This guide is organized exactly that way. Where to eat if you are finishing in DUMBO, where to eat if you are finishing near City Hall, and a few options worth a short detour from either side. Let’s jump in.
Finishing in DUMBO (Brooklyn Side)
DUMBO is one of those neighborhoods that became so popular it briefly got insufferable and then came back around to being genuinely good again. The food options here are specific and worth knowing because the neighborhood is small enough that you will pass most of them on a single walk.
Juliana’s Pizza
Juliana’s is the pizza place I send everyone to in DUMBO without hesitation. Opened by the original Grimaldi’s founder after a falling-out with the business, it is a coal-fired pizza restaurant that produces one of the best pies in Brooklyn. The margherita is the one to order. Simple, exactly right, slightly charred in the way that coal ovens produce and gas ovens never quite replicate.
There is almost always a line. Go early or go late. The line moves but it is a real line, not a symbolic one. It is worth the wait and I have waited. Address: 1 Front St, DUMBO
Julianas-Pizza-DUMBO-Brooklyn--1024x683.jpgJuliana's Pizza · DUMBO
Almondine Bakery
Almondine is a French bakery on Water Street that has been in DUMBO long enough to have earned its status as a neighborhood institution. The croissants are very good in the way that French bakeries in New York are occasionally very good, meaning they taste like something you had in Paris once and have been trying to recreate since. The almond croissant specifically is the reason to go.
It is also extremely useful as a first stop before the bridge walk if you are starting from the Brooklyn side. Coffee and a pastry from Almondine, then the bridge. This is a good morning. Address: 85 Water St, DUMBO
Time Out Market
Time Out Market on the DUMBO waterfront is a food hall with views of the Manhattan Bridge that I find genuinely unreasonable in how good they are. The market itself has a reliable collection of vendors – some better than others, as all food halls go – but the views from the upstairs seating area alone are worth the trip.
I like it for a casual lunch when I want to try a few things rather than commit to one restaurant. The clam pizza from Don Angie is the thing I get most often when I am there. Address: 55 Water St, DUMBO
Time-Out-Market-Views-08688-683x1024.jpgJane's Carousel · Brooklyn Heights / DUMBO
Grimaldi’s
Grimaldi’s is the other coal-fired pizza institution in DUMBO, now operating under the original name after the complicated business history I mentioned. It is also good. The debate over which is better between Juliana’s and Grimaldi’s is a long-running Brooklyn argument that I will decline to settle officially here, though I have opinions.
What I will say is that Juliana’s line tends to be shorter on weekday afternoons and Grimaldi’s is more centrally located near the bridge entrance. Pick based on where you are standing. Address: 1 Front St (Grimaldi’s is around the corner at the base of the bridge)
nyc-1002450-1-1024x684.jpgVillage Vanguard · Greenwich Village
Finishing in Manhattan (City Hall Side)
The Manhattan end of the bridge deposits you near City Hall, which is not a food neighborhood in any meaningful way, but you are a short walk or subway ride from several areas that are very much worth eating in.
Chinatown
Chinatown is fifteen minutes walking from the Manhattan bridge entrance and is one of the best places to eat in the entire city. I want to be clear that this is not a “budget option” consolation prize. This is a place with genuinely excellent food at prices that make the rest of Manhattan look embarrassing.
Xi’an Famous Foods on Bayard Street is what I go to first. Hand-ripped noodles and the spicy cumin lamb noodles are the things to order. Nom Wah Tea Parlor on Doyers Street is the oldest dim sum restaurant in New York and the egg rolls there are something I think about regularly.
spork-cheap-eats-Chinatown-NYC-1006383-684x1024.jpgChinatown
For banh mi, Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich is on Mott Street and produces a banh mi that costs around four dollars and is one of the best sandwiches in New York. This is not an exaggeration. Address: 369 Broome St
BanhMiSaigon-0057-1024x683.jpgBanh Mi Saigon · Chinatown
Katz’s Deli (Worth the Walk)
Katz’s Deli is a twenty-minute walk from the Manhattan bridge entrance, which is either a reasonable post-bridge walk extension or too far depending on how your feet feel. I include it because the pastrami sandwich there is one of the genuine New York experiences and if you are already in the neighborhood-adjacent area, it is worth considering.
The pastrami on rye with spicy mustard. That is the order. The hot dog is also excellent and underrated. The prices are high for a deli and the room is chaotic and you will get a ticket when you walk in that you must not lose under any circumstances. Address: 205 E Houston St, Lower East Side
Worth a Short Detour From Either Side
The Brooklyn Side. Vinegar Hill House
Vinegar Hill House is in the tiny Vinegar Hill neighborhood just east of DUMBO, ten minutes walking from the bridge. It is one of the best neighborhood restaurants in Brooklyn – a warm, wood-filled room with a menu that changes seasonally and a cast-iron chicken that is on the menu always for good reason. Worth the short detour if you are not in a hurry.
The Manhattan Side. Any Food Hall in the Financial District
The Financial District has improved its food situation substantially in the past few years. The Hudson Eats food hall at Brookfield Place is fifteen minutes from the bridge on foot and has a good collection of vendors plus extraordinary views of the Hudson River. For a quick lunch with a view, it is a solid option.
A Practical Note
The bridge walk takes between thirty and forty-five minutes one way at a normal pace. If you are doing it round trip, plan accordingly for how hungry you will be. I have made the mistake of assuming I could handle a round trip before lunch on the theory that I would “grab something on the bridge,” which has no restaurants on it whatsoever. Do not repeat my mistake.
The bridge is shared with cyclists who will come up behind you without much warning. Stay in the pedestrian lane, which is on the south side of the walkway. The cyclists are in a hurry and they are not wrong to be in a hurry, but the walkway is narrow enough that it is worth paying attention.