Profile

Seeing as it's nestled below the boardwalk at the end of Coney Island’s Stillwell Avenue, one could easily pass by this enclosed sandbox without ever realizing that at least a hundred picnic tables pinned to the deep sand by beach umbrellas guarantee all the privacy, attention, sun, or shade a grown-up body can stand. Whether PBRs or Coney Island Lagers are more your style, the beer menu, with four-dozen ice-cold options, has you covered against the afternoon heat. Rounding out the archipelago are the adjacent Bar-B-Que and Chicken Islands, where Kansas meets New York via slow-cooked platters of heaven. Beer Island’s delicacies threaten to ennoble the palate of a neighborhood more accustomed to fried dough and jumbo daiquiris, but it’s still a fundamentally Coney Island experience: You’ll find portable toilets to the rear, just past the inflatable palm trees. — Tom Blunt