Brighton Beach
"Little Odessa" — a Russian, Ukrainian and Central Asian neighborhood on the boardwalk east of Coney Island, with the best and cheapest food on that whole stretch of coast.
- What it costs
- Free to visit. Food shops and boardwalk cafés are inexpensive; the big banquet restaurants are not.
- Best in
- Summer, Fall, Spring
- Where
- Brighton Beach Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11235
- Official site
- nycgovparks.org
Why it's called Little Odessa
Large-scale Soviet Jewish immigration from the 1970s onward, concentrated here, followed by later Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian and Central Asian arrivals.
The result is a neighborhood where shop signs are in Cyrillic, the food shops are the real thing, and English is often the second language on the street. It is one of the most distinctive neighborhoods in New York and it is right on the beach.
What to eat
- The food shops on Brighton Beach Avenue — smoked fish, cured meats, pickles, dumplings, and bakery counters. Cheap, excellent, and the best way in if you're only here for an hour.
- Boardwalk cafés — sit outside facing the water with a plate of dumplings and a beer. Uncomplicated and very good value.
- The big banquet restaurants — enormous multi-course affairs with live music, vodka and dancing, mostly at weekends and mostly at night. A genuine event, not cheap, and worth doing once if you have the evening.
Georgian and Uzbek food are both well represented and both worth seeking out specifically.
Pair it with Coney Island
The obvious day: Coney Island in the afternoon for the beach, the boardwalk and the Wonder Wheel, then walk east to Brighton Beach for dinner.
It's fifteen minutes along the boardwalk, the crowds thin as you go, and the food at the far end is better and cheaper than anything behind you.
Getting there
The B or Q to Brighton Beach — about 50 minutes from Midtown. The station is elevated and the main avenue runs directly beneath it.
Or take the D, F, N or Q to Coney Island and walk fifteen minutes east along the boardwalk, which is much the better arrival.
Getting around once you're there
The boardwalk is flat and step-free. Brighton Beach Avenue is flat but narrow and crowded under the elevated tracks, and many shops have a step. Brighton Beach station is not accessible.