Sama Street

Avi Singh and Rishi Rajpal, who are Indian and Indian Chinese, respectively, opened Greenpoint bar Sama Street in 2019, which serves Asian-inspired cocktails and food. Singh and Rajpal are childhood friends and spent the majority of their lives living in and traveling through Asia. “We wanted to highlight the foods and beverages we grew up on, and share these memories with the rest of Brooklyn and New York by shining a light on Asian culture and ingredients through cocktails and food,” said Singh.

Sama Street features an extensive cocktail list with names like “Lucy Liu” and “Bollywood Superstar,” which use ingredients typically found in Chinese and Indian dishes such as chili oil (used as a tequila wash) and garam masala. For pre or post-dinner drinks, I recommend pairing drinks with some snacks and lamb skewers. Ideally, I’d come to Sama Street a little more hungry than that because the pork ribs and steak should truly not be missed. The ribs are super tender and doused in a chili BBQ sauce, and the steak is cooked to a perfect medium-rare, topped with a sesame chimmi sauce, and comes with fries and a side of fish sauce mayo - which is the only way I will be having mayo from now on.