Best of Brooklyn

Riane and I took a quick trip up to New York to spend a few days in Brooklyn. We typically take a trip with the kids each December and then a trip just the two of us for a few days in Jan. or Feb. This year when booking our trip to Boston with the kids, I found $69 flights on Southwest to NYC! I’ve been wanting to stay at a couple of places in Brooklyn, so we decided it was a great chance to get away for a few days before Riane’s spring season started and my coaching seasons kicked back up.

Where We Stayed: The Wythe Hotel

If you’ve not heard of the Wythe Hotel, it’s awesome. It’s definitely a cool hipster spot - newly converted hotel from an old barrel factory. The rooms have amazing views (some of Manhattan, some of just cool walls and buildings next door - ours had a view of the Brooklyn Brewery to the backdrop of the Williamsburg area). Regardless of which room you land, you are sure to have a great spot to grab a pic or two from your window. The room we stayed in was not large, but it was really cool, clean, had a nice shower (we always take double showers on trips - not that you care, but the showers are legit here…). The Wythe is a chic little boutique hotel and was just a fun place to rest and sleep in.

Wythe Service=A+

We had let the hotel know we were celebrating our b-days on our trip, to which we had a nice bottle of champaign and a welcome note when we arrived in our room. The front desk was very helpful with restaurant suggestions (also provided in detail in the “about” book in our room) - Regardless, everyone who worked at the Wythe was more than accommodating, very kind, helpful and fun to be around. We love meeting new people and spending some time getting to know folks we will see as we come and go during our stay and the Wythe staff was a lot of fun! They pay attention to small details and they did a great job of making us feel at home throughout our stay.

Hotel Favorites -

An old barrel factory conversion to a hotel - they reused a ton of wood and were really creative with the design, while staying with a clean - chic look throughout.

The showers were huge - had that mosaic tile that’s all the rage right now as well as a window that you could see into the bedroom through. (Was just a really neat design.)

Heated concrete floors - It was really cold in Brooklyn while we were there. Like 7 degrees cold, but our room was very cozy and the heated concrete floors were really nice to walk across.

Location - We were within walking distance of most anything we wanted to do in Brooklyn and about a 20 min. Uber ride to Manhattan. (Manhattan is walkable when it’s warmer, but it was so cold we decided to Uber the few times we went somewhere that would take an hour or more to walk).

The french fries in the restaurant - (see below)

Best Places We Ate:

B-fast/Brunch: Five Leaves

Five Leaves is on the North side of Williamsburg and was about a 7 min. walk from the Wythe. It’s a really cool little cafe that sets on the corner of Lorimer, Bedford & Nassau. You walk in and if you didn’t already feel like you where in Brooklyn from walking down the street, you definitely feel like you are once you’re inside. It’s just a long skinny restaurant with a bar and a line of small tables with booth seating on one side and chairs on the other. It’s going to be cramped most of the time, but it's all part of the experience. The people where friendly and the food was amazing. I regularly try to find the best pancakes or french toast everywhere I go, and Five Leaves has hands down the best Ricotta Pancakes I’ve ever had. The secret seems to be in the banana butter on top of the short stack. When they brought it out I thought, “There’s no way I’m going to be able to finish this…” and about 10 minutes later I was in contemplating ordering another one. It was one of those meals that there’s no way it could be healthy because of how good it was. We enjoyed this place so much that we came back for the last meal we ate in Brooklyn on Thursday at 3pm. Luckily we made it with about 5 minutes to spare to still order brunch. Riane ordered the chicken sandwich round two, but it was not nearly as spectacular as the pancakes.

