COBBLE HILL & BROOKLYN HEIGHTS
EATING
CHEF’S TABLE at Brooklyn Fare
A unique dining experience at Brooklyn’s only three Michelin-starred restaurant. Seating eighteen guests this prix-fixe dinner consists of twenty small plate courses – which you eat in line of sight of Chef Ramirez, who comes out for a chat when he has a bit of breathing space. The attention to detail extends to chilled cutlery for cold dishes. Brooklyn Fare is also famous for imposing a strict no-photos and no-note taking policy, so diners are fully focused on the Japanese inspired flavours and textures. Not suitable for vegetarians. For future reference the current prix-fixe price is $225 per person + tax + service. Wine starts around $60…
200 Schermerhorn St.
61 LOCAL
A public house that celebrates locally crafted food and those that make it. An industrial feel with bricks and concrete walls, ply tables, glass jar lights and kids’ drawings indicating ‘his and hers’ restrooms. A massive, handcrafted map hangs over the bar, name-checking some of the usual suspects on the taps below. A vegan Faux Gras sandwich may land on your plate. They organise local tours to Red Hook Winery and talks by local food vendors to Meet Your Maker.
61 Bergen St.
ART
INVISIBLE DOG ART CENTER
Four years ago, Lucien Zayan (formerly a French theatre and opera producer) fell in love with this derelict four-story building and turned it into an industrial-chic multi-disciplinary arts centre with performing and visual arts and film screenings. Zayan has always tried to find spaces for artists and now he’s trying to raise the funds to facilitate an artist in residence programme. Check the website for shows and events. Also worth watching this for a little more information.
51 Bergen Street
MICRO MUSEUM
An independent museum dedicated to odd interactive art installations and live performances.
123 Smith St. Open Saturdays 12-7pm
Walk to WARREN PLACE
One of the ‘hidden treasures of Brooklyn’, this little neighbourhood of 26 row houses was built by philanthropist Alfred Tredway White in 1878 to provide decent homes for working families. The architects, William Field & Son, grouped the cottages around a central garden with a shared entrance, to encourage a neighbourliness. These small houses, 11.5 feet wide, were built to be affordable for labourers (sign of the times: the most recent on the market went for $945,000).
From Warren Place keep walking to BROOKLYN HEIGHTS. A quiet neighbourhood of original redbrick early 19th-century federal style houses. But 58 JORALEMON STREET is a fake!
This brownstone is actually an elaborate secret subway entrance. Located in the tunnel just east of the river, the exit disguised as a brownstone leads to a grimy, dimly lit set of metal stairs that ascend past utility boxes and ventilation shafts into a windowless room with a door. If you opened the door, you would find yourself on a stoop, which is just part of the façade.
Walk straight down to BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK (Pier 5). A few minutes on and you will encounter an amazing view of Manhattan’s downtown financial district. Pier 5 is under construction and will feature a waterfront promenade, a picnic peninsula with barbeques and playgrounds for kids. Il will connect to Brooklyn waterfront greenway.
Once you have arrived at Brooklyn Bridge you can take a $4 water taxi to Liberty Harbour in Manhattan.
A more comprehensive route is the Hop-on/Hop-off water taxi that gives you a 2 hour ride from Brooklyn Bridge to the Statue of Liberty to Midtown and back for $26.
