F to Church Ave

Photographs: Michelle Cortez; (Greenwood Cemetery) Deniz Ozuygur

On a recent Sunday afternoon, at the intersection of Church and McDonald Avenues in Kensington, Brooklyn, freckled Hasidic kids are hawking ice-cold cans of Dr Pepper from a blue plastic cooler. We buy one and count the polka-dot hijab, white taqiyah, black burkas and navy blue yarmulkes passing us by. The Islamic call to prayer rings out from speakers mounted outside Bangladeshi stores: “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar!” Most of the crowded street bows toward Mecca.

A number of ethnicities—including Muslim South Asians, Hasidim, Central Americans and Albanians—live in Kensington. It’s a neighborhood as culturally diverse as its architecture, where sleek Art-Deco buildings with frosted-glass windows glimmer among the red-brick row houses and wood-frame Victorians. We bump into Mark Tuchman, who wears square-rimmed eyeglasses and works in magazine publishing. He bought an apartment in Kensington with his wife six years ago. “We miss the convenience of Carroll Gardens,” he says. “But Kensington has its charm, and there is potential for it to turn into something special.”

Behind the counter at the Kalmilata Grocery and Fish Market (81 Church Ave at Dahill Rd, 718-431-2970) stands Mahmudan Nabi Arif. He shows off a stainless-steel-and-glass display case filled with heaping trays of fresh vegetables and herbs: bitter melon, okra, cilantro and squash. Arif gives us the lay of the land: “Mostly we have people here—Indian, Bengal, Chinese cultures.” He recommends we head across the street to Zaffran (90 Church Ave between Dahill Rd and McDonald Ave, 917-627-8748) for his native South Asian cuisine. Before we leave, Arif teaches us a bit of Bengali for our mission: “Kamon acho.” It means “How are you?”

Zaffran is still new enough to be marked with a makeshift paper sign, but inside, the joint is packed with Bengali men seated at picnic tables. Dressed in white robes and taqiyah, they sip tea and snack on samosas and roti. Despite a menu in both Bengali and English, the latter isn’t the primary language here, so we point to what we want from a steam table and smile. A little more than ten bucks yields enough roasted chicken, steamed vegetables and nan to feed two.

Back outside, we meet wandering Greenpointers Mike Quinn and Melissa Levin, on a mission to check out an open party at Studios at 3611 (3611 14th Ave at 36th St, 646-831-6163). Jennifer Viola and her husband, Felix Esquivel, opened the space last July. “We’re on the border of some vastly different neighborhoods,” says Viola, who loves Kensington for its “pretty trees and raccoons.”

Just past the heart of the Bengali strip is Denny’s Steak House (106 Beverly Rd between Church and McDonald Aves, 718-435-2156), the last original bastion of Church Avenue’s ’50s bar scene. We watch regulars shoot pool and throw darts to the thumping beats of a Notorious B.I.G. song. Bartender “Eric the Painter” is a burly dude with a shaved head and a Celtic friendship ring on his finger. When we ask why Denny’s doesn’t actually serve any steak, he shrugs: “The owner couldn’t get the sign down.” Denny’s may not have porterhouse—or a menu—but it does have a two-for-one happy hour every day from 5 to 7pm, and a free hot lunch seven days a week, starting at 1pm and ending when the food runs out.

After Eric has poured us a large Jameson, we press on to Green-Wood Cemetery (500 25th St at Fifth Ave; 718-768-7300, green-wood.com; 8am–5pm). On May 16 and 17 ($10–$25), the burial place will host “Green-Wood Awakening: Giant Puppets Tell All!,” during which people dressed as animal puppets will usher in the arrival of spring. But tonight, it’s after hours, and the cast-iron gates are closed. We peer over them and squint at the shapes of ornate mausoleums and funerary statues, scattered across the rolling hills, before heading back to Kensington’s Bengali hub—it’s only a few blocks, though it feels like a world away.

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