Brooklyn

Seersucker is splitting the difference deliciously between local and southern. Chef Robert Newton is sourcing from upstate farmers, the Carroll Gardens farmers' market across the street, and local producers like Blue Marble Ice Cream, Red Hook Winery and Sixpoint Craft Ales, but his cuisine is inspired by the American South—Stoneground Grits Spoonbread, Crispy Pig's Foot, Fried Bologna Sandwich, Pork Belly and Collard Greens, scratch biscuits.

Open since 2000, Rose Water was "slow" long before it was in, and long before Park Slope became a foodie destination.

The Meat Hook, snuggled in at the back of The Brooklyn Kitchen in Williamsburg, offers responsible carnivores meat from regionally, humanely and sustainably raised livestock. It's easy to spot The Brooklyn Kitchen as you walk along Frost St—a life-sized statue of a steer stands outside the front door.

Marlow and Sons started as a kind of Diner adjunct, a place next door where overflow could wait at the bar behind a high-quality bodega for takeout sandwiches, coffee, tea, fair-trade chocolate and Fizzy Lizzy. But one thing led to another, and Marlow and Sons is now the neighborhood osteria to Diner's bistro, featuring east coast oysters renowned for their freshness, local salumi and farmstead cheeses, market-based soups, salads, panini and pastas, entrees based on sustainably raised meats from Chef Sean Rembold's whole animal program, and an exceptionally well priced wine list.

It was the whole animal program at Diner and Marlow and Sons that led to the latest addition to the family, Marlow and Daughters, an old-fashioned neighborhood butcher shop in the historic former barbershop just up the block. Caroline and head butcher Tom Mylan buy whole animals from sustainable regional farms like Flying Pigs Farm, 3-Corner Field Farm and Slope Farm, from which they supply the restaurants and produce notable charcuterie, including paté, duck leg confit, several kinds of rillettes and fresh sausages.

Lunetta is the very model of a Slow Food NYC Snail of Approval restaurant. The menu changes with the seasons, but a recent winter version included house-cured pancetta, soppressatta and finocchiona, local rapini, brussel sprouts, kale and cauliflower, and the now famous Lunetta meatballs made from sustainably-raised Berkshire pork and grass-fed beef.

James calls itself "a seasonal American restaurant with Old-World European influences," and it is something of an Old World dream come true in Brooklyn for Bryan Calvert (once personal chef to Susan Sontag and Annie Liebovitz) and his wife Deborah Williamson – he runs the kitchen, she the dining room, and they live in the apartment upstairs. Mr. Calvert being a Bouley alumnus, those influences lean toward the French – purées, reductions, confits, beurre blancs – but the produce leans toward the local, including fresh herbs from the couple's own garden.

"98% of our ingredients are local, and as much as possible, we source our produce from right here in Brooklyn," says Laurent Saillard. Ici, owned by Saillard and his wife Catherine, has taken local to a whole new level by buying their produce from the Red Hook Farm. The menu is seasonal—updated versions of the classics that often have an unusual and tasty spin. My favorites are the skate with garlicky collard greens and the pumpkin "pizza" with goat cheese and prosciutto. The wine list is small but exciting with wines from small growers who work their vines in a traditional manner.

Chrissy's Cooking Club promotes from-scratch cooking using local ingredients from the New York region. Chrissy's Cooking club is based in Bushwick, Brooklyn and facilitates its members' exploration of everything about food, from how it's grown and produced, to some of the best dishes coming out from local chefs, plus tons of cooking in-between. Ingredients for Chrissy's Cooking Club courses are sourced from farmers at the Bushwick Farmers Market, the Bushwick CSA, NextDoorOrganics CSA and Boswyck Farms.

Colonie is located on a tree-lined block of Atlantic Avenue, two blocks from the East River, perched on the edge of Brooklyn Heights. Colonie adds an affordable, approachable and delicious culinary option to Brooklyn Heights' beautiful streetscapes and incredible city views.