• Building on Bond

  112 Bond St., at Pacific St., Boerum Hill; 347-853-8687

  Having done the interiors for hot spots the Stanton Social and the Box, the principals of the design firm Hecho Inc. devoted themselves last summer to something a little more low-key. The result—a bar-café that links a former bodega and two other Boerum Hill storefronts—is the kind of casually chic gathering place that New Brooklynites, almost by definition, salivate over. Building on Bond isn’t just a gift to the brownstoners, however; it’s a prime pit stop for beers, coffee, or a Balthazar sticky bun just off Atlantic Avenue’s shopping district. It’s also a flat-out cool space, with artfully rusted metal file cabinets, salvaged fixtures, wood-slab tables, and a thick pipe hanging from the ceiling that’s been repurposed to accommodate beer taps.

From the 2009 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine