Sam’s Restaurant

Don’t come to Sam’s in Cobble Hill if you're in a rush. Sam’s is run by Louis Migliaccio—whose father is Mario, and whose great-uncle is Sam—and Louis is essentially a one-man show, taking orders, retrieving $30 bottles of wine, bussing tables, and pronouncing “mootz-a-rehl” just as you would expect him to. So no, don’t come here 30 minutes before a game at Barclays. But do come to this cash-only restaurant on an evening when you’d like to sit in a booth with some friends for several hours, below a smattering of string lights, in the presence of someone who, when you ask for water, might say something like, “What do I look like, the waterboy too?” (And then laugh, and grab you a pitcher.) Order a pizza, which comes out first—an underrated appetizer—and then veal parm, or the ziti alla Siciliana.

photo credit: Willa Moore