Prospect Heights resident and Brooklyn Flea co-founder Eric Demby gives us an easy, no-frills, chill idea for a perfect Fathers' Day Sunday in Brooklyn. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Flea.
By Eric Demby for Fathom | I have a 2-year-old, so I'm up early, which means coffee before 8 a.m. Every week or so I buy fresh-ground Stumptown from Sit and Wonder, a very sweet cafe near my apartment. This makes me happy — even at 7 a.m. on a Sunday.
On our way to staple Underhill Playground around the corner, we either pick up bagels at the Lebanese-run Olde Brooklyn Bagel Shoppe, which features a hard-boiled egg with zaatar-sesame-feta mix on a sesame bagel that I somehow love. Or we take the kid for crepes and pancakes at Le Gamin.
Around 10 or 11 in the morning, we head over to the Brooklyn Flea (which I co-founded) in Williamsburg to bump into friends, shop and snack on Pizza Moto, Asia Dog, pupusas and, of course, a People's Pop for the kid. She likes to play on the wooden "choo-choo train" north of the market. Mom and dad prefer to sit on the grass south of the market and catch the breeze off the water. We'll buy rosemary-plum tarts from the Momofuku Milk Bar + Friends stand for dinner that night and stroll over to Bird on Grand Street to try on fancy clothes. We'll drive past Marlow & Daughters on Broadway to buy meat, veggies, cheese and whatever sausage they made that week to grill at home for dinner.
In the afternoon, we either hit another playground (usually P.S. 282 in Park Slope, which has excellent slide diversity) or meet friends at the Prospect Park Zoo, which is very manageable and cute. In summer, we go to the family-friendly dance party Mister Sunday that's outdoors in Industry City and features great food, beer, a giant sandbox (bocce ball game optional) and the best DJs on the planet. After that, if she's a good girl, we'll get ice cream at our fave — Blue Marble on Underhill Avenue — only if the new and also excellent Ample Hills Creamery literally across the street from home doesn't lure us first.
Sundays are family night at our apartment with my brother, my sister-in-law and whatever grandparents are around that week. As soon as the temperature goes above freezing, I start grilling on our terrace. It's the easiest way to cook for six-plus people. Everyone brings a bottle of wine from Fermented Grapes, where the owner knows what we like (seriously).
But if mom and dad are too wiped after a long day, we'll eat out early with the kid, preferably at Franny's, my favorite restaurant anywhere. Interesting salads, insane pizzas and pastas, chocolate sorbetto from God, always a good Lambrusco.
I like watching the Red Sox at night, reading novels and/or the Week in Review with the wife in bed and digesting all that yummy food.
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Read more on Fathom: See our full Brooklyn guide, 10 Best New Boutiques in the 'Hood, Big Night in Dumbo
Eric is a co-founder of Brooklyn Flea and proud Prospect Heights resident.