Kenny’s Trattoria: Quality Italian on the Cheap
Talk about a hidden gem. Kenny’s Trattoria in Williamsburg not only has some brick oven pizza that rivals Motorino’s, but Italian apps and main courses that are tastier than Bamonte’s. Yeah, I said it. I mean, ambiance-wise, it’s a completely different experience than either of those places– it’s not ultra modern packed with tons of people with crazy wait times, nor is it exactly old school and populated with neighborhood characters. Rather, it’s an unassuming, small-ish place that doesn’t get very crowded, but nonetheless has an outdoor front patio, and is actually steps away from Bamonte’s, though more directly down Havermeyer from Best Pizza, Pinkerton, and that one Creperie I can never remember the name of. Their food can actually be adequately described as a cross between old school Bamonte’s style main dishes and Motorino style pizzas, that in my opinion, are the true standout.
This place is absolutely perfect for the following situations:
1) Everything’s crowded and you want to kill everyone
2) Everything’s crowded and you’re running out of ideas for accommodating a family member who expresses repressed racism through a strong dislike of Asian cuisine.
3) You’re running low on cash and you don’t feel like setting for a standard slice of pizza or some gross bucket of chicken
4) You just want to eat somewhere chill and quiet where you can actually hear the other person talking
5) When you don’t feel like even trying to deal with the standard bullshit of other restaurants and want to east something awesome and reasonably priced— aka pretty much any day of the week, if you’re me.
6) You want delivery, but don’t want low-quality crap
Their wine is even reasonably priced, and they have a decent selection. Also, I highly recommend getting an appetizer, especially if you’re a vegetarian– they have some pretty creative and great-tasting stuff, which, honestly, I was not expecting to encounter here at first. My only complaint is that I wish they were open for brunch on the weekends. Other things you need to know: they hand-make their pasta, they have a special ravioli of the day, and Kenny (the owner) used to own Brick Oven Gallery.
Kenny’s Trattoria
7 Withers Street (between N9th & Union)
Brooklyn, NY 11211 [Williamsburg]
Photo courtesy of BobGuskind.com.
