Kelang is an excellent addition to the Greenpoint scene.
Illustration: Naomi Otsu
Welcome to Grub Street’s rundown of restaurant recommendations that aims to answer the endlessly recurring question: Where should we go? These are the spots that our food team thinks everyone should visit, for any reason (a new chef, the arrival of an exciting dish, or maybe there’s an opening that’s flown too far under the radar). This month: We’re going low-key because it’s January and the best restaurants are the places that feel, more than anything, easy.
Kelang (Greenpoint)
Walking into Kelang, which opened on Manhattan Avenue in early December, is cinematic. There’s a long row of plush red banquettes, jade-green tables, and moody lighting kept low. This makes sense: Co-owner and executive chef Chris Low is a cinematographer. But his most relevant credit here is his family restaurant Hainan Chicken House, which became one of Sunset Park’s most-talked-about openings in years as people clamored for his dad’s char siu and poached chicken. Food is similarly dialed in at the younger Low’s new spot: The butter roti with chicken curry demanded a second order; the char siu, cut into chunks and served with some pickled cucumbers, is as juicy as it is in Sunset Park. An industry friend said he considers Chris’s broad rice noodles to be particularly impressive: They’re chewy and stir-fried, and they come with smoked little clams and prawns. Consider making pork belly a double feature and order the bak kuh te, an herbal soup that has pork rib and trotter with skin as burnished as barbecue bark. —Chris Crowley
Gertie (Prospect Heights)
Like its target audience — hip millennials — Gertie has grown up and moved from Williamsburg to Prospect Heights. The modern Jewish deli from husband-and-wife duo Nate Adler and Rachel Jackson brings its counter-service operation closer, both geographically and in spirit, to their sit-down restaurant on Carlton, inheriting the massive yard and beloved kale-salad sandwich from previous tenant R&D Foods. They’ve also brought over the medallion latkes served at Gertrude’s via a “latke bar.” I suggest their twist on the sweet classic: sour cream and apple butter. Also of note: The chocolate babka can go toe-to-toe with the juggernauts of the city. —Zach Schiffman
All of Our Picks, Mapped
L’Apero by L’Appartement 4F (Brooklyn Heights)
I live nearby, but I refuse to fight the croissant crowds that still line up in the mornings. The real move, I’ve discovered, is to use the place for its quieter alternate purpose: as an evening snack bar. By nightfall, the pastry case on the ground floor is shut up, and up a narrow flight of stairs, candles illuminate a few bistro tables, where small plates and surprisingly decent wines are served. I’ve sipped rosé with the bakery’s own sourdough and salted French butter, and in the doldrums of January, I intend to make it a regular stop. Plates get as large as branzino in papillote and pork tenderloin, but I’ll probably confine myself to lighter stuff: kabocha custard tart with macerated Pinot Auxerrois? I’m an orange-wine skeptic, but I’ll bite. —Matthew Schneier
Ziggy’s Roman Cafe (Dumbo)
Get some cacio e pepe with the kids: This Italian spot comes from the husband-and-wife team of Helen Zhang and Igor Hadzismajlovic, and it’s built for families. There’s a literal play area upstairs for younger diners, and that might be grounds for points off, but the food — like gentle braised artichokes and a textbook-perfect bucatini all’amatriciana, all acid, smoke, and porky funk — is excellent. So are the homemade passion-fruit sodas and, for dessert, scoops of vanilla gelato tucked into soft brioche rolls. The restaurant opens at 4 p.m. to relieve anyone who’s been cooped up on a cold, snowy Saturday and needs an escape hatch. —Alan Sytsma
Vato (Park Slope)
A promised dinner service hasn’t started yet, but it is still time to visit this café if you haven’t yet already. Go early, since they tend to sell out, for, yes, the famous tortillas — tenderly textured and full of flavor from sourdough and butter — that can be filled with saucy refried beans and cheese, a dynamically smoky chicken mole, or pork in salsa verde. The sleeper hit is cookielike churros, all crisp, fried exterior and coated in more sugar than seems possible. They’re very nice with a sip of spicy café de olla. —Tammie Teclemariam
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If you prefer to read in print, you can also find this article in the December 29, 2025, issue of
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