Brooklyneer: Is It Obnoxious to Open Bar Homage to Brooklyn?

A few friends who live in Carroll Gardens have opened up a new bar and small plates venture on a dead zone of West Houston called Brooklyneer. It's a win for several reasons: First, it's directly across the street from Film Forum, and finally fills a major void in pre-screening meet-up options. Second, there are a lot of Brooklyn beers on tap, including Six Point, Brooklyn Lager, and a cheap, specially-made $4 pint named after the place. Third, they serve delicious food from a wide variety of small-batch purveyors based in Brooklyn. But Eater deems the whole thing "obnoxious," because they put a map of Brooklyn on their menu. Monsters!

We must admit that we too initially rolled our eyes upon hearing the concept, and assumed Brooklyneer would be an ersatz attempt to cash in on Brooklyn's hep cachet, and package it for West Villagers too lazy to make the great schlep across the East River. (Eater quipped, "Stay tuned for what's next, when some ambitious restaurateur opens an East Village themed resto on the Upper East Side.") But as residents of Brooklyn, we also know how many times we've shot down plans to meet on Manhattan's West Side with a whiny, "We're not going all the way into the city!" So why not bring some Brooklyn flavor to West Villagers who might feel a similar slothfulness when it comes to the crosstown commute?

And so, upon further inspection, we hereby welcome Brooklyneer to Manhattan. We stopped by for a full inspection during the press preview, so a cynic could dismiss our Brooklyneer boosterism as just the Open Bar talking. But we approve everything about this place: the bar made out of reclaimed Coney Island boardwalk; the warm, flattering lighting; the wallpaper in the back corner; the mural of the Brooklyn Bridge; the vintage photo booth; the coat racks; the well-made and reasonably priced cocktails; the Sixpoint Brownstone, Kelso, Empire, and Coney Island Brewery on tap; not to mention the addictive Patatas Arrugads (salt-boiled Baby Yukon Gold potatoes with Lemon Rosemary Aioli).

Broolyneer's angle is perhaps best symbolized by the Brooklyneer Dog, a bacon-cheeseburger sausage from The Meathook (Williamsburg), topped with DP Chutney Collective’s (Greenpoint) Sweet Tomato Chutney, My Friend’s Jalapeño IPA Mustard (Greenpoint) and a fresh-made relish from Brooklyn Brine’s (Gowanus) Whiskey Sour Pickles. If you lived nearby you wouldn't be all over that on the regular? YES, they have a cutesy, olde-timey illustration of Brooklyn on their menu. If this is a deal breaker for you, that's cool—more elbow room for us to grab a cocktail while monitoring the always volatile line situation outside Film Forum.

Brooklyneer // 220 West Houston Street (between 6th Avenue & Varick Street) // (646) 692-4911