The plates that define Brooklyn: what they are, and where to eat the canonical version.
The plates that define Brooklyn: what they are, where they came from, and where to eat the canonical version.
A plain cheese slice on a thin crust that folds, sold for $3.50 at Brooklyn counters such as Luigi's in Park Slope and La Flor in Crown Heights.
Where to try it: Luigi's Pizza, La Flor Pizzeria
Price: $3.50 for a cheese slice at Luigi's and La Flor
New York-style pizza is a large hand-tossed thin pie sold in wide slices to go, crisp only along the edge and pliable enough to fold, and it grew from the pizza of Neapolitan immigrants in early 1900s New York. Lombardi's is said to have been founded in 1905, though that claim has been challenged, and Antonio Totonno Pero, who made pizza at Lombardi's, opened Totonno's on Coney Island in 1924. Luigi's is a family-run Park Slope pizzeria that dates its story to 1973, and La Flor's owner describes his thin, crisp slice as New York cuisine; both charge $3.50 for cheese.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy
A thick, airy rectangle with a crisp bottom, cut into squares. L&B Spumoni Gardens in Bensonhurst is the landmark, Luigi's sells $4 squares and Williamsburg Pizza bakes grandma pies.
Where to try it: L&B Spumoni Gardens, Luigi's Pizza, Williamsburg Pizza
Price: $4 a square at Luigi's
L&B Spumoni Gardens dates its 86th Street location to 1939, when it began as a pushcart, and its pillowy square pies are sold by the slice; slices come plain, and toppings need a whole pie. Grandma pizza, the home-oven cousin, is a thin square pie popularized on Long Island, and Williamsburg Pizza sells its grandma pies square only.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy
A whole thin-crust pie with a charred edge: Totonno's coal-oven pies in Coney Island, sold for weekend takeout, and Lucali's basil pie in Carroll Gardens, cash only.
Where to try it: Totonno's, Lucali
Price: $32 for a large pie at Lucali
Anthony Pero came from Naples to make pizza for Lombardi's grocery on Spring Street and opened Totonno's on Coney Island in 1924; fires in 1997 and 2009 and Hurricane Sandy closed it for months, and it reopened in 2013. Its coal-oven pies are sold only on Saturdays and Sundays, for takeout. Lucali, on Henry Street, bakes thin-crust pies with a three-cheese blend and basil, sells a large pie with basil for $32 and a calzone for $29, takes cash only and is BYOB.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy
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A dense, creamy cream-cheese cake. Junior's in Downtown Brooklyn builds its version on a thin layer of sponge cake in place of a crust, and Peter Luger closes dinners with it and schlag.
Where to try it: Junior's Restaurant, Peter Luger Steak House
New York-style cheesecake traces to Ashkenazi Jewish cooking of the 1930s, made famous at Reuben's and Lindy's, and modern American cream cheese was developed in 1872. Harry Rosen founded Junior's in 1950, and its cheesecake sits on a thin, soft sponge-cake layer instead of a crust. S&S Cheesecake, made to the same recipe since 1960, is served at Peter Luger. Origin stories for the style compete, so treat any single claim as one version.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy, Eggs
Chicken rubbed or marinated in allspice and Scotch bonnet, then smoked or grilled until charred. Peppa's in Crown Heights sells a small order with festival for about $10.
Where to try it: Peppa's Jerk Chicken, Likkle More Jerk
Price: About $10 for a small order at Peppa's
Jerk is a Jamaican style of cooking in which meat is dry-rubbed or wet-marinated in a hot spice mixture whose main ingredients are allspice and Scotch bonnet peppers. The Taino cooked meat on a barbacoa with hot peppers and pimento, and the Maroons, who escaped into the Jamaican countryside during the 1655 invasion, adopted the practice. Brooklyn has the largest West Indian community outside the Caribbean, concentrated in Crown Heights and Flatbush. Peppa's has served jerk chicken in Brooklyn since 1995, and at the 2026 Labor Day carnival jerk came out of iron smokers on Eastern Parkway.
Watch out for: Soy
Oxtail cooked slowly until the meat pulls from the bone: braised at Mango Bay in Fort Greene, shredded into a grilled cheese at Fat Fowl and stewed at Likkle More Jerk.
