Lilia

Missy Robbins opened Lilia in 2016 inside a former auto-body shop on Union Avenue, and the room still wears the bones honestly: white brick, big industrial windows, a wood-fired grill working in the open. The pastas made her name — mafaldini with pink peppercorns, sheep's-milk-cheese agnolotti — and a decade on they are still the reason the reservation remains one of Brooklyn's hardest.

What keeps it from feeling like a trophy is the pace of the place. Service is warm rather than hushed, the grill sends out whole fish and charred vegetables between the noodles, and the corner location fills with low evening light. If the books are full, the attached Caffè hour is a gentler way in.