Brooklyn, Queens Adding Restaurants of a Different Variety

Foodies have what to smile about this month with several new eateries opening in Brooklyn.

Residents of Bushwick and Bay Ridge are in for a treat when Artichoke Basille’s Pizza opens not one, but two new locations. Home-grown in New York, this mini-chain offers some unique pizza offerings, like crab pizza, burnt anchovy pies and of course artichokes.

Now Astoria denizens can have a wonderful Middle-Eastern experience at Café Istanbul, complete with belly dancing. Sonny Shaikh is the owner, hailing, not from Turkey, but from Mumbai. India. Shaikh has been in New York for 23 years and decided to walk on the wild side and give up his career in high tech and try his hand at serving Mediterranean, Egyptian and Turkish delights. In addition to gastronomic offerings such as baba ghanoush, hummus, rack of lamb and shrimp tagine, diners can whet their appetites with 30 flavors of Hookah available all day, and belly dancing shows on weekends at 11pm.

The Hall is a permanent new restaurant housed in the spacious Union Fare food emporium at 6 East 18th Street. The food is inspired by state fair fare and proves to be quite creative. Comfort foods abound, of course, such as steak kebabs and a falafel dog with feta, tahini and tzatziki. If messy is more your style, then dip into the nachos, sweet chili wings and a BBQ pull pork sandwich adorned with waffle fries.