I began this blog a little less than ten years ago as a Brooklyn-focused running blog, or perhaps a running-focused Brooklyn blog. Running endures as a regular part of my life, but it’s less of a passion these days, more something I do because, well, it’s something I do. It’s been a long time – almost five years, is that possible? – since I’ve posted a race report.
So if this one should stray from the conventions of the genre, it’s partly because my writing, like my running, has suffered from neglect . . . but also because the Gaza 5K is not exactly a conventional race.
This is the sixth installment of a highly idiosyncratic guide to the Brooklyn – aka best – portion of the NYC Marathon route. For reasons I’ll get into shortly, it’s more idiosyncratic than ever. First, though, links to past editions: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and the one that started it all, back in 2015. Click on these for much more detailed race-watching advice – including transportation strategies, what the runners are probably feeling, and general vibe.
This year, I’m narrowing the focus to Brooklyn’s Fourth Avenue – a roughly five-mile stretch of the course that happens to correspond to where I spend the majority of my time.
That focus reflects my evolving relationship with my borough. When I started this series, I was relatively new to Brooklyn and keen to explore it. This blog in general, and this guide in particular, gave purpose to my exploration. (It also gave me license to eat a ridiculous amount of food in the interest of “research.”) But after the pandemic put such wanderings on hold, it proved surprisingly hard to revive the urge to explore. I’m not sure why. I suppose that as one becomes more at home in a place, there’s a natural inclination to return again and again to a relatively small number of spots. We’re territorial animals, I guess, marking our trails, repeating the same circuits again and again.
This is not a bad thing. It’s nice to know and be known. But it does make coming up with new blog content a challenge.
Further weakening my motivation – and contradicting everything I just said about the pull of familiarity and routine – I’ll now confess that this Marathon Day is going to be dramatically different for me. I will not be watching the race this year; I won’t even be in Brooklyn. Not without regret – because I really do love the event – I’m spending the first half of November in Mexico. Sunday will find me in a small “pueblo mágico” in Puebla state, staying at an inn without much of an internet connection. So instead of cheering myself hoarse along Fourth Av, then hopping on the G train to catch the runners in Fort Greene or Greenpoint or LIC, I´ll be checking out the local market and inflicting my bad Spanish on Nahuatl speakers.
I can’t let the race – or this post – go entirely, however. So without further ado, here’s an abbreviated list of great places to eat, drink and watch the runners. It’s divided in two parts: new (or at least newish, or new to me) arrivals and reliable old favorites. Both are organized from south to north, following the runners along the course.
New arrivals
How many bodegas feature a picture of their apron-clad owner/head cook on their awnings? El Sazón de Petrica, a Venezuelan grocery/restaurant in Sunset Park, does. Newly-opened between 47th and 48th streets, in what is arguably the best eating area along Fourth Avenue, they offer empanadas and ridiculously – but deliciously – overstuffed arepas. Try the pabellón, which features shredded beef, black beans, fried sweet plantains and gooey melted cheese. Be sure to ask for plenty of napkins with your order.
El Sazón de Petrica, 4718 Fourth Av (west side of the marathon course)
Jey Diner has been around for a few years, close to the 25th St stop on the R train. First I noticed its sign, which in all honesty, did not make me want to run to try it (maybe it was the “Inc.” that turned me off). More recently they added a sidewalk chalkboard that piqued my interest with some creative-sounding breakfasts (polenta eggs Benedict, anyone?). So, with Eric and a visiting Katie in tow, I gave them a try.
In classic diner fashion, the menu is vast and inclusive. It spans breakfast classics (omelets, eggs any way you want ‘em, pancakes), gentrified brunch classics (avocado toast, eggs Benedict), Italian (ziti, lasagna), Mexican, Puerto Rican…you name it. My chilaquiles were tasty, the home fries with Eric’s omelet were a home run, and while Katie’s burrito isn’t going to change anyone’s mind about burritos (regular readers know I’m not a fan), if you like overstuffed carb bombs that frustrate attempts to anoint them with (excellent) salsa, you’ll like this. As we ate, I pictured sitting at the table that looks out through their big front window, and thought, “yeah, this would be a fun place to watch the race.”
Postscript: since everyone who works there is Spanish-speaking, I assume “Jey” is pronounced “Hey,” which is very cute and makes me like the place that much more.
Jey Diner, 721 Fourth Av (east side of the marathon course)
I was excited to see a Yemeni restaurant open up on Fourth Avenue, not too far from us, but then dawdled in checking it out. When I developed a hankering for Arab food, and remembered they were there . . . well, they seemed to always be closed. But the Green Province rewards patience and flexibility with – I can say now that we’ve finally eaten there – delicious food. You’ll find all the standards, as well as comforting, stewy Yemeni specialties.
If only their falafel didn’t come with the scourge that is white sauce!
The Green Province, 568 Fourth Av (west side of the marathon course)
I am not a brunch girl. When I go out on a Sunday morning, I want breakfast, dammit! And if I were to go out on a Sunday afternoon, though I rarely do, I’d want lunch. But I’ll make an exception for Alma Negra, an upscale, modern Mexican place that we’ve enjoyed for dinner in the past, and landed in during brunch hours one weekend when the aforementioned Green Province was unexpectedly closed.
As at dinner, Alma Negra’s dishes are carefully prepared and beautifully presented. My eggs with potato and chorizo weren’t the scrambled mess I love and was expecting, but rather a neat frittata topped with a tangle of micro greens.
I’m not complaining.
And besides – how can you not love a place that touts its impressive selection of tequilas and mezcals with whimsical sidewalk signs, like the one below?
Alma Negra, 494 Fourth Av (west side of the marathon course)
When Bushwick’s Nenes Taqueria opened a branch in Park Slope, it brought great tacos to a section of the marathon course where race day food options were previously lacking. The other 364 days of the year, it brought great tacos an easy walk from me. I now have the luxury of choosing between old favorite Reyes Deli & Grocery and new favorite Nenes.
In a departure from the usual south Brooklyn taqueria vibe – grill behind the deli or bakery counter, a few tables crowded in the back, hand-lettered signs – Nenes offers a shiny red and white interior that makes me think of Mexico City. They have plenty of meat choices and even a couple of vegetarian ones (mushrooms, nopales), but I keep coming back to their adobada and birria, in a so far unsuccessful attempt to decide once and for all which I like better. (Pro tip: the birria is so moist that ordering consome along with it is totally unnecessary, even for a consome lover like me.)
Nenes also has what may be the best horchata in town.
Nenes Taqueria, 660 Degraw St (east side of the marathon course)
Old favorites These are the places I return to again and again, not in the interests of research or writing, but because I love them.
If you want to see runners while they’re still fresh from that probably-too-fast descent off the Verrazzano Bridge – or if you just want to eat really good Lebanese food in Bay Ridge – Karam is as good as ever. It’s conveniently close to the 86th St stop on the R train, too.
Karam, 8519 Fourth Av (east side of marathon course)
Panadería Don Paco Lopez remains a weekend staple for its perfect huaraches and savory, deliciously gamy barbacoa de chivo. I especially love Don Paco’s this time of year, when the owners install a beautiful ofrenda in the front of the bakery. It would not be out of place in the Corredor de Ofrendas going on in Puebla this week.
Panadería Don Paco López, 4703 Fourth Av (east side of the marathon course)
From the start, I was enchanted by the familial relationship between the humble corner bodega by the R train and the sleek but comfortable and welcoming coffee shop a couple of doors down, Both the coffee shop and its progenitor share the name Yafa. Head to the bodega if you want, well, a bodega. Head to the café if you want some of the best coffee around, proudly sourced from Yemen. Or, if you prefer something cold – maybe all that cheering has done a number on your throat – they’ll make you a delicious lemonade. Their Yemeni honeycomb cake is a must, their sandwiches a treat.
Yafa Cafe, 4415 Fourth Av (east side of the marathon course)
When I want street tacos, I go to the Tacos El Bronco truck on Fifth Avenue which is, unfortunately, not on the course. When I want stewy, satisfying Poblano home cooking, I go to the physical location on Fourth Avenue. As often as we go there, I have yet to exhaust the seemingly limitless combinations of meat, vegetables and moles or chile sauces they offer as daily specials. Their egg dishes care great, too – as are their tacos, of course. The only downside of eating here on race day is that you may be too stuffed to cheer effectively afterwards.
Tacos el Bronco, 4324 Fourth Av (west side of the marathon course)
I confess, I’ve been cheating on Ines Bakery ever since I discovered I could get arroz con leche-filled empanadas closer to me. But Ines is where I first encountered them, and I still love their selection of baked treats and substantial Mexican and Salvadoran antojitos.
Inés Bakery, 948 Fourth Av (west side of the marathon course)
Since I moved to Brooklyn, I have either run or watched every single NYC Marathon. And every single year I wasn’t running, I’ve picked up a breakfast sandwich Toluqueño from Reyes Deli & Grocery. It’s my little tradition, and I feel almost as bad about missing it as I do about missing the race itself.
Reyes Deli & Grocery, 532 Fourth Av (west side of the marathon course)
It was a happy day in the Ewing-Brooks household when Shelsky’s, a purveyor of smoked fish and other Jewish treats, opened a bagel shop by the Fourth Av/9th St F/G/R station. Happy for us because it gave us a second top-tier bagel option in the neighborhood . . . and happy for you, because you can grab a bagel or bagel sandwich to carb-load as you cheer. Bagels go with races like they go with lox and cream cheese, so why wouldn’t you go here on Marathon Day?
Shelsky’s Brooklyn Bagels, 453 Fourth Av (east side of the marathon course)
. . .
That’s this year’s round up. I promise to be back with more in 2024!
It’s awkward, even intimidating, to restart this blog after one of its periods of quiescence – especially one as long as this. Let’s see, my last post was in . . . January? Gulp.
It’s not as though there was anything particularly dramatic about this Brooklyn Sunday. The suffocating heat has loosened its grip ever so slightly, but by the time I’d run and biked my way from Park Slope to Prospect Heights, I was soaked in sweat. I had let the availability of CitiBike “Bike Angel” points determine my route. For the uninitiated, the corporate parent of New York City’s bike share program is Lyft, a company that knows a thing or two about motivating non-employees, and I’ve allowed myself to be sucked into their Bike Angel program, whereby riders earn credits, membership extensions and cold hard cash by shuffling bikes from overstocked stations to ones where bikes are in short supply. It’s manipulative as hell, and a source of cheap labor, of course, but it also gives me a couple of hundred dollars a month, and meshes nicely with my much-reduced running program. I trot along, picking up and delivering bikes along the way, and call it a workout.
So it was the prospect of a 12-point (triple bonus points, baby!) drop-off that took me to the corner of Underhill and St. Johns Place, where a seemingly eternal construction fence around a ruined building has been a magnet for street art for years – long enough to earn a listing on Google Maps. It’s the “Underhill Walls,” evidently.
The first Sunday in November, when tens of thousands of runners course through Brooklyn, is one of my favorite days of the year. Yes, it starts on Staten Island and eventually detours through Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx and Manhattan again – but the best part of the New York City Marathon is right here in Brooklyn.
Let me say first off: I would have loved the Bosque de Tlalpan under any circumstances. But in these fear-stalked, plague-ridden times, I love it even more. We all need more nature in our lives right now. Every breeze, every birdsong, every falling leaf and fluttering butterfly feels like a little bit of normalcy that also happens to be beautiful and soul-soothing. Continue reading →
Get there early in the morning, before the sun is fully up, and you’ll find the Viveros de Coyoacán already alive. Birds twitter and chirp as runners circle the perimeter path, their feet making crunching sounds in the fine red gravel.
The Viveros are part park, part nursery. They date from 1901, when Miguel Ángel de Quevedo – an engineer and architect who was also a passionate environmentalist, known in Mexico as “el apóstol del árbol” – donated a plot of land to be used as a public nursery. The idea caught the attention of Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz. Díaz was an asshole, but he was also genuinely committed to the beautification of Mexico City. In his autocratic eyes, making the city more beautiful meant making it more modern and European, and that meant ornate architecture and wide, tree-lined boulevards.
Where would all those trees come from? Why, the Viveros of Coyoacán, of course. Continue reading →
Here it is, delayed by my traditional post-marathon trip (look for a report on Brooklyn in Texas, coming soon) and general laziness: the view from the sidelines of this year’s NYC marathon. Seeing as how I presume to publish a spectator’s guide every year, it only seems right to share how my own spectating went down.
Pre-race – an odd encounter
I began the day, as is my custom, with a run along the Fourth Avenue segment of the course, from roughly Mile 7 in Park Slope to Mile 2.something in Bay Ridge. Thanks to the end of daylight savings time (daylight savings time is a fraud and a scourge, as far as I’m concerned, and I look forward to its end almost as much as I look forward to the marathon), I was able to set out in full light a little after 7 am. As I ran, I kept a rough count of the people I saw along the course. In descending order of frequency, they included:
Race volunteers (thank you, all of you)
Cyclists
Cops
NYC Department of Transportation trucks and personnel (so that runners would have fresh, sticky asphalt to step in, which I suppose is marginally better than potholes)
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Musicians
Other runners
Skateboarders
People telling me I was going the wrong way (only two this year, well under the norm)
A guy wearing a marathon race bib, seemingly doing strides on 92nd St
Old Brooklyn, new Brooklyn – you’ll find both along the marathon course
For five years now, I’ve compiled a spectators’ guide to the Greatest Race in the World, sometimes known as the NYC Marathon. The Brooklyn (and to a lesser extent Queens) sections of the course are now well-trodden terrain for this blog, and I’ve even ventured up to East Harlem and the Bronx. This year, I’m taking a slightly different approach. Instead of aiming for comprehensiveness, I’m focusing on a handful of specific neighborhoods; instead of limiting my comments to the marathon course, I’m offering a broader tour, including a bit of history and other things to do in the area, assuming you can tear yourself away from the race.
If you prefer a more comprehensive approach, you’ll find mile-by-mile suggestions, as well as viewing tips and advice on race day logistics, in my posts from 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015. While I don’t claim to have revisited and re-reviewed all of my past recommendations, I’ve tried to at least note closings. (And if you’re interested in knowing how I’ve personally spent Marathon Sunday since my retirement from marathon running, you can read my reports from last year and 2017 here and here.)
So, where should you watch the marathon in Brooklyn this year? (Because it goes without saying that you’ll be watching it in Brooklyn, right? We are the longest and best part of the course.) Read on for my top picks. Continue reading →
Ah, the Brooklyn Half! This used to be my favorite race, an un-ironic celebration of all things Brooklyn. Then it became my favorite race as an ironic celebration of a very specific Brooklyn, the Brooklyn of curated food trucks, craft beer, and made-for-Instagram photo ops.
So what happened this year? My lack of excitement was matched only by my lack of preparation. I was running, because, well, that’s what I do – but honestly, I would really have rather spent the morning birding.
Taking selfies while facing the sun, and racing in a keffiyeh: two bad ideas. (Photo credit: Lisa Maya Knauer)
I haven’t raced in six months and a day, and the Gaza 5K was the perfect way to ease back in. The emphasis of this race is on fundraising (to support community mental health services for kids in Gaza) and community. It doesn’t start on time, the course isn’t accurately measured, there are no mile markers, and the chaotic starting area is crowded with kids and strollers – but so what? How many other races do you know that culminate in a dabke dance party? Continue reading →
50 Favorite Places #11
Not another Brooklyn blog 