Red Hook

Eat and drink your way through Red Hook this Sunday

July 25, 2019 Scott Enman
Tour Red Hook's best restaurants and bars this weekend at the Red Hook Crawl. Photos by Kathi Littwin Photography
Share this:

Steve’s key lime pie, Widow Jane whiskey and live music at Sunny’s Bar. Could a Sunday get much better? Probably not.

Red Hook’s first-ever restaurant and bar tour hosted by Tastes of Brooklyn, the fundraising arm of nonprofit Seeds in the Middle, will be taking the neighborhood by storm this Sunday.

Patrons can eat and drink at some longtime staples, as well as try out newer eateries.

The event will feature distilleries like Van Brunt and Widow Jane, the Red Hook Winery, and neighborhood favorites like Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie, Fort Defiance, Brooklyn Icehouse, San Pedro Inn, Wet Whistle Wines, The Copper Pot, Mark’s Red Hook Pizza and Sunny’s Bar, which will have live music starting at 5 p.m.

Related: 12 Hours in Red Hook

The excursion, which aims to highlight immigrant-owned businesses, is aptly named the Red Hook Crawl — and crawling may be the preferred form of transportation for some, given the many watering holes taking part in the tour.

Red Hook Winery and Wet Whistle Wines will be dishing out vino; Fort Defiance is making mojitos; Copper Pot is creating a cool peach liquor drink; Sunny’s is serving spicy margaritas; and Rocky Sullivan’s is concocting a spiked iced coffee.

Food from the Crown Heights food crawl. Photo by Shantel Moses
Food from the Crown Heights food crawl. Photo by Shantel Moses

“I don’t think anyone is going to be able to walk home by the time we’re done with this thing,” said Nancie Katz, executive director of Seeds in the Middle, a group that empowers underserved children to make healthier life choices through exercise and nutritious food options.

Attendees of the crawl can receive four tastes for $20 or 11 tastes for $50. All of the proceeds will go toward Seeds in the Middle.

During the tour, which is in partnership with the Red Hook Art Project, there will be free soccer programs for kids, art displays, a youth-run health market and a scavenger hunt.

Tastes of Brooklyn has hosted several neighborhood crawls, including in Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill, Crown Heights and Gowanus.

In the fall, there will be events in the Columbia Street Waterfront District, Prospect Lefferts Gardens and again in Gowanus, Crown Heights, and Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill.

Each of the neighborhoods were selected, according to Katz, because they have hardworking immigrants who are creative and adventurous and who ultimately just want to make it in America.

“There’s a creative talent that’s coming to Brooklyn,” Katz told the Brooklyn Eagle. “It’s a borough of immigrants. Especially in this era politically, we’re really spotlighting the richness of immigrant America. Everyone who’s in this has come from somewhere else.”

Bar San Miguel offers food for the Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill food crawl. Photo by Kathi Littwin Photography
Bar San Miguel offers food for the Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill food crawl. Photo by Kathi Littwin Photography

Katz said she created Tastes of Brooklyn because she was worried that the Italian businesses in Carroll Gardens, where she lives, were disappearing.

“It started as a way to promote and keep the charm of small businesses in Brooklyn neighborhoods while at the same time helping kids,” Katz said, adding: “There’s a big conversation going on around gentrification, and I think it’s important for people to remember they need to support their small local businesses.

“If they find them charming and wonderful to be near, we have to solicit them and help them survive. Don’t just assume that they can tenure on.”

The Red Hook Crawl will take place from 2-6 p.m. on Sunday. Buy tickets here, and see a map of all the participating restaurants and bars here.

Follow reporter Scott Enman on Twitter.

Subscribe to our newsletters


Leave a Comment


Leave a Comment

1 Comment