If you are what you eat, then the best way to learn about a city is through its food. Getting acquainted with the world\u2019s greatest food city is no small task. We recommend taking New York one bite, one food crawl at a time.<\/p>\n
For starters, follow this path to traditional NY foods made in North Brooklyn. To keep you from biting off more than you can chew (in an afternoon), we limited our walk to a few morsels of Bushwick, Williamsburg and Greenpoint.<\/p>\n
Here is a self-guided Brooklyn food tour<\/strong>.<\/p>\n NY PRETZELS<\/strong>: Like most classic NY carbs, pretzels hearken back to the Pennsylvania Dutch. Though hard pretzels, whose origin is the subject of many myths (drying for preservation; serendipitous over-baking\u2026), have a solid place in tri-state history, it\u2019s the salt-and-mustard loving doughy guys that scream NYC. Most every soft pretzel you\u2019ll find in the city\u2019s food carts and bodegas are hand-twisted behind the same Moore Street doors. Sadly, the 65 year-old New York Pretzel<\/a><\/strong> is not open for factory tours or retail business, but it\u2019s an easy walk-by landmark.<\/p>\n \u2014 <\/em>New York Pretzel (200 Moore Street)<\/em><\/p>\n TORTILLAS<\/strong>: In a city of immigrants, once-foreign cuisines become essentials of the local food fabric. For Bushwick, a neighborhood largely populated by Latinos from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and, more recently, Mexicans, this means a whole lot of tortilla. Thanks to five tortilla makers spinning discs of dough in the same vicinity, some refer to the area by the nexus of Bushwick and Flatbush Ave as \u201cTortilla Triangle.\u201d Right off the Jefferson L stop, Tortilleria Mexicana los Hermanos<\/strong><\/a> runs a no frills caf\u00e9 where you can enjoy fresh tacos with a view of the tortilla line. Grab a few packs for the road, or shop around the rest of the \u201ctriangle\u201d (don\u2019t take the name too literally; it\u2019s closer to a pentagon).<\/p>\n \u2014<\/em> Tortilleria Mexicana los Hermanos (271 Starr Street)<\/em> PIZZA<\/strong>: As iconic as Lady Liberty, NY Pizza has been feeding the hungry for roughly a century. With thinnish dough and a crispy-chewy crust, old-school NY style pizza is the big pie you find at most corner pizza shops. Carmine\u2019s Original Pizza<\/strong><\/a> makes a praiseworthy NY slice (if you don\u2019t trust us, take it from the expert). For a new-school take on the Italian standby, Roberta’s<\/strong> <\/a>makes a mean Neopolitan. They\u2019re lovely plain, but best enjoyed with creative toppings\u2013many of which, like their bread and butter, are produced on-site. Back in Greenpoint, Paulie Gee\u2019s<\/strong><\/a> calls on Eagle Street Rooftop Farms for much of the produce on his coal-oven pizzas.\u00a0 For something between, head to Best Pizza<\/strong> (backed in part by team Roberta\u2019s) for NY-style pizza with a hint of wood-fired Neopolitan-Americana.<\/p>\n \u2013 Roberta\u2019s (261 Moore Street) BEER<\/strong>: Brooklyn\u2019s hops history runs deeper than you might think. The borough was home to 48 breweries at the turn of the century. Take a closer look at the brick mass of 10 Bushwick Place, and you\u2019ll discover a rich liquid history. As NY Shitty elucidates<\/a> (via NY Food Museum and Brooklyn Daily Eagle<\/em>), German immigrant Otto Huber, Sr. built his own beer plant to replace the Hoerger Brewery in 1866. Edward Hittleman bought the company in the 1920s, calling it Hittleman Brewery<\/strong> and running an on-site saloon. Over the next thirty years, the brewery\u2019s name changed to Hittleman-Goldenrod Brewery, Edelbrau and finally Edelbrew in 1946. The brewery closed soon after Hittleman\u2019s death in 1951, and was the first home of now Williamsburg-based Brooklyn Brewery<\/a><\/strong>. The building will soon find its ninth life as The Wick and the Well<\/strong>, a music venue, lounge and brewery.<\/p>\n \u2013 Hittleman Bottling Plant (10 Bushwick Place) (Check out Urban Oyster\u2019s Brewed in Brooklyn tour to explore Old Brewer\u2019s Row and other highlights of Brooklyn\u2019s beer past and present.) <\/em><\/p>\n SODA:<\/strong> Across the street from Brooklyn Brewery, its storage warehouse sits in the complex (soon to be a residence) that once housed Dr. Brown\u2019s Soda<\/strong>. Dr. Brown\u2019s fame began with Cel-Ray, a soft drink sold in Jewish delicatessens since 1869. Developed by a doctor for immigrant New York\u2019s children, the Cel-Ray original recipe calls for celery seeds, seltzer and sugar. Another quintessential New York soda, Manhattan Special<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s espresso coffee soda has been around since 1895. Now run by the fourth generation of its Italian founders, who see the company as living proof of the American Dream. Walk by on your way up Manhattan Avenue.