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This venue is closed.

After traversing the desolate starkness of industrial Red Hook, arriving at Lillie's feels like a triumph. This former longshoremen's bar is deep and inviting, with an undulating recessed ceiling, raised banquette seating and a mirror-backed bar where proprietress Lillie Haus often serves drinks herself. Despite ostensibly being an example of Red Hook's burgeoning gentrification, Lillie's has managed to avoid the too-cool-for-school fate that befell many a Williamsburg hipster bar. The vinyl seating is unapologetically cracked, and the grit and secondhand-ness of the wagon wheels, rusty pressed tin walls and mounted longhorns seem genuine. The joint really starts to fill up around 11pm, particularly when bands play. Smokers appreciate the garden out back, with its multi-level wooden deck, trees, ivy and tiki torches. Summer Sundays may be the most fun of all—from 8pm until at least 11pm, $5 buys all-you-can-eat barbecue. — Katie Claypoole