Have you ever had Uzbek food? Me neither until I went to Nargis Cafe. It's kinda like middle eastern food mixed with Ukranian food. It's so good and so inexpensive.
It's a sweet agave bar hidden in the fridge of a Mexican grocery store that use to be a laundromat. It doesn't get more Brooklyn than that but the tourists haven't found it yet so I highly recommend it. Music is really good and they have a great selection of mezcal. Felipe, the owner, also owns the adjoining restaurant Cerveceria.
I had been living in Brooklyn Heights for some time and Long Island Restaurant has been closed for as long as I could remember. Then one day, the sign was lit up and not long after the new owners had resurrected the spot with the promise to the previous owners the name and sign never changes. Order "A Martini" from the menu. It's divine. As are the french fries. They're double fried.
One of the last untapped areas of downtown Manhattan. Hand pulled noodles, cheap eats, and a concentrated area of families make this an often interesting place to explore.