River Deli

Yep, it's by the water, but nope it's not a deli ("River Deli" was the name of a long-gone occupant). Instead, it's a Sardinian restaurant by a team of hubby-and-wife expats from Cagliari, who bring their Italian island's seafood-centric, Mediterranean-inflected dishes to Brooklyn Heights. Which means traditional malloreddus pasta with tomato sauce and sausage; grilled branzino (split open, butterfly-style); and mussels in white wine sauce, prepared here in a vermentino wine that's indigenous to the owners' homeland. (Co-owner Giovanna Fadda says they plan to eventually add specials like fregola pasta.) It's as close as Brooklyn will probably get to Sardinia. But if you kick back several of River Deli's Puglian wines, walk to the East River and squint just so, you can try to convince your drunken self that you're by the Mediterranean Sea.

See more: Brooklyn Heights restaurants