Iris Cafe doesn't have an official brunch menu. The sandwiches and salads are available all day, but it's especially hopping inside the Brooklyn Heights nabe cafe during prime weekend brunching hours. Look on the framed chalkboard for the Smoked Bluefish Salad ($9.50). The glistening little pieces of fish from Acme Smokehouse in Greenpoint (it's their only local fish) are salty, smoky, and buttery atop a bed of lettuce leaves, hard-boiled egg slices, and roasted asparagus. More

"Whatever the fishermen catch and won’t eat, they’ll know to toss into my bucket." This weekend, I took a hiatus from crabbing on the south shore and headed instead to the beaches of Port Jefferson. It was a clear and... More