Lunching in Willliamsburg

Lunch in Williamsburg has become a much bigger deal in the five years I've been working on the South Side (literally next to the Williamsburg Bridge). During lunch, it's fun to walk around and pick out places that definitely did not exist in 1989 when I was a new, single mother living on N. 5th between Driggs/Roebling streets. Each time I walk down Metropolitan Avenue to the Roebling Tea Room, I think back to the days when Metropolitan was the dividing line between the relative safety of Greenpoint and the "wild" South side. At that time, the truly intrepid lived on the South-numbered streets (in very cool apartments, I might add). I remember going to a party on S. 2nd street; you would have thought I was heading to Beirut. In the end it was a nice party and a neighborhood of real people doing what we all do. These days there are all kinds of places to eat and drink scattered around the South side and I much prefer being there than on Avenue of the Hipsters aka Bedford Avenue. Here are some of my lunch favorites:

Roebling Tea Room - (143 Roebling/Metropolitan Avenue)They carry a selection of teas that are truly flavorful. Because of Roebling, I now say things like "is it loose tea or a tea bag" and wince when I do so, but there's a difference, sorry. At Roebling Tea Room, I mostly focus on the black teas. I've fallen into a rut of ordering Mandala Chai, with or without caffeine depending on my energy level. I'm happy to report that the other day, I tried a black vanilla. On other occasions, I've tried the Assam and the Darjeeling but I always return to the Mandala Chai.

Along with the teas, there is a good selection of food. I've noticed the menu has changed a few times for the better. Most of the time I opt for the soup of the day; last week it was a butternut squash which hit the spot. I have a thing about bread. I love it, but it doesn't do my figure well, so I try not to eat more than a crumb of it. The other day I ordered the pork sandwich after deliberating between that and oatmeal. The waitress couldn't help me decide because she said she doesn't eat pork. Once the sandwich arrived, I ate the pork, leaving aside the fried egg and the bread. I noticed that most of my fellow diners happily ate their entire sandwich. The homemade potato chips that accompanied the sandwich were excellent. I've gotten semi-friendly with Michael (the tea/coffee somnelier). He's always willing to discuss politics and give me steamed soy milk with my tea.

Pies-N-Thighs (351 Kent Avenue) - I should admit from the onset that I AM IN LOVE with this place. During the summer- at least once a week- I make the trek over to Pies-N-Thighs. My walk meanders past some construction sites of new apartment buildings and through neighborhoods with well-kept buildings mixed in with bodegas, dry cleaners and small hip restaurants. I keep walking by Papa Lima (a new sandwich place), but am always dead set on getting to Pies-N-Thighs. Once there, I sit in the small backyard - some have compared it to a comfortable prison yard - where I read my paper and observe the other diners while the traffic whizzes by above on the Williamsburg Bridge.

Each time I visit, the sight of the large weeping willow tree on the water's edge at the end of the block gives me pause. It feels very southern-Confederate-era and I channel Savannah, Georgia, Beaufort, South Carolina, and the food at BoBque (a favorite place to eat next to a gas station on Edisto Island, South Carolina where we have spent a fair amount of time.) Sarah, one of the owners of Pies-N-Thighs, literally infuses the food she makes with love. I am one of many who makes a pilgrimage for peace of mind and a piece of pie.

For lunch, I usually opt for the catfish with a splash of hot sauce and a side of cucumber salad, or get the iceberg salad with bacon bits and no egg. I cannot leave without picking up some crumble-of-the-day, be it blueberry/rhubarb, peach, a large rice krispie bar, a piece of pie or usually all of the above. Big daughter is also a huge fan. So much so, that I was dispatched to Pies-N-Thighs one cold day in February to get the food she wanted for her 18th birthday party. I was trying to figure out how I would carry all the food back on the J train to Manhattan. Luckily a co-worker drove me.

At least once every two weeks, big daughter heads out on the J train and off we go for her favorite lunch (aka birthday dinner): fried chicken, biscuits, macncheese and cheesy grits with a little salsa verde. After that, she usually ends up getting a cookie and lemonade and the sweet tea. Then she talks me into hiking back over to Metropolitan and visiting Cheeks Bakery. If I am alone, it's fun to walk back to work looping around Diner and down Broadway to my office on Havemeyer. One time, I was treated to a concert of jazzy sounding piano music as I walked past Bembe, a popular bar in Williamsburg.

Cheeks Bakery (378 Metropolitan Avenue to the right when Havemeyer ends)is truly an artisanal bakery. Melanie (the head baker and owner) makes all manner of cakes (German Chocolate with caramel frosting, Red Velvet, and Vanilla to name a few) I have been known to order a cake just to celebrate my team's good work. I always order them for staff birthdays. Melanie also makes homemade granola, little lemon tarts and all kinds of cupcakes along with crumbly scone-like biscuits with cheese and pear/or apple.

There has been some mumbling on Chowhound about Melanie's fierceness re: customers' questions and their attempts to order all her cookies (she has a limit of 10 and you must order birthday cakes 24 hours in advance.) I see no problem with these requests because the quality of her baked goods is truly wonderful. Melanie does not suffer fools gladly and that's who she is. Which reminds me, last year Melanie unearthed some gorgeous old molds from the bar across the street. She made some beautiful looking and great tasting gingerbread figures that were kind of ancient looking and sculptural. (Carl eventually ate them all after I put them on a table as decoration during a party).

Taco Chulo (253 Grand street off Havemeyer). Quite by accident,listening to the owner offer a regular a taste of Hot Toddy, I ended up tasting it. I discovered that a few sips is great for a)an ongoing cough and b) settling my nerves. With lemon juice, cloves, hot water and a shot of whiskey, the Hot Toddy restores my blood flow and quiets my cough. I've found it somewhat comforting to drink three sips of a Hot Toddy while eating their Chula salad, which is shredded cabbage, either fish/meat/vegetable, beans and rice. I usually forgo the rice and beans in favor of spinach and a shot of guacamole.

Buffalo Cantina (149 Havemeyer at S. 2nd) has all kinds of Mexican food (burritos, tortas, tacos, and salads). They are definitely not tacky Mexican. I love their shrimp tacos because they include tons of cilantro, raw onion and a great salsa. Their black bean soup never disappoints. I can remember laboring over black bean soup many years ago. Those beans have to soak for hours. When I request more chopped raw onion and grated cheese to go with their black bean soup, the guys at Buffalo Cantina are extremely obliging. We communicate in Spanish and they are patient when I momentarily mix up words. Their sopa de tortilla is especially good on a cold day. They also have horchata, a sweet, milky mexican rice drink which is served cold that's good in the summer.

Diner (85 Broadway at Berry Street) is another favorite place to eat lunch. I'm there mostly in the summer because I can sit outside by myself and read. On my way there, I walk down Broadway past Peter Lugers and an old bank. As I walk, I observe the mix of Orthodox and Spanish families along with the hipsters. It's fun to see the Wall Street traders parking their Porsche's at Peter Luger's private parking lot and then heading into the restaurant to eat their manly steaks. (I've gone in for the hamburger at lunch - a good bargain. It's a man's world in there, but there's still room for people like me). Every few minutes, the B61 bus to Red Hook rumbles by and I am always surprised by the sign for Red Hook on the front of the bus. I think of Red Hook as being far away, but I suppose it's all on the water. The fact that Diner is one block from the water adds to its charm. As I sit in the sun, I feel like I'm by the sea.

My favorite time to eat at Diner is mid-summer when the kitchen makes Italian-style bread salads with a mix of just-picked ripe, flavorful heirloom tomatoes. That salad is to die for -eating those tomatoes is an ethereal experience. This is another favorite place for big daughter to meet me for lunch. After we listen to the waiter/waitress write down all the specials on our paper tablecloth, we deliberate over our choices and then make our selections. Once in a blue moon, big daughter just opts for the pressed ham sandwich listed on the little menu provided to diners. After lunch it's always fun to go next door to Marlow and Sons (81 Broadway) and browse. There is a large assortment of honeys, English and Australian chocolate bars and a whole lot of other speciality foods. We usually peruse the baked goods and settle on some sweet thing. For the goodbye dinner of my predecessor at this program, we traipsed off to Marlow and Sons (my idea of course) for small plates of oysters and cheese.

The staff at the outpt. clinic upstairs turned me on to a divey, really great chicken place on Broadway (past Marcy Avenue) called Chicken Q (341 Broadway). They also have really good pernil (roast pork). Every once in a while, big daughter gets a craving for a traditional Spanish lunch of rice/beans, roast chicken and plantanos and that's her spot. (I'm certain that one of the scenes in the movie Enchanted was filmed at the SRO next door to Chicken Q. Of course, in the movie it was transformed into a luxury hotel room. I recognized the SRO doorway when I saw the movie with little one the other day.)

Over on Bedford Avenue at South 2nd, there is Bonita, (which I mentioned in a previous post). There is also DuMont Burger at S. 3rd, the less-expensive sibling of Dressler, a fancy restaurant located on Broadway, a stone's throw from Peter Luger. DuMont Burger has great burgers (small and little) and good macaroni and cheese and one sits bar style. It can be a bit off-putting to go in when it's crowded. I haven't eaten at Dressler, but I love looking at the dramatic flower arrangements in the window as I walk to Diner.