Where to try it: Mango Bay, Fat Fowl, Likkle More Jerk
Price: $20 a plate at a 2026 Carnival stand
Oxtail is gelatin-rich meat, usually slow-cooked as a stew or braise. Across the Caribbean it is stewed with lima or butter beans and served with rice and peas. In Brooklyn it follows the West Indian community: Likkle More Jerk stews it with carrots and lima beans, Fat Fowl's St. Lucian-born chef Shorne Benjamin turns it into a grilled cheese, and on Labor Day 2026 a Trinidadian-flagged stand on Eastern Parkway sold oxtail with pelau and cabbage for $20.
Watch out for: Soy
A flaky half-moon pastry colored golden with turmeric and filled with spiced meat, a staple of the West Indian community in Crown Heights and Flatbush in Brooklyn.
Where to try it: Likkle More Jerk
A Jamaican patty is a semicircular pastry with a spiced filling baked inside a flaky shell, often tinted golden yellow with an egg yolk mixture, annatto or turmeric. It is traditionally filled with seasoned ground beef, shows the influence of the Cornish pasty and the Spanish empanada, and is often eaten with coco bread. Jamaicans brought patty recipes to the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, and the patties were then found in restaurants in areas of the New York metropolitan area with high West Indian populations; Brooklyn is home to the largest West Indian community outside the Caribbean.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy
Thin-sliced marinated pork roasted on a spit, served on a tortilla with pineapple. Counters in Bushwick, Greenpoint and Downtown Brooklyn sell it from $5 a taco.
Where to try it: Taqueria Al Pastor, Taqueria El Chato, Taqueria Ramirez, Jefe Tacos
Price: $5-$5.95 a taco
Al pastor, Spanish for herdsman style, is sliced spit-grilled pork from Puebla in central Mexico, and the method is based on the lamb shawarma that Lebanese immigrants brought there. In Brooklyn, Taqueria Al Pastor in Bushwick piles crisp marinated pork and cubed pineapple on its tacos, Taqueria El Chato in Greenpoint serves corn tacos of tender al pastor with red salsa and pineapple, Taqueria Ramirez in Greenpoint is modeled on Mexico City taquerias, and Jefe Tacos lists an al pastor taco at DeKalb Market Hall.
Watch out for: Gluten
Half-moon dumplings filled with potato and cheese, meat or sauerkraut, boiled and topped with onions. Greenpoint is Little Poland, and Pierozek sells six to a plate from $14.
Where to try it: Pierozek, Pierogi Boys
Price: $14-$16 for six
Pierogi are filled dumplings of unleavened dough, boiled and served with sour cream, fried onions or both. The recipe dates back to at least 1682, when Poland's first cookbook was published. Brooklyn's Polish community is historically centered in Greenpoint, nicknamed Little Poland. Pierozek has made handmade pierogi there since 2019, roughly 2,000 a day, and Pierogi Boys serves potato and cheese pierogi in DeKalb Market Hall in Downtown Brooklyn.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy, Eggs
Georgian cheese bread. In Brighton Beach, Toné Café bakes adjaruli khachapuri in a clay oven, and Ubani in Bay Ridge serves a cheese boat with its brothy khinkali.
Where to try it: Toné Café, Ubani
Khachapuri is a Georgian dish of cheese-filled bread. The Adjarian version is boat-shaped, with cheese, butter and an egg yolk in the center, said to represent a boat, the sea and the sun. Toné Café in Brighton Beach is named for its circular clay oven, where it bakes molten adjaruli khachapuri and other breads, and Ubani's Bay Ridge menu has the famous cheese boat alongside its khinkali.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy, Eggs
Rice simmered with meat, carrots and onions in a large pot. Tashkent Supermarket in Brighton Beach ladles plov from enormous kazans at its hot bar, beside manti and samsa.
Where to try it: Tashkent Supermarket
Price: $10-$15 for a hot-bar meal at Tashkent
Plov, also called palov or osh, is the national dish of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan: rice simmered in a rich stew of meat and vegetables called zirvak until the liquid is absorbed. It is made on special occasions such as weddings, sometimes serving up to 1,000 people from a single cauldron. In Brighton Beach, shoppers come to Tashkent Supermarket for plov ladled from enormous kazans, and its hot-bar meals run $10 to $15.
Noodles stretched by hand to order: Lanzhou beef noodle soup at Hana Noodles in DeKalb Market Hall, and chewy stir-fried lagman at Kashkar Cafe in Brighton Beach.
Where to try it: Kashkar Cafe, Hana Noodles
Price: $9.50 for lagman at Kashkar
Lamian, or pulled noodles, are handmade Chinese wheat noodles made by twisting, stretching and folding dough into strands. The earliest description of the pulling technique is in a dietary manual of 1504 by Song Xu of the Ming dynasty. Hana Noodles brings Lanzhou-style hand-pulled noodles to DeKalb Market Hall and lists a classic Lan Zhou beef noodle soup. At Kashkar Cafe, the hand-pulled bosu lagman is thick, chewy noodles fried until some are soft and some slightly charred.
Watch out for: Gluten
A fried pastry tube filled with sweet ricotta. Fortunato Brothers in Williamsburg and Villabate Alba on Bensonhurst's 18th Avenue fill them from the case, and Santa Rosalia holds a cannoli contest.
Where to try it: Fortunato Brothers, Villabate Alba
Cannoli are Sicilian pastries: a fried tube of dough filled with a sweet cream that contains ricotta. Some food historians place their origin in Caltanissetta between 827 and 1091 under Arab rule, with cannolo related to the Arabic word for tubes, while others tie them to Carnival season in Palermo and Messina. Hundreds of cannoli at Villabate Alba are piped with sheep's milk ricotta imported from Palermo, and Fortunato Brothers' cases are full of cannolis. The Feast of Santa Rosalia on 18th Avenue holds a cannoli eating contest each August.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy, Eggs
Thin-sliced roast beef on a roll, dipped in the pan juices. Brennan & Carr and Roll-n-Roaster sit at opposite ends of Sheepshead Bay, and fans of each are fiercely loyal.
Where to try it: Brennan & Carr, Roll-n-Roaster
Price: $8.95-$9.30
Brennan & Carr has run in Sheepshead Bay since 1938 and serves a plain roll filled with thinly sliced roast beef dipped in the roasting juices, under a sign reading Hot Beef Sandwiches. Southern Brooklyn's roast beef dip is a distinct local phenomenon, and Roll n' Roaster serves essentially the same sandwich in a fast-food setting. Roll N Roaster, open since the early 1970s, serves it on kaiser rolls, with a dip in the meat juices for a small extra charge. The sandwich resembles the French dip of Los Angeles, whose Philippe's is about 30 years older than Brennan & Carr, so how the Brooklyn version began is unsettled.
Watch out for: Gluten
Beef brisket cooked long and slow: Hometown in Red Hook sells it smoked at $20 a half pound, and Izzy's in Crown Heights smokes it 18 hours under kosher supervision.
Where to try it: Hometown Bar-B-Que, Izzy's Brooklyn Smokehouse
Price: $20 a half pound at Hometown
Brisket comes from the breast or lower chest of the animal, and its heavy connective tissue turns tender only after long cooking. American cooks rub it with spices and cook it slowly over indirect heat from charcoal or wood, such as oak, and smoked brisket is popular in Texas barbecue. Hometown Bar-B-Que opened in Red Hook in September 2013 and smokes meats on oak wood in the classic Southern technique. At Izzy's, a kosher smokehouse in Crown Heights under the supervision of the OK, pitmaster Izzy Eidelman smokes brisket for 18 hours.
Spit-roasted meat shaved into flatbread with pickles and garlic sauce. Karam's counter on 4th Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, sells it as a sandwich.
Where to try it: Karam
Shawarma is a street food of the Levant that originated during the Ottoman Empire: meat stacked in an inverted cone and roasted on a slow-turning vertical spit, then shaved off. The name comes from the Turkish word for turning. Bay Ridge is the largest Arab-American community in New York City, and its ethnic restaurants line Third and Fifth avenues. Karam turns shawarma on the spit by the door and rolls a Lebanese-style sandwich of beef and lamb shawarma in flatbread with pickles and garlic sauce.
Watch out for: Gluten
Curry wrapped in a soft flatbread, a Trinidadian street food that came to Brooklyn with the West Indian community of Crown Heights and Flatbush.
Where to try it: Likkle More Jerk
Doubles is a Trinidadian street food of curried chickpeas on two fried flatbreads, created in Princes Town in 1936 by Emamool Deen and his wife. Roti came to the Caribbean with indentured laborers from the Indian subcontinent, and the wrapped roti began in southern Trinidad in the mid-1940s. As Indo-Caribbean people moved to North American cities such as New York, they took the wrapped version with them, and Brooklyn's West Indian community is concentrated in Crown Heights, Flatbush and East Flatbush.
Watch out for: Gluten
Brooklyn's signature dishes include Brooklyn cheese slice, Sicilian square pie, Thin-crust Brooklyn pie, New York cheesecake, Jerk chicken. See our signature dishes chapter for where to eat each.
