Champ's

Champ's is a vegan diner and bakery in Williamsburg (that has recently opened a smaller counter in Greenpoint).  They serve healthy vegan options like these chocolate chip pancakes:

Honestly, they were some of the best vegan pancakes I'd ever had.  Vegan pancakes are often dry, but these weren't -- perhaps the chocolate chips helped?  I mean, chocolate chips usually help.

Even the chocolate milkshake was good, even if one would not mistake it for the real thing:

Chocolatiest was the cheesecake brownie.  I usually oppose vegan cheesecake.  I usually oppose combining chocolate and cheesecake.  But apparently if you combine chocolate AND cheesecake AND vegan, you get something great!

Bottom Line: A rare example of a place with great food AND great dessert.  Anything at Champ's would make a nice meal even if you're not vegan, but it is truly special if you are.

Franklin Park bourbon milkshake

Franklin Park is everything a bar should be. They have pub trivia and a reading series. They have a lovely outdoor area. They have dancing and DJs on weekend nights. Most of all, they have bourbon milkshakes.



As you may recall from my foray into chocolate whiskey, I am intrigued by mixing chocolate and alcohol. Franklin Park's bourbon milkshake is the best way I've found to do this.

It definitely tastes bourbon-y, so if you don't like that, just get a non-alcoholic milkshake here (which they also make).

Pro tip: if you're putting bourbon in there, make sure to stir up your drink frequently. Otherwise all the bourbon will sink to the bottom and you will drink about nine ounces of plain chocolate shake, followed by about two ounces of brown-colored bourbon. If you mix it together, it will melt your ice cream, but will make for a pleasant chocolate-bourbon mixture throughout. I learned this the hard way.

BOTTOM LINE: A truly delightful drink for a summer day.