Brooklyn For Beginners

Where can you find people willing—happily willing—to wait at least seven minutes for a cup of joe? Williamsburg, it turns out. And it’s no ordinary joe. The Blue Bottle Coffee Company, which has amassed a cultish following in their native Bay Area, has a new Brooklyn outpost. Their individual preparations of slow-drip coffee are one version of Blue Bottle’s best seller—the art of process.

The space, a former warehouse with a glass façade and spare, industrial interior, is as well-conceived as any theater set or gallery. On display are the all the accoutrements and gadgetry necessary to Blue Bottle’s alchemic conversions, entertaining the imaginations of patrons as they wait for the final product. There are no plush armchairs. No world music samplers. No wi-fi. Believe it or not, they don’t even make all of their beverages to go. The traditional coffee-shop mise-en-scène has been scrapped in favor of a more unconventional, but thoroughly modern model of business. Though Blue Bottle may be a West Coast import, but it’s a natural fit in this part of the city, where several businesses have found success by going against the grain, adding definition to the irresistible Brooklyn brand.

Williamsburg in particular has proved to be especially hospitable to these entrepreneurs. And visitors will be delighted with their new take on what city life is. A number of area businesses capitalize on the slow, small, local trend, and then there are some are just downright surprising. Take Brooklyn Bowl for example. No Seventies-vintage Lebowski kitsch there. It may be a bowling alley, but it looks more like the lobby of the Ace Hotel than the AMF of your childhood.

Walking around you may find yourself asking, “Am I really in New York?” Take that as a good sign; it’s a city that has always been about surprises. These days you may just have to travel one bridge farther to find them. Tablet’s hotel selection stops at the Lower East Side. But your experience doesn’t have to. For the uninitiated, a mini-guide to some of the neighborhood’s charms:

FOOD

Marlow & Sons: Oysters are their specialty, but equally pleasing is their brick chicken. With neighboring spots Diner and Marlow & Daughters under the same ownership, you can’t go wrong on this block.

Radish: Picnic is the theme at this precious take on a traditional deli. Pick up some prepared foods or better yet, souvenirs for your pantry like locally made Brooklyn Brine pickles or Early Bird granola.

Mast Brothers Chocolate: Home of the anti-Hershey bar. Two bearded Iowan brothers have opened up an artisanal chocolate factory and shop, where they make their confections fresh and in small batches.

DRINK

Brooklyn Brewery: Founded in 1988, this brewery is only as old as the hipsters you’ll find populating its picnic tables on any given weekend. Despite its relative youth, the old warehouse that houses this leisure compound channels a feeling of old-Brooklyn. Tour or no tour, it’s worth a visit.

Spuyten Duyvil: Choose an obscure import, head back to the oversized garden, and feel suddenly overcome with nostalgia for your semester abroad in Europe.

Barcade: On a Friday night, you’ll find competition clustered around the Donkey Kong screens at this over-sized bar/arcade. Bring a sock of quarters and enjoy an evening of old-school entertainment.

Brooklyn Bowl: A former iron foundry has been repurposed into a bowling lane-concert venue-restaurant-bar, with an upscale menu from Blue Ribbon.

SHOP

The Future Perfect: A toy store for grown-ups. When it comes to furniture and design, this is the place to wander amidst a collection that includes both the silly and sublime.

CB I Hate Perfume: Take a hint from the name. For all the perfume-haters out there, this is your place. You can spend a lot of time sniffing their creations, which are Wonka-esque in breadth and imagination. “In The Library,” for example, evokes the smell of an old novel, Russian & Moroccan leather bindings, worn cloth and “a hint of wood polish.”

Moon River Chattel: This fantastically-styled home décor shop is stocked with all the provisions for the simple life — balls of twine, vintage scales, pie stands. Utilitarianism has never looked so good.