Lunch: The Reynard

The Reynard is located just inside the Wythe. It has an open bar, cafe type seating when you first walk in, and then it has two additional inside seating areas that are more of your sit down dining feel. There’s also an outdoor patio area that looks amazing for when the weather is warmer. The first day we were in Brooklyn we had a second dinner here. We had the Sea Bass with french fries. Was AMAZING - we love food. We made it a point to stop again two days later for a snack - cappuccinos, beer, fries, and a donut - we love food & coffee. Seriously, the fries are legit amazing. A huge portion that is sharable for two and again the Sea Bass was phenomenal. The donuts I would save for the Doughnut Plant (which we will cover in a minute), but The Reynard is a must stop for food in Brooklyn. The coffee is ok and a little pricey, so I’d encourage a lunch or dinner stop here over breakfast/brunch or snack.

Snack: Doughnut Plant & Sunday in Brooklyn

Again, we love food. So, when we travel - we try to hit as many places as possible to try the local flavor and then we try to repeat our favorites before we leave. The Doughnut Plant is a must for anyone who loves sweets and pastries. I’m a huge fan, so we actually skipped breakfast one morning, had a meeting in Manhattan (or Riane had a meeting and I tagged along and played personal assistant) and then we headed over to the Doughnut Plant. I was thankful I had done some intermitted fasting that day because the doughnuts are massive and there are so many great choices that I ended up getting far more than I had originally intended to. There are five locations so there’s definitely one close to basically anywhere you stay in NYC. Sunday in Brooklyn is another spot we made it to twice. Their mocha is absolutely amazing! As a number of places in Brooklyn, they make their own in house marshmallows to go in hot coco and mochas and Sunday’s was delicious. SiB has a really fun vibe, has bar, cafe and dining seating - and they have one of those cool little wood burning stoves. They’ve done a great job in creating a space great for coffee, snacks, talking, people watching, etc… I had an acai bowl with my mocha the first time we came and it was top notch as well.

Dinner: Cafe Colette

This was Riane’s favorite spot we stopped. It’s definitely got a small cafe feel and the food is amazing. We ate there on a Tuesday night, so it wasn’t busy, was easy to get in and grab another bite to eat. This place reminded us of our meals in Italy which always helps us sit and talk longer and act like we live a slow paced life. Cafe Colette wasn’t on our original to do list. We walked by on our way to the movies and just peaked in the window, which is often how we find our favorite places. We decided to come back for a late dinner after our movie and we loved it! We had fish and pasta and without question we would go back again if given the chance!

New Adventures:

We love going new places and trying new things. We’ve ridden city bikes through rush hour traffic in Paris (the day Putin was in town). We’ve had a Hammam treatment in Italy (where you lay on this big marble slab and someone scrubs you down) - see Everything Is Grand at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo. We’ve jumped off the back of the Willy T’s barge in the Virgin Islands… We love new things, and things that may be out of our comfort zone. So, we decided that we wanted to get a couples massage - which isn’t a new thing for us, but a couples massage at a “spa” in Chelsea NYC for $78 total is an adventure. We Uber’d from Brooklyn to Chelsea since it was a bit of a hike on a really cold day, and we got out where the phone apparently told our driver to drop us. We got out and looked around trying to find where we were supposed to be, and after finally locating the door to enter (was not marked with a business name or any name for that matter) - we walked up the stairs and into a tiny hallway with rooms that substituted curtains for doors… “Straight sketch”. Yes we did stop to take a selfie and post it so that if things went south someone might know where to begin a search. I think Riane and I both were looking for the nearest exit wondering how to get out of this massage without offending the people running the place. However, it ended up being one of the best massages I’ve ever had. If ever you are in the area and don’t feel like dropping $300 on a couples massage - check out Taiji Body Works. It’s small, sketchy and you will question your decision making paradigm the entire time until your massage begins and then you will be glad you saved some $ while enjoying an incredible massage.

Once again we had a blast on our quick getaway and highly recommend a trip to Brooklyn for anyone looking for a fun trip filled with food, shopping, people watching and new adventures.

@stello_fello

Image Credit: Matthew Williams, Jimi Billingsley, Mark Mahaney (for the exterior picture of the Wythe Hotel)