How to Spend a Big Black Weekend in Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights, Brooklyn
On a recent long weekend, when other New Yorkers were making plans to escape the city for snowy stints in the mountains or sunnier locales to the south, there’s only one place we wanted to be: Right at home in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights neighborhoods, visiting all of our favorite Black-owned businesses.
In a few days, we aimed to hit it all: The restaurants turning out fluffy fry breads filled with curried chickpeas, spicy-sweet Nashville-style hot chicken, and steaming cups of ethically sourced coffee. The vintage stores bumping Erykah Badu with all-natural skincare products and Black-owned indie magazines on display. The wine shops that know our names and remember our tastes when we walk in for a new bottle.
A staycation in these neighborhoods, which have served as a nucleus for Black people since we started making it our home in the early 1900s, is to take part in a long tradition of community sustainability and uplift. It’s to witness the scenes that inspire Kadir Nelson paintings, experience the sounds that fill Bed-Stuy native Biggie’s verses, and to support all the mainstay businesses that work to endure each wave of gentrification thrown at them. And frankly, there’s no other way we’d rather spend a weekend than that.
Photo by Jesse Sparks and Ryan Walker-Hartshorn1/11Sincerely, Tommy
Tucked into Northern Bed-Stuy, Sincerely, Tommy was Kai Avent-deLeon’s first solo venture into merging a boutique with a coffee shop. In the front, creatives co-work on wooden counters with caffeine in hand. (Jesse is particularly partial to their lavender latté). And in the back, racks of sleek vintage wear, obsessively curated jewelry, and the work of young, Black women designers is on full display. On weekends, the shop hosts vegan pop-up brunches, art workshops, and other events for the community. Avent-deLeon has garnered so much community support since she opened six years ago, that she’s planning a three-floor bed-and-breakfast, S, T Eat and Stay, to open this spring. The BnB will house a new vegan restaurant Che.
Photo by Jesse Sparks and Ryan Walker-Hartshorn2/11Brown Butter Café
Situated on a cozy corner on Tompkins Avenue, this local cafe is exactly where we want to be when it's snowing out. We like to make a day of it by first warming up with a latte, then moving to bottomless mimosas and the cinnamon forward Belgian waffle with fresh berries—they’re served all day every day, yah heard!
Photo by Jesse Sparks and Ryan Walker-Hartshorn3/11A&A Bake Doubles and Roti Shop
In 2002, owners Geeta and Noel Brown opened the original A&A in a claustrophobic, dimly-lit storefront on Nostrand Avenue. Soon, the counter-service restaurant became famous for their Trinidadian doubles—slightly sweet and exceedingly fluffy fry breads filled with curried chickpeas—and they moved their operation to its current location: a large, bright room accented with so much red and black that you might as well be wrapped in a Trinidadian flag. A standard order of doubles (with chickpeas only) costs $1.50, while an extra scoop of fall-apart tender beef, shrimp, or roasted vegetables will still keep you under $5. We say: go wild with as many orders as you have room for. Just be sure to get there by early afternoon, before the restaurant starts running out for the day.
Photo by Jesse Sparks and Ryan Walker-Hartshorn4/11Peaches HotHouse
Since opening Smoke Joint in 2006, Craig Samuel and Ben Grossman have turned out some of the neighborhood’s most beloved staples: Peaches, Peaches Shrimp and Crab in Clinton Hill, and, our favorite, Peaches HotHouse Bed-Stuy, all bear their fingerprints. At the latter, joyful staff that welcome everyone like family and delightfully crispy Nashville hot chicken are the draws. We like to pair the dish with a bourbon-forward cocktail, like their Lightning Hopkins (muddled blueberries and mint) or the Sweet Georgia Brown (Peach Schnapps and sweet tea) to temper the heat.
Photo by Jesse Sparks and Ryan Walker-Hartshorn5/11Peace & Riot
Next to Peaches HotHouse sits this boutique selling a range of eclectic home goods—patterned textiles, stationary emblazoned with Black cultural icons, and artisanal jewelry from around the globe. Sometimes, vendors will partner with the store to show their own products, and it’s always a great idea to venture in then to chat with them.
Photo by Jesse Sparks and Ryan Walker-Hartshorn6/11Bed-Vyne Wine
Stopping in at this wine shop feels more like walking in on “wine night with friends” than wading through an impenetrable cellar. Conversations about the nuances of a rosé pét-nat carry the same amount of excitement as the latest Ivy Park merch drop. There’s no posturing here, and everything is fun. When we still can’t decide about that biodynamic pet mex from Baja California, we like to rely on the diverse staff, who also offer wine tastings on Fridays.
Photo by Jesse Sparks and Ryan Walker-Hartshorn7/11Bed-Vyne Brew
Everybody loves a kickback, but not everyone loves hosting said kickback. So when we get the itch to gather with friends for a few drinks and thumping R&B and Hip-Hop mixes, we head to Brew. Inside, the bar channels the cozy, escapist comforts of a log cabin with its reclaimed wood paneling and low ceilings, while the outdoor patio is the perfect place to be when the weather turns warm. On weekends, live DJs spin old-school rap, trap, funk, and more. A chalkboard lists the beers and ciders on tap and a written menu has the bottled or canned options.
Photo by Jesse Sparks and Ryan Walker-Hartshorn8/11Corner Grind Coffee Kitchen
Opened in 2013, Corner Grind is another go-to spot on slow Sunday mornings. The shop pours brews from Brooklyn Roasting Company, which focuses on sustainably and ethically sourcing coffee beans from historically marginalized growers. We love taking a cup of coffee and an order of the silky scrambled eggs set atop a bowl of steaming grits and setting up shop in the intimate mahogany-colored space. Or, when the weather’s warm and the sun is shining, we’ll take our coffee and a bacon, egg, and cheese on a fluffy house-baked bagel to go.
Photo by Jesse Sparks and Ryan Walker-Hartshorn9/11Jollof
When the temperatures begin to drop even a little, we immediately start to crave a visit to Jollof. This Bed-Stuy fixture serves up West African staples like tomato-based jollof rice and mafe, a rich, silky peanut stew accompanied by a protein of your choice—we like the super-tender lamb (or the starchy cassava when we go vegetarian). We also love it for its intimate, energetic aura. With its array of colorful blankets and pendants; high-contrast, head-on photographs of pedestrians; and collection of dolls dressed in ornately patterned gowns, it’s like nestling into an auntie’s dining room.
Photo by Jesse Sparks and Ryan Walker-Hartshorn10/11Café Rue Dix
Don’t underestimate the beverage game at this café, restaurant, and bar, which serves all kinds of deliciously contemporary French-Senegalese cuisine (we especially like the thieboudienne, flaky hunks of grouper nestled into ruby red tomato-y rice). Between the ataya, a Senegalese tea ceremony, and the several margaritas on offer (get the hibiscus!), it’s become our watering hole when we’re on the hunt for a chill drink on a Saturday afternoon.
Photo by Jesse Sparks and Ryan Walker-Hartshorn11/11Marché Rue Dix
After a meal at Café Rue Dix, we can’t not visit the adjoining vintage clothing and home goods store. We like to wander the aisles, trying on the assortment of accessories, wide-brimmed hats to berets, sunglasses, and scarves. (Ryan actually started shouting at the catalogue of shimmering gold hoop earrings, jewel-laden studs, and golden rings when we went.) The space’s black-and-white patterned floors and forest green walls make a casual stroll through the store feel energetic, but not frantic. Pro tip: manicures and pedicures are available in the back.
