Visiting Bay Ridge a couple weeks ago wised me up. I discovered a charming, diverse neighborhood with deep history, clean air, and contemporary vibrancy. It’s on New York harbor in the southwest part of Brooklyn. Sure, that’s considered a bit out of the way by most New Yorkers, for whom a subway trip longer than 30 minutes is unthinkable. But that’s partly why I liked it so much. Not yet overrun. It has an old Brooklyn feel to it: more chill, less crowded, and definitely less expensive than much of today’s New York.

The visit was prompted by my upcoming book Great Good Places of New York: 50 Favorite Joints from the Five Boroughs, to be published by Rizzoli in 2018. When I say all five boroughs, I mean it. That means getting way out of my neighborhood, to the outer-outer reaches of NYC. Research. It’s all in the noble name of research. My assistant Colleen and I teamed up with longtime Bay Ridger Dave P., who sherpa’d us to places we hadn’t heard of, and probably never would have, without him. With him, we visited some pretty exotic locales.

The Kettle Black, a solid local corner bar and grill on Third Ave. at 87th St., delighted us from the start. Colleen dug it, I dug it, and the regulars were digging it for sure, as it looked they did every Sunday afternoon. It’s a many-things-to-many-people kind of place, with neighborhood guys holding down the bar watching the Mets, families and friends at the tall, window-side tables enjoying a damn fine brunch, including some of the best chicken wings you can find in America, according to Food & Wine. Friendly service? Check. Good bar food? Definite check. And the kind of atmosphere you hope for when visiting a new place, knowing full well that rolling into a locals’ joint you’ve never been before can be a crapshoot? Oh, yes. Check. Kettle Black, I love ya.

The Pour House, another corner bar on Third Ave. at 79th St., surprised us. It’s an unassuming little place with a welcoming, friendly bartender, a well-stocked jukebox, and a lively beverage menu. 30 beers, 15 craft whiskeys and some goofy house drinks (the vodka & Tang “Space Cowboy,” anyone?) are apt to make a Sunday afternoon pass like an air conditioned dream. In fact, at the end of the bar we witnessed that exact phenomenon. Four neighborhood softball guys vigorously razzed each other and Chris the bartender for the entirety of our stay. Ah, the old Brooklyn. Visiting Bay Ridge reminded me dat it’s still dere.

Skinflints, more tavern than bar, has about as pretty an interior as you’re going to find anywhere. Loaded with shimmering stained glass, this 1915 ice cream parlor now serves up food in the back room (lotsa burgers, lotsa ribs) and booze aplenty in the beautiful bar up front. It’s a spectacle to behold, all that color inside such a dark, woody place. Skinflints has huge windows and a vintage white, red and green hexagonally-tiled floor, so plenty of light bounces around, making all that stained glass glow.

Next, Dave brought us to The Salty Dog, an enormous Third Ave. sports bar frequented by firemen and soccer fans. The space looks like an old firehouse, complete with a gleaming, fully-restored vintage red truck. The crowd focussed on soccer, European and Latin American fans predominating. We kicked back with a couple cold ones and enjoyed the vibe. There was absolutely no hooliganism present, despite warnings from another neighborhood bartender that “that place is a fight waitin’ to happen.”

We rounded out the day at a warm little pub called Three Jolly Pigeons on Third Ave. at 68th St. It was a good spot for our last stop, and we ended on a definite high note. An odd name, I grant you, but an excellent, classic New York neighborhood Irish pub, bar up front, dining room in back. The place was loaded with historical flourishes, too, like the grandfather clock built right into the bar (“Calibrated every week,” I was assured by the bartender Morgan) to the quilt-like green and white tile floors. And, like Skinflints, there were original panes of stained glass. I saw more stained glass in the bars of Bay Ridge that day than in all the churches I’ve been inside the past year. Okay, that’d be zero, but still. A lot of stained glass, boy.

A Successful Day of Research Visiting Bay Ridge

As a day of research, visiting Bay Ridge that Sunday was a success. It also renewed my affection for this borough of Brooklyn. It’s big, it’s sprawling, it’s diverse, and it still surprises me.

When I do an exploration day like this, I check out all kinds of places. Some are not quite right for the book for various reasons. Maybe the place is more of a restaurant than a bar or tavern. Maybe the vibe stinks. Maybe the bathrooms do. Maybe the bartenders are lousy or it’s too similar to another place I’m featuring from that neighborhood or borough. (How many Queens Irish pubs can one man write about? There must be 7,500 of ’em.)

At any rate, I’ll definitely include two or three of these places I discovered while visiting Bay Ridge in Great Good Places of New York. Which ones? Stay tuned. And if you can think of any other joints I should consider, especially in out of the way neighborhoods, let me know.