Just over the BQE in what’s going by the Columbia Waterfront District resides Popina from James O’Brien, with a menu of pastas, vegetables, and seafood at neighborhood-friendly prices. Don’t miss the recently expanded back patio, now with a bocce court.

Swoony’s is an American restaurant from the same owner as Cafe Spaghetti: The specialty here: gut-busting grill grub, like creamed spinach, clams casino, short rib au povire, and a double cheeseburger with Thousand Island dressing on an English muffin-style bun. Like the food, the restaurant has an old-fashioned feel; it’s located in a three-story house that was built in 1931.

Cafe Spaghetti is a newish Italian restaurant in a neighborhood full of old-school standbys. The restaurant is known for its pasta, but there are other ways to eat here, with dishes like meatballs, baked clams, eggplant Parmesan, and chicken Milanese. Some dishes diverge from staples to reflect the modern age: “breakfast spaghetti” with bacon, and at brunch, ricotta pancakes with orange-blossom honey. Don’t miss the backyard garden.

For whatever reason — The Bear? — restaurants selling foods from Chicago have multiplied in recent years. Bobbi’s, a small restaurant with a retro vibe, specializes in wet, gravy-soaked Italian beef sandwiches served with sweet peppers or hot pickled vegetables. The large menu has all sorts of other dishes, too, like Italian sausages, Chicago-style hot dogs, and personal pan pizzas.

Untable opened last fall alums of Thai restaurants, Somtum Der and Ugly Baby. The tagline is “unconventional Thai food” and it largely keeps to the promise with dishes like a super hot “what the hell” fried rice. Check out the specials and Instagram as far as what to order from its often changing menu. The restaurant has recently attracted attention from Michelin.

Gus’s started as an approachable neighborhood steakhouse serving dishes that can border on enthralling, including hash browns with trout roe and chicken a la plancha; it has since transitioned to a menu that includes pasta; Monday through Thursday, the restaurant is running a deal at $56 per person — an appetizer, main, and dessert, served family-style.

Lucali starts taking names for dinner at 5 p.m., but fifteen minutes earlier, there’s usually a line down the block. Then there are the rules: It’s cash only. You have a time limit on your table. It’s B.Y.O. wine, but only one bottle is allowed. New Yorkers put up with this because pizza at Lucali is quite special. The dough is thin and chewy, with blistered spots around the perimeter. The only other item on the menu is a calzone: You’ll want to order it.

This very good seafood restaurant, inspired by the lobster pounds of Maine, serves all sorts of oceangoing creatures, running from simple fish and chips, Brooklyn steamers, and raw oysters to more ambitious fare. The outdoor seating area is a perfect place to hang on long summer evenings, and it gives a real feel for the laid-back nature of the neighborhood.

When Ugly Baby opened in 2017, it became one of the best places to eat Thai food in all of New York City. The menu changes constantly, but some things have stayed the same: You can count on the food being incredibly spicy, for example, and an unnaturally good list of craft beers to wash it down.

Here’s the restaurant from olive oil tycoons (along with pasta and other items) known as the Franks — chefs Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo. The longtime neighborhood restaurant is the kind of place to hang and graze: Start with some olives, a little plate of tuna and roasted pepper, an escarole and walnuts salad, and maybe a share plate of Sicilian-style meatballs. Don’t miss the next-door slice shop, F&F, and their wine bar, Frank’s, with a knockout wine list.

This small restaurant way down south in Carroll Gardens, near the Smith and Ninth Street stop on the F, specializes in the food of Italy’s Le Marche, where sandwiches are made on larded flatbreads called crescia. These are delicious sandwiches, akin to the piadini of northern Italy, and imbued with the taste of a smoky oven. Arancini, potatoes, fritters, and pastas from the region are also available.