Sunday in Brooklyn

Sunday in Brooklyn occupies a three-story building on Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg, a short walk from Domino Park. The ground floor holds a casual dining space and a proper cocktail bar; the second floor is the main dining room, with a skylit private space above it. The kitchen is the famous part, but the drinks program is built to stand on its own, which is why it earns a place on a cocktail list rather than a brunch one.

This is a room for people who want a thought-out cocktail with their meal, or a seat at the bar before a Williamsburg night out. Anyone after a quiet, drinks-only speakeasy should look to New York's dedicated cocktail rooms. Anyone happy to combine an inventive drink with the best malted pancakes in the borough will be glad they came.

The ground-floor bar and dining space reads cabin-like but modern, with timber, exposed beams, and an open kitchen setting the tone. Upstairs the main dining room runs more formal, and the top floor adds skylights and a fireplace for private events. The Infatuation has covered the room as a Williamsburg standby, and its bar guides place the cocktail list among the reasons to sit downstairs rather than book a table.

Weekend brunch is the busiest window, and the line for the malted pancakes can stretch, per Yelp and Tripadvisor reviews. Weekday evenings calm down, and the ground-floor bar becomes the easy seat for a drink and a few small plates without a reservation. The crowd is a Williamsburg one: locals, weekenders, and a steady run of visitors who came for the food and stayed for a second cocktail.

Stay in Williamsburg for natural wine at The Four Horsemen in New York, push toward oysters and absinthe at Maison Premiere in New York, or chase rare beer at Spuyten Duyvil in New York. The full picture is in our guide to New York's cocktail bars and the wider New York bar guide.