9 North Brooklyn Restaurants Made The New York Times’ Best 100 List

Pete Wells, food critic at The New York Times, released his list of the 100 Best Restaurants in New York City this week. Surprisingly, only nineteen Brooklyn spots made the list. Of the nineteen, nine are located in the North Brooklyn area, including one in Greenpoint and eight in Williamsburg.

The list of Williamsburg restaurants kicks off with Aska (47 South Fifth St.), a Scandinavian spot with a tasting menu, at #16. Aska is followed by popular Italian joint Lilia (567 Union Ave.) at #17. Birria-Landia (491 Metropolitan Ave.), which The New York Times lists as in Jackson Heights, also has a location in Williamsburg and secured #18. 

The Four Horsemen (295 Grand St.), a Williamsburg restaurant with a Michelin star, is #36. Sister restaurant to Lilia, Misi (329 Kent Ave.) is #39. At #70, Llama Inn (50 Withers St.) is the home of Chef Erik Ramirez, who was recently named a James Beard Award finalist for Outstanding Chef. 

The list continues with Falansai (112 Harrison Pl.) in East Williamsburg at #73, while the final Williamsburg inclusion is Le Crocodile (80 Wythe Ave.) in the Wythe Hotel at #79.

The only representative on The New York Times’ list from Greenpoint, and also the last from North Brooklyn, is Taqueria Ramírez (94 Franklin St.) at #86.

While we enjoy the restaurants on The New York Times’ list, the Greenpointers staff thinks that Brooklyn is sorely underrepresented. It is surprising that some critically-acclaimed local spots (and ones we just love) did not make the cut. 

If Greenpointers could revise the list, we would start by adding a few Greenpoint favorites like Nura (46 Norman Ave.), Wenwen (1025 Manhattan Ave.), Di an Di (68 Greenpoint Ave.), and Glasserie (95 Commercial St.).

We would also add Fulgrances (132 Franklin St.), an upscale restaurant with rotating chefs, and Naked Dog (47 Java St.), an Italian restaurant with excellent homemade pasta, which is a favorite among the Greenpointers staff.

It is also surprising that local French Canadian favorite Chez Ma Tante (90 Calyer St.) and Oxomoco (128 Greenpoint Ave.), Greenpoint’s only restaurant with a Michelin star, did not make the list.

Lastly, the list is missing two celebrated spots in Williamsburg including Laser Wolf (97 Wythe Ave.), an incredibly popular rooftop Israeli restaurant from Michael Solomonov, and Bonnie’s (398 Manhattan Ave.), which made a New York Times list from last year featuring 50 restaurants the publication was most excited about.