<\/p>\n \u00ad\u2013 Dr. Brown\u2019s old factory (<\/em>18 North 11th Street) DELI & DOGS:<\/strong> Italian specialties have long defined the palate of area\u2019s like Williamsburg\u2019s Graham Avenue. Neighborhood standby Graham Ave Meats and Deli<\/strong> is more than just a butcher; it\u2019s a legendary sandwich shop. Pay tribute to the city\u2019s Italian heritage with a taste of Michael \u201cMike the Butcher<\/a>\u201d Virtuoso\u2019s Godfather sandwich: a carefully balanced composition of soppressata, mortadella and provolone. If you\u2019re craving that extra hit of meat, go for Willie\u2019s Italian Special, layered with the sandwich maker\u2019s pick of three meats. Around the corner, Tom Mylan and team break down whole, locally raised animals at the Meat Hook<\/strong>. It may be a far cry from Nathan\u2019s, but the \u201caggressively spiced\u201d beef and pork Meat Hook Hot Dog should more than sate those dirty water dog cravings. Take it up a notch with the cheese- and housemade chili-stuffed Frankenstuffs.<\/p>\n \u2013 Graham Ave Meats and Deli (445 Graham Avenue) BREAD:<\/strong> Taste the miracle of New York water in a loaf of Greenpoint bread. Though established in the late 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s, New Warsaw Bakery<\/strong><\/a> and Northside Bakery<\/strong><\/a> (formerly Old Poland Bakery) celebrate the neighborhood\u2019s Polish heritage with old-world breads, sold at old-school prices. If you\u2019ve ever been down Manhattan Ave. between Driggs and Nassau, chances are you\u2019ve gone weak at the knees from the smells wafting out of New Warsaw Bakery. Walk by the back for a chance to peek at big, crunchy loaves on the conveyor belt (the door is cracked open most evenings). Try your luck at begging for some bread hot off the belt\u2013a life changing experience\u2013or for a safer bet, buy a fresh loaf at one of the adjacent groceries. A few meat market- and bakery-filled blocks away, Northside Bakery makes delicious, natural European bread by hand.<\/p>\n \u2013 New Warsaw Bakery (585 Manhattan Ave) DONUTS: <\/strong>New Yorkers have been eating donuts since they were called olykoeks<\/em>, <\/em>and modern Brooklynites have praised their glory since the birth of Peter Pan Donut and Pastry Shop<\/strong>.<\/a> This cozy Greenpoint standby may have seen several owners and new flavors over its 60+ year life, but the basic method (handcut; handmade) and recipe (secret, of course) haven\u2019t change a bit. Grab a stool by the regulars, and get down with a decadent apple crumb, classic glazed, or harder-to-find classics like cream crumb, cream chocolate sprinkles, and cream coconut. For more delicious donut options in Brooklyn, read oM’s The Best Donuts in NYC<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n \u2013 Peter Pan Donut and Pastry Shop (727 Manhattan Avenue)<\/em><\/p>\n LOX:<\/strong> Bagels and lox are to the Jewish New Yorker\u2019s diet what the rice and sashimi are to the Japanese. NY\u2019s bagel mecca may lie across the river, but the city\u2019s prolific house of smoked fish lies in Greenpoint. Family owned and operated for four generations, Acme Smoked Fish<\/a><\/strong> is one of the country\u2019s foremost sources of nova, lox, herring and hot smoked fish like whitefish, whiting, trout and kippered salmon. Swing by one of Acme\u2019s Fish Fridays to take advantage of wholesale prices on Acme\u2019s goods, including Blue Hill Bay, their preservative-free label.<\/p>\n \u2013 Acme Smoked Fish Corporation (30 Gem Street; Fish Fridays, 8am-1pm)<\/em><\/p>\n Photos: jeredb<\/a>, Mike Poresky<\/a>, joo0ey<\/a>, angermann<\/a>, Meat Hook, Katie Sokoler\/Gothamist<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2014 Tortilleria Tenochtitlan 2000 (952 Flushing Avenue)<\/em>
\n\u2014 Tortilleria Plaza Piaxtla (915 Flushing Avenue)<\/em>
\n\u2014 Tortilleria Buena Vista (219 Johnson Avenue)<\/em>
\n\u2014 Tortilleria Chinantla (975 Grand Street)<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Best Pizza (33 Havemeyer Street)
\n\u2013 Carmine\u2019s Original Pizza (93 Norman Avenue)
\n\u2013 Paulie Gee\u2019s (60 Greenpoint Avenue)<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Brooklyn Brewery (71 N. 11th<\/sup> Street, aka Brewer\u2019s Row)<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Manhattan Special Bottlings (<\/em>342 Manhattan Avenue )<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2013 The Meat Hook (100 Frost Street )<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2013 Northside Bakery (190 Nassau Ave. Also at 149 North 8th<\/sup> Street)<\/em><\/p>\n