Boneshakers

Bummed that they left my immediate vicinity — there’s something immensely satisfying about having decent coffee and a kickass vegan sandwich within spitting distance of your house.
And now I have to go out of my way for these sandwiches. Gah! Which I will likely not, because I find the service here maddening to the point that I’ve strongly considered climbing behind the counter and just making the food myself. It’s been 25 minutes and I’m pretty sure you’re just having a conversation with each other about some show you both went to, and there are 2 of you and I’m the only customer here, and I ONLY ORDERED ONE SANDWICH, and I know you’re not, uh, slaughtering some mythical vegan pig in the back to make the aforementioned sandwich, so COME ON.
That said, it’s a fucking awesome sandwich. BUT COME ON!

Love to come here and hang out. Been coming for years now, and I love that nothing really has changed. NO DECAF and delicious everything. I suggest the Sag breakfast sandwich, the Merks Werks sandwich and any of their amazing drinks. The brunch is awesome as well, but it fills up pretty quickly.
My favorite time to go is during a weekday when it’s quiet and warm. There is one cook that is on the slow side of things, but when she produces your food finally, its perfect.

Love to come study here. I love the vibe of this place. Love the random mix of music.
Plenty of open outlets and free wifi (although very unreliable).
The coffee is only $ 1 to stay! Wow! Not great coffee but it works. The cappuccino is OK and varies depending on who makes it.
The food is really great BUT they HAVE to get better breads! With all of the incredible ingredients that go into their sandwiches I’m shocked they would put it on a cheap deli roll. My favorite sandwich is the Magnus which comes on rosemary bread, I finally tried it on their whole grain bread and what a difference! YUM!

I had brunch here and had a SAG. I suppose that’s some sort of code for «scrambled tofu awesomeness and fake meat on bread» cause that’s what ended up in my plate and soon in my belly. I also had it with a slice of soy cheese. Get this for $ 4.5, and you’ll have the energy to do skid stops down Kingsland Ave.
This jam also sells Gimmie Coffee! brand coffee which can fuel you for hours. They also have a beautiful stack of pancakes for Sunday brunch, which, like a stack of His Hero is Gone records, bring forth sweet, euphoric delight.
Also, the staff here are SUPER friendly and patient. I’ve never had a bad experience at Boneshakers and highly recommend you go there and eat the living f*ck out of their food.

I love places that fill me with nostalgia. For my fellow Syracusans out there, Boneshakers brought me right on back to Zopie’s, circa 1994, complete with a dude in a Straight Edge hoodie. I seriously expected the members of Earth Crisis to walk in any minute and start f*cking shit up.
Of course, it’s the Brooklyn version, so it’s a little smaller and a little hipper, but for those of you who don’t yearn for the days when you’d leave Zopie’s and head over to the Lost Horizon on Erie Blvd. to go see Snapcase play, Boneshakers is still worth a visit.
Because you know what? The food is actually good! And not just «good for vegan» but «good for sandwich!» I liked my juicy, flavorful vegan Cubano so much that I’d likely choose it over the meaty version if there were one on the menu.
So walk street by street, block by block, over to Boneshakers and get yourself some vegan lunch today.

Another update–
Boneshakers has come a long way. The staff is super friendly now and always brings the sandwiches out instead of yelling at you to come and snag it, even when they’re busy. My only complaint is that my cookie is always a little hard-​but I can head down to Champs and pick up a super fresh one no problem. Ahhh. Delicious Samwiches. Sigh.

What they said: Boneshakers serves simple sandwiches you could make at home, but you’re glad to have someone make them for you. I don’t think I would have thought of the «Kevin Bacon:» vegan bacon, vegan cream cheese, and sprouts on a ciabatta roll, pressed in a panini. And their cubano is the best I’ve had anywhere – including the real cubanos I used to eat made with pernil (pork.) And their fries! Herbed chunks of potatoes with the skin on – like steak fries should be, but without the steak.
It’s a laid-​back atmosphere, and they don’t (as of yet) have restrictions on computer use at the tables. I must say, I trekked at least a mile out of my way, phoning periodically to make sure I was on the right track, before I realized an easier route. And it’s kind of sad that the biggest landmark nearby is a McDonald’s, but at least that’s how you know you’ve struck gold. Don’t go to the McDonald’s; Boneshakers is the real deal.
And when I left, I got an awesome, amazing cookie to go. I’ll be back.
[Wow, Boneshakers is moving in with Champs? Who knew?
I hope this means they’ll open a public restroom so we aren’t forced to use the Second Stop Café’s bathroom on Lorimer and Ainslie.]

Amazing.
Since I don’t really fit into any scene anymore, whether that be hardcore, biker, activists, what have you… it was nice to go to a place where everyone didn’t seem uppity and pretentious. It seems like nowadays everyone is worried about being «famous» and the folks at Boneshakers just seems to be rad folks.

The food they make is amazing. They offer a great deal of vegan sandwiches and most you could make at home, but it’s nice to have someone make it for you. If you go get the fries… they are incredible.
We’ll definitely be back everyday when we visit NYC again.

I love this place and it’s only a 15 minute walk, very worth it.
The «Kevin Bacon» was incredibly flavorful.
There was nothing pretentious about the staff, so I’m not sure if the people saying that are already walking in with a chip on their shoulder?
A quiet place during normal lunch hours. I had lunch with a friend and it was nice to relax and hang out with our goods.
Drinks ‘to stay’ are served in glass jars, always a favorite of mine. The chai was good — but $ 3 for a small jar I was a little bummed.
The iced coffee was delicious. Strong and smooth, can’t wait to try the vegan brunch specials.

This place is pretty cool. I am a full meat-​eater, so I probably wouldn’t tell my fellow meat-​eaters to go out of their way to go here, but I think it is awesome for any vegans or other healthy eaters.
I had a Kevin Bacon, which was delicious! I’m not sure I have had fake bacon before. They also have a great selection of organic fizzy drinks.
The only cons are 1.) the price: a tad expensive to make it a regular lunch place and 2.) the quiet: I guess it’s a good place to go if you need to get work done, but when I went in there with a couple people, we felt really awkward since everyone was silent and there alone.

Awesome sandwiches!
Casual/​Artsy little café with vegan dishes (great portion size), fast and friendly service. My favorite is the Tofurky club! Good music, chill atmosphere. Great for lunch!

Dear Coffee girls —
I am a local male living in Greenpoint, I used to go to Greenpoint Coffee house which I liked alot– good music, wifi, and service– but then it closed… in the preceding months I watched Kundun alot and decided it was up to me to find the next manifestation…
I usually dress slightly more mainstream than the others at most places– but I liked Boneshakers because of its proximity to real warehouses and Asian Fruit distribution facilities that allowed for my arrival to be taken in stride.
I do like the $ 1 coffee to stay, but how many times do I have to come here to get the slightly larger cup??? I know it exists, i saw you give it to Ezekiel when he walks in–
And also, I tip every time at least 1 or 2 bucks or even 3 or 4 if I stay and use wifi without buying a bagel– a thank you wouldn’t kill you girls back there– I mean I do the «wait on purpose so you can see that I’m stuffing more than 1 dollar into the jar» exercise and still no acknowledgment [A trend at many establishments] (Greenpoint Café people always said thank you).
I know I buck the trend and actually do boring work while I’m here instead of commiserate over a blank g clef or MS word doc– but the music here is as close to