The best of Brooklyn: Bloggers' favorite local spots

The Gutter

RECOMMENDED: What's new and what's best in Brooklyn

Robert Lanham, founding editor of FREEwilliamsburg (freewilliamsburg.com)

“When I first moved to Brooklyn in 1996, I was two blocks away from the pier at India Street, which at the time was an abandoned lot with the best view you could possibly imagine of the New York skyline. I used to go there to write, because—besides the occasional homeless person or junkie—I’d have the view all to myself. At night, the pier at India Street has a similar view, and is generally just as empty. It makes me nostalgic for an era when North Brooklyn wasn’t a conveyer belt for the Sunday Styles section stories.” India St at Greenpoint Ave, Greenpoint, Brooklyn

“I’m a horrible bowler and roll with a ball that would be too light for a sickly eight-year-old, but the Gutter is a tourist-free, reasonably priced gem of an alley that always makes me feel like I’m in the heart of Milwaukee. The ambience and beer selection is so fantastic, I sometimes go there just to have a drink.” The Gutter, 200 N 14th St between Berry St and Wythe Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-387-3585, thegutterbrooklyn.com)

“Whoever did the location scouting for Francis Ford Coppola on his Godfather films made a major fuck-up by overlooking this classic Italian pasta joint, Bamonte’s. Despite the Sinatra music—I’ll never understand the appeal—Bamonte’s never fails to transport me to an era when the aforementioned crooner was king. Old-timers will even tell you he ate there a few times.” Bamonte’s, 32 Withers St between Lorimer St and Union Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-384-8831)

“There’s no better way to spend a sunny afternoon than people-watching on the boardwalk [at Brighton Beach] at any of the classic Russian cafés, drinking eastern European beers and sampling whatever they recommend that’s pickled. I like to go shopping at the Eastern European markets too, where I always find regional candies and bizarre canned meats that looked like they were packaged in the Stalin era.”

“My favorite craft pizza in all of New York is served in a dining room that looks like the inside of a barn you’d stumble upon on some idyllic country road in Vermont. The owner, Paulie, always stops by to ask me how my meal is, which is a nice touch, even if he doesn’t recognize me on my 174th visit.” Paulie Gee’s, 60 Greenpoint Ave between Franklin and West Sts, Greenpoint, Brooklyn (347-987-3747, pauliegee.com)