I'm going to basically be writing an advertisment for Williamsburg, Brooklyn in this space. It's my home, it has been for nine and a half years, and it will be for the rest of my life. Williamsburg isn't exactly what people think of when they think of New York City, but I'm going to explain in this article just why it's actually a better experience to come here than it is to go to Manhattan.
And I'll use the two most persuasive arguments I know: Your stomach and your wallet.
Just off the top, I can tell you that everything is about twenty percent cheaper here than it is across the East River. That's cigarettes, food, clothes, beer, you name it. It'll be cheaper and more readily available here.
So that's the argument for your wallet. But the better one is for your stomach. Because let's face it, if you're visiting New York, money's probably not the biggest object in the world. You're there to sample the best of everything - and the best restaurants are at the top of that list, since New York is home to the best restaurants in the world.
And Williamsburg is home to the best restaurants in New York. You do the math.
Let's start with the traditional stand-by, Peter Luger's steakhouse. Just over the Williamsburg Bridge into Brooklyn, Peter Luger's has been voted the best steakhouse in America for something like forty years running. Johnny Carson used to rave about it on the Tonight Show, and David Letterman is known to be a frequent guest. But the reality is that real Williamsburgers know that Distefano's Steakhouse is actually superior in every way to Peter Luger's. Not only is the meat cooked and seasoned better, but there's a wider selection of cuts, the service is about a thousand times better, and - best of all - it's not going to be filled with Manhattanites.
So that's steak. Let's get to something even more important: Pizza. When talking about the best restaurants in New York, people always leave out pizza joints. But they won't anymore, not since Motorino came to town. For several years it was Williamsburg's secret, but a new piece in the New York Times just called it the best pizza in town, so it looks like the secret's out.
There are others on the best restaurants list, including the always delicious La Piazzetta (try the hand-made gnocchi) or the on-the-verge-of-hitting-it-big Le Barricou (keep your fingers crossed they have their fisherman's soup on special).