, za’atar brick chicken, and halibut with grape tzatziki are among the top picks for dinner entrées, and if you don’t start your meal with the challah rolls and labneh butter you are missing out. Weekend brunch is easily as enticing, with options including chocolate rugelach, shakshuka, sandwiches made with Jerusalem bagels (which are baked rather than boiled), and borekasim, a type of pastry filled with the likes of hard-boiled egg or spicy schug.

 

 

The Four Horsemen

The holder of a Michelin star (and co-owned by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem), the Four Horsemen began primarily as a natural-wine bar, with a 50-plus-page list to prove it. Even teetotalers, however, will feel at home in this cozy, simply outfitted spot, thanks to its ever-changing menu of small and not-so-small plates. Potato pavé, fried chicken with black maitake mushrooms in a marsala sauce, celery salad with walnuts, dates, and Piave Vecchio, and Tuscan kale served with fried pig’s ear are among the more-celebrated dishes. And as with K’Far, you absolutely must start with the house bread.

 

 

Peter Luger

Long before Williamsburg was cool, before the Williamsburg Bridge opened, and before Brooklyn became part of New York City, there was Peter Luger Steak House—or as it was originally called, Carl Luger’s Café, Billiards, and Bowling Alley. (Carl was the chef and owner Peter’s nephew.) Though you can order salmon or filet of sole, the reason to come here is to indulge in an old-school steak, with an equally old-school side dish or two (fries, baked potato, creamed spinach, onion rings) in old-school steak house surroundings (dark paneling, brass sconces). Be prepared to pay the old-school way, with cash: Peter Luger doesn’t accept credit cards (though it does take U.S. debit cards).