Skip the fast food, you've got better options! Via Flickr's Evan Mulvihill.

Downtown Brooklyn, at first glance, can seem inhospitable to the hungry pauper-gourmand. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court looms, a reminder of what might be; the brightly-lit fast food outlets and vaguely biblical-sounding Joralemon Street can suggest a kind of food hell. This, I learned after a good deal of exploration, was a false suggestion. You can eat cheap and well in downtown Brooklyn — it’s just a matter of finding the right spots and doing a little walking. Here are a few restaurants that will keep your wallet and stomach full.  (more…)

Franklin Park. All photos by Emily Paup.

If you live within two subway stops of Tom’s Diner, you may have gotten into a long, whiskey-breathed argument about where Prospect Heights actually is. At the very least, you’ve likely cringed at the phrase “ProCro.” Smartphone lookups only blur the boundaries—Google Maps includes the Barclay’s Center in the postage stamp-sized area, and an old NY Magazine article suggests that that a block-wide sliver on Prospect Park west is part of the neighborhood. I object vehemently to both assertions, and I’m not even drunk right now. One thing’s for certain: there are some really solid happy hours in the region arguably known as Prospect Heights. Here’s a list of places where you can get tipsy and then try to figure out where the hell you are. (more…)