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Summer Restaurant Week arrives to Grand Street 2025

We are excited to announce the return of our Summer Restaurant Week on Grand Street! Get ready for the best dining event North Brooklyn has to offer. 14 restaurants on Grand Street are offering pre fixed menus this go around, showcasing the excellent dining and nightlife scene in the neighborhood. The two week celebration of local cuisine begins on Monday, August 11th and runs through Sunday, August 24th

Stop by at any participating location to get in on discount dining offers exclusive to Grand Street—and only during Restaurant Week. Just ask for a restaurant week menu when seated. You can find the full list of the 14 participants and pricing below. Prices at restaurants range from $21 to $35 and apply only to sit-down dinners, starting at 5PM — tax and tip not included.

Dim Sum from Ren

We’re ecstatic to welcome our newest participant Ren to the event - Grand Street’s new modern Sichuan restaurant. Ren specializes in a rotating menu focused on a diverse array of spicy dishes alongside traditional Chinese dim sum. 

Many of our staple restaurants are returning to participate this time around and some, like Grand Morelos and Bahia - two Latin American restaurants that have been on Grand Street for over 20 years.

BK Jani is returning with their renowned burgers that have been spotlighted on Infatuation NYC’s best restaurants in Williamsburg list. At a steal of a price of $35, Michelin Bib Gourmand winning Ammazzacaffè is offering fine dining Italian cuisine. Grand Street favorites like Lucy’s Vietnamese, Los Tacos Mcondo, Desy’s Clam Restaurant, and La Chacra are also participating again with several Restaurant Week’s under their belts. Mad for Chicken is offering the best value, at $21 for their prix-fixe menu!

Follow @grandstreetbid on Instagram & Facebook for the most up-to-date information on the event.

Stay tuned for our comprehensive Restaurant Week Guide for tips on how to navigate the event.

The People Make The Place!

The People Make the Place!

¡Las Personas Hacen el Lugar! Le Persone Fanno il Luogo!

The Grand Street BID is proud to present:

The People Make the Place! ¡Las Personas Hacen el Lugar! Le Persone Fanno il Luogo!

“The People Make the Place!” is a temporary, interactive, hybrid installation which aims to engage the community towards a more inclusive vision for its future. The physical installation is set to run from 5/29/25 - 6/30/25 at 246 and 247 Graham Avenue, while the digital installation will continue to be updated here.

Featuring materials submitted by neighborhood partners, and inviting ongoing feedback and storytelling, the multi-media installation frames and reflects (literally and figuratively) the real people of East Williamsburg and their relationship with our shared spaces. It represents a collaborative effort to honor neighborhood history and leaders, a rich culture of co-creating public spaces, and public life through the medium of digital and physical windows.

We want to hear your story! Click the button below to submit a story, image, or vision for the future. Submissions will be collected and shared here, to present an inclusive vision for the future together:

The People make the place!

〰️

¡Las personas hacen el lugar!

〰️

Le persone fanno il luogo!

〰️

The People make the place! 〰️ ¡Las personas hacen el lugar! 〰️ Le persone fanno il luogo! 〰️

installation

The physical installation will live temporarily in storefront space along Graham Avenue, at 246 (Grand Street BID office) and 247 (across the street) featuring three graphic and architectural works. These include a Community-sourced Photo Collage Mural by L&L Studio, the photo series Toñita’s by Sylvia Riveros, and Re: Place (a series of sculptural elements) by Reframe Architecture. The physical installation is set to run from 5/29 - 6/30, with the digital portion living on here.

Photo-Collage Mural, L&L Studio:

L&L Studio worked with Grand Street BID to create a photo-collage mural that invites visitors to meditate on the past, present, and future of the East Williamsburg neighborhood. Spanning four large windows of storefront space along Graham Street, the mural combines images sourced from neighborhood organizations El Puente, Powers Street Garden, and Evergreen Exchange, as well as NYPL and NYC public archives. The artwork is framed by questions in Spanish, Italian and English (three languages historically spoken in the neighborhood) that prompt reflection on how viewers interact with and shape their community: 

  1. How do local spaces shape my experience? | ¿Cómo moldean mi experiencia los espacios locales? | In che modo gli spazi locali influenzano la mia esperienza?

  2. Where are opportunities for change? | ¿Dónde están las oportunidades de cambio? |Dove sono le opportunità di cambiamento?

  3. What makes me feel connected here? | ¿Qué me hace sentir conectado aquí? |Cosa mi fa sentire legato a questo luogo?

  4. How do I contribute to my community? | ¿Cómo contribuyo a mi comunidad? | Come contribuisco alla mia comunità?

  5. What do I miss from the past? | ¿Qué extraño del pasado? | Cosa mi manca del passato?

Our team was inspired by speculative design of the 1960s and 1970s that combined photography and architectural renderings to reimagine the relationship between the built environment and culture. As viewers engage with the mural, we hope that they become both observers and participants in the evolving story of the neighborhood, reflecting on its history, transformation, and potential future.

Toñita’s, Sylvia Riveros:

Toñita’s is a photo series by Sylvia Riveros that honors the Caribbean Social Club in Williamsburg and its remarkable founder, Maria Antonia “Toñita” Cay. For over five decades, this space has served as a haven for Puerto Rican and Latin American communities—offering free food, salsa music, and a deep sense of belonging. Through intimate images, the series reflects how people make a place by showing up for one another, sharing joy, and sustaining intergenerational networks of care. Toñita’s bridges generations, cultures, genders, and migration journeys through mutual aid, music, and nourishment.

To learn more, visit: https://www.sylviajulianart.com/ 

Re: Place, Yalda Keramati | Reframe Architecture:

As part of Design Sprints: Building Creative Capacity (The people make the place!), ReFrame Architecture has designed a series of sculptural elements that emphasize the socio-spatial nature of place by highlighting memory and reflection. 

The materiality and geometry of the forms reference the built environment and mimic the folds and volumes of the storefront. It is the reflection of the audience on the sculpture’s surface that brings the installation to life, recognizing the vital role of community in sustaining and transforming the place. It is an invitation for everyone to share their stories and be a part of the collective memory of the neighborhood.

The people make the place!!

〰️

¡Las personas hacen el lugar!

〰️

Le persone fanno il luogo

〰️

The people make the place!! 〰️ ¡Las personas hacen el lugar! 〰️ Le persone fanno il luogo 〰️

Tell us your story! Use the questions below + your experiences being apart of the community to frame your answers. Your stories may be folded into the exhibit at a later date:

  1. How do local spaces shape my experience? | ¿Cómo moldean mi experiencia los espacios locales? | In che modo gli spazi locali influenzano la mia esperienza?

  2. Where are opportunities for change? | ¿Dónde están las oportunidades de cambio? |Dove sono le opportunità di cambiamento?

  3. What makes me feel connected here? | ¿Qué me hace sentir conectado aquí? |Cosa mi fa sentire legato a questo luogo?

  4. How do I contribute to my community? | ¿Cómo contribuyo a mi comunidad? | Come contribuisco alla mia comunità?

  5. What do I miss from the past? | ¿Qué extraño del pasado? | Cosa mi manca del passato?

submissions

Marilyn:

Chaney & Michael:

Joseph:

“My family has a long history here. In Bushwick, I walk past the buildings where my grandfather, fresh off the plane from Palermo with nothing but a dream and a few cigars, raised my dad, aunts, and uncles. Some of those same buildings he later owned, renting them out to other new immigrants, no matter where they came from or what their status was. In East Williamsburg, I see the factories where my grandmother and my mother worked sewing machines to make ends meet and put food on the table. Those factories were always there for them—steady, reliable work when they needed it, and when they had to step away to care for children, that was understood and accepted.

Right across the border, in southern Ridgewood, I remember the stoops where I would play with my cousins and friends. I was lucky enough to experience “stoop culture” as a kid. By then, my grandmother had left factory work and spent her days keeping watch over the street, chatting loudly with anyone willing to listen—or even just passing by. I think she just liked hearing the latest gossip and having people compliment the flowers she took such good care of. If she wasn't at her stoop, I knew I could find her chatting it up at Catania Bakery, did I mention she was not meant to eat sweets?

Today, things are different. The factories in East Williamsburg have become “lofts.” Some of the old apartments have been renovated, meaning they are painted white and rent for more. The stoop where my grandmother once held court now sits quiet and flowerless. With my grandparents gone and many family members having moved away, I’ve become something of a holdout in these parts. But even though it sometimes may feel like the place I knew as a child is gone, all I have to do is look around to see that it’s still being made by grannies sharing the latest gossip and children that keep on playing despite their scraped knees. It's fun to think that they are growing up with their own stories of how their families made this place.

The photo I’ve submitted has nothing to do with "our place" in North Brooklyn/Southern Queens at all, and this is intentional. This is a rare shot of my mother carrying me and my grandmother enjoying a ferry ride during a visit from relatives in Sicily. The ferry ride was just as amusing to them as it was to the family visiting for the first time. It always took a visitor for our family to leave the neighborhood. The community we had here was everything, so much so that there was rarely a reason to cross into Manhattan or venture to another borough.” - Joseph

Produced in partnership with OWLEY Studio.

Join us to celebrate the exhibit at The Grand Street Neighborhood Bash on Monday June 9th at 5:00PM at The Last Call (588 Grand Street). Meet your neighbors, share your stories, and win prizes! Refreshments will be provided to RSVP Attendees.

Click here or the button below to RSVP:

“The People Make the Place” is part of Design Sprints: Building Creative Capacity, an initiative of Van Alen Institute and the NYC Department of Small Business Services, exploring ways to creatively leverage vacant storefronts.

The installation was made in partnership with branding and digital designers L&L Studio and Reframe Architecture. It features work by artists Sylvia Riveros, Vanesa Álvarez Díaz, Los Muralistas de El Puente, Danielle Mastrion and SON-CORO, SINNED + Ria Burns-Wilder; With submissions by neighborhood partners St. Nick’s Alliance, Evergreen Exchange, El Puente and the Powers Street Garden; with assistance from Absolute Power Gym, Williamsburg Houses and the Brooklyn Public Library.

The physical installation is slated to run through June 2025, with the digital compendium of graphic and story submissions from community members living on this page indefinitely.

Grand Street Community Cleanup Day 2025

The Grand Street BID is proud to announce our Community Cleanup Day on Grand Street in partnership with the office of Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez. Join us on Saturday, June 7th from 11AM - 1PM to help cleanup our community! We’ll be picking up trash, cleaning our tree pits, and beautifying our neighborhood. Meet us at the corner of Manhattan Ave and Grand Street - We’ll have cleaning supplies and t-shirts for you. After that, join us for a happy hour and pizza on Grand Street!

Our plan is to start at opposite ends of the district, Bushwick Ave and Union Ave, and have each group clean towards each other until they meet in the middle. This is a family-friendly event so feel free to bring children. We can't wait to have Grand Street looking and feeling its best and to connect with our neighbors while doing it.

Click the button and check the box that says “June 7th - Clean up on Grand Street - 11AM - 1PM” to RSVP!

Adopt-A-Tree Summer 2025

We are joyous to announce the return of Adopt-A-Tree: our volunteer-based, tree stewardship program. Our tree pits are finally in bloom and we’re looking for neighbors who are interested in adopting and stewarding a tree bed!

There are over 90 tree pits in our district (on just 6 blocks!)—and the process of planting perennials has been years in the making. It started six years ago with funding from the Borough President and City Council, allowing the BID to place tree guards in our previously unprotected tree pits. With each new tree guard installed, the BID is able to team with The Horticultural Society of New York to plant perennials native to Brooklyn. Every year we increase the amount of tree beds on Grand Street - this year we had help from NYC Parks who installed five new tree beds, helping us green our neighborhood more than its ever been.

Volunteers are asked to water their tree beds weekly. All of the plants in our tree pits enjoy full or partial sun, are drought tolerant, and do well in sandy or gravelly soils. Although these plants are less temperamental than most, it is important to keep an eye on them and provide water during periods of drought throughout the Summer. We partner with businesses on Grand to help supply volunteers with water, making it easy to make sure the beds stay hydrated.

Volunteers will be asked to attend one short introduction session hosted by the BID on Saturday, June 7th, at 10:30AM at 670 Grand Street. This will be followed by our annual Community Cleanup, which you are welcome to join!

The session includes learning about the pits, tips on what you can do to best care for them, and materials and goodies to help you along the way.

Please fill out this form to participate. We can’t wait to welcome all of our newcomers and to reconnect with our previous volunteers! Pit assignment will be first come first serve, and we will be giving priority of tree pit locations to our returning volunteers.

Ren Arrives to 623 Grand Street

Ren has arrived at 623 Grand Street! Ren is a Sichuan restaurant specializing small plates, allowing you to mix and match different bites. This is by design, as owner Jayne He “wants to introduce newer dishes in smaller portions that people might not have had”. Smaller plates include spicy pickled cucumbers, fried golden eggplant, and steamed pork dumplings; more traditional Sichuan foods like Mapo Tofu and Spicy Cumin Lamb come in larger portions.

Jayne opened the restaurant alongside her partners Henry Bao and Kingsley Ye after years of experience in other Chinese fine dining establishments. She decided to open Ren to create a space where people can “share food, happiness and harvest”. The theme of harvest comes from Jayne’s history in food - her grandmother’s farmhouse in Fujian, China has been a major influence on her culinary career. This can be seen in the decor, with hay-like fixtures hanging from the ceiling & woven farm style chairs, and even the name; Ren means “grain harvest” in Chinese. 🌾

Jayne shared with us an idiom that sits at the core of her vision for Ren:

“First, as fefe said, this idiom is “民以食为天" (Mín yǐ shí wéi tiān); it comes from the biography of Li Yiji in the historical record of The Han dynasty. That sentence means "People are the most important to an emperor, while foods are the most important to the people".

Why? Remember in ancient times, foods were not as sufficient as they are now; even now, people in poverty go hungry. Foods are indispensable to life.”

Jayne’s favorite part of running Ren is being able to meet people in the neighborhood, listen to their feedback, and use that feedback to continue growing. She’s described the neighborhood as very supportive and welcoming, and has already had regular customers come back several times.

Swing by Ren at 623 Grand Street for delicious Sichuan Cuisine!

Flowery, Legal Cannabis Dispensary, now at 692 Grand Street

The Flowery, Grand Street's first licensed cannabis dispensary, is now open at 692 Grand Street! 692 Grand Street marks their fifth location, with others located in each of the five boroughs, starting on Staten Island two years ago.

The shelves have a variety of different products, which can be a lot to take in. That’s where The Flowery’s excellent customer service comes in to assist - the staff is trained to know the in’s and out’s of every product in the store, and can help you from start to finish. Natasha, the location's manager, brings a wealth of industry knowledge and 8 years of expertise to the store; her goal is to make her customers feel welcome and comfortable choosing from their inventory of lab tested and legal cannabis products.

While the interior itself is richly covered with collage murals (featuring the likes of George Washington and John Lennon) the site additionally hosts rotating art, with Natasha expressing interest in bringing in local artwork to display. Natasha has felt welcome by Grand Street, saying the “reception has been great from the neighborhood. Everyone’s happy that a legal spot is here.”

Check out The Flowery at 692 Grand Street!

Wellness Week on Grand Street 2025

The Grand Street BID is excited to showcase Wellness Week; a week of deals and events at some of your favorite Wellness businesses on Grand Street from April 7th - April 13th.

You’ll have the option to choose from deals at salons, spas, barbers, fitness studios, and more! We’re excited to offer discounted experiences at the best of Grand Street’s beauty, health, and wellness businesses to our community. So stop by and treat yourself to a business (or two!) on Grand. Read below for all deals and events being offered during the event.

Wellness Week Events

Powers street garden walking tour

Kick off the week with a walking tour of the Powers Street Garden at 12PM on April 5th, located at 278 Powers Street. Learn from local members about bed management, check out the daffodils blooming all over, and maybe even get your hands dirty helping planting and clearing space for new growth. 

Click here or the button below to RSVP for the walking tour:

composting info session with big reuse

Join us and Big Reuse on the corner of Graham Avenue and Grand Street in front of the Chase Bank to talk composting and community care, from 3-4PM on April 9th. You’ll be able to receive free printed informational materials, decals for bins, 1-gallon food scrap kitchen containers, and the team can answer any questions you have about curbside composting.

Big Reuse has been a driving force for composting efforts across NYC with their community-based approach to food waste for over a decade. As part of the city's community-scaled composting network, they collaborate with botanical gardens and composting nonprofits to provide New Yorkers with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities to produce and use compost.

Wellness Week Deals and Specials

United Xtreme Martial Arts - 653 Grand Street

$20 for 2 weeks of classes with t-shirt included

Nieves Latin Dance Studio - 670 Grand Street

One free trial class

Groomers and Pomade - 796 Grand Street

25% off, with 50% for junior barber

Skin By Sol - 527 Grand Street

15% off one facial

Hair by Catherine - 584 Grand Street

Complementary scalp detox and mask with haircut/blowout. Complementary Olaplex treatment/mask with color services.

Primp N Polish - 586 Grand Street

20% any one service

Da Francesco Pizza & Cucina now at 552 Grand Street

Da Francesco Pizza & Cucina reopens at 552 Grand Street! Da Francesco is a Pizzeria and Italian restaurant that was previously located at 442 Graham Avenue for 22 years. Owner Francesco Cuozzo is bringing decades of experience in the restaurant business to this new location. Da Francesco offers delicious pizza, alongside Italian classics like Penne Ala Vodka, Ravioli with Mushrooms & Truffles, and even desserts like Tiramisu. 

Da Francesco is known for using high quality ingredients imported from Italy, and is an established community staple. When we visited the pizzeria, two longtime customers swung by and were delighted to see that Da Francesco is still in the neighborhood. 

Francesco came to this country 22 years ago from Salerno, Italy. He has a deep love for the community in East Williamsburg - that’s why this new location isn’t too far from the original. He considers himself “a people person, who’s happy to feed folks”. He’s hardworking and loves to cook; when he’s not making pizza he’s spending time with his family. That family time is almost always about food as well; and when it isn’t, he’s talking to his sons about Juventus and other football clubs. 

Swing by Da Francesco at 552 Grand Street for a delicious slice of pizza, plate of pasta, or cannoli!