Brighton Beach – departure from the ordinary only a few train stops away…

Brighton beach-day trip to little Odessa

At the last stop of B train a different world awaits any New Yorker or a visitor who has a hankering for a bit of the unusual within the reach of the MTA

Brighton beach is a Brooklyn area by the shore, right next to the old Coney Island amusement park, the aquarium, and home to some of the best Russian and Ukrainian food you’ve tasted this side of Eastern europe.

Pick a nice, sunny day, warm enough to walk around for hours, take your camera and take the B train to the last stop- Brighton Beach avenue. Take a stroll down boardwalk to Coney Island, and if you are brave enough and are there during the season, take a ride on the cyclone. Cyclone is officially the scariest roller coaster I have ever been on- and it’s not scary in the usual PG rated Disney kind of way. It’s scary in the way that when you ride it you feel like it is about to fall apart at any second, and you will plummet to your immediate demise. Real scary, and totally worth it.
if the cyclone proposition has piqued your interest, you better hurry, as there is all kinds of controversy about coney island getting demolished, and bought over by Disney, and there are all kinds of coalitions fighting to preserve it as historical site. I hope history wins, and coney island remains for many years to come but as experience shows, good does not always win in real life.

While you are here, grab some cheese fries from Nathan’s and a soft serve ice cream or cotton candy on the boardwalk. My favorite thing to do is to take my unhealthy snack with, as i take a ride on a ferris wheel and take some silly pictures.

Next stop is aquarium. It is really just your run of the mill aquarium, but it fits nicely into the day’s itinerary, and is fun to visit once and view the various marinelife. As you walk back towards Brighton beach on the boardwalk, there is some fun mosaics and street wall art to look at.

Brighton beach itself runs under the train tracks, and if that doesn’t make it loud enough, the hustle and bustle of brighton’s inhabitants- about 90 percent immigrants from the  former USSR certainly will. Produce stores and fancy delicatessen delis line the street, and people look very busy shopping. There are all kinds of delicacies and delicious looking items everywhere. Russian and Ukrainians do love their food. Stop by International deli’s 2 floor food emporium and see for yourself. Buy some Russian sweets for the train ride home.

Gina’s cafe on Brighton 5th street serves some of the best  Russian fare the street has to offer. The decor here is cozy and homey, it’s warm and inviting It is also very inexpensive. I have known the owner, Gina For about 15years, during which time she has not aged a day. I am convinced she has somehow discovered some potent youth serum, and won’t share. But I digress
Vegetarian borscht and mushroom soup are a hit every time. Gina’s Salad -a version of a Caesar salad with smoked salmon and red caviar is yum, and my personal favorite main course is shrimp in white sauce served with buckwheat. I could eat at Gina’s every day.

Zhanna and I at Gina's cafe

Within the same price range is  GLechik, on coney island avenue (not to be confused with coney island park) right of Brighton beach. This place serves pretty authentic Ukrainian dishes, it is meat heavy, i recommend pelmeni- the meat dumplings, and vareniki with potatoes. my favorite desert here is penki- which literally translates as tree stumps, the name remains a mystery to me. But the delicious fluffy pastry with coffee cream and jam is such a treat, I  would eat it even if it was called “the witch’s wart”

Kebeer

Right on the corner of Brighton Beach and Coney Island avenue is a good beer bar- Kebeer, that has I believe about a 100 beers, lots on tap, and the food is pretty good.

Tatyana’s on the boardwalk is a much more upscale and pretty overpriced establishment, as popular with brighton’s day visitors, as it is with locals. It is lovely to sit here on a sunny day and look at the water. I guess think of the overpriced menu as paying the premium for the view I allow myself to come here only once in a while, if I am planning a particularly long lunch with friends, and it is particularly beautiful out. They try to upsell you so hard, it gets to be a bit comical, so that’s a little extra entertainment

All in all, I think Brighton Beach is very much a worthy day trip for a jaded New Yorker- some nostalgic elements, some pretty views, some culturally diverse food- all make for a nice day.

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