My 10 Favorite Brooklyn Restaurants

A pie awaits the oven at Motorino

Today, for our weekly 10 best list, I came up with a list of my 10 favorite Brooklyn restaurants--not the best, necessarily, but the places that I love and go back to over and over. All of the places I've chosen have great food, but a favorite restaurant might worm its way into your heart for other reasons too--a particularly warm owner, ultra-affordable prices, or just the way it makes you feel at home.

As with any other list, it's idiosyncratic and if you asked me tomorrow, it might be different. But for today, here are my favorite Brooklyn restaurants. And please post your own in the comments.

Fassolia at Yemen Cafe

10. Motorino, 319 Graham Avenue, 718-599-8899
The most delicious of the bubbly-crusted bunch. If the brussels sprouts and speck pizza offered, pick that one.

9. Top Cafe Tibet, 1510 Cortelyou Road, 718-941-2725
A small, homey place with an excellent, filling paysar momo--a giant dumpling filled with spiced ground beef and an entire boiled egg. Or go for a warming bowl of thenthuk soup, which flutters with confetti-like, hand-torn noodles.

8. AM Thai Chili Basil Kitchen, 359 McDonald Avenue, 718-871-9115
This take-out joint excels at anything with mock duck, and I never leave without an order of hot pot dumplings, rich with ground peanut and radish.

7. Yemen Cafe, 176 Atlantic Avenue, 718-834-9533
I'd go for the fassolia alone--a savory mash of white beans with onions and tomatoes bound together with scrambled eggs. Each plate comes with wonderfully puffy, charred Yemeni flatbread.

6. Metro Cafe, 4924 Eighth Avenue, 718-437-7980
I love this family-run, friendly Sichuan joint, with its oddball Japanese snacks (one of the owners used to work at a Japanese restaurant) and ultra-fresh dishes replete with garlic, ginger, chiles, and Sichuan peppercorns. Try bean curd and Chinese celery or braised fish fillet covered in a slick of chile oil and ground peppercorns.

Heading further into Sunset Park, coming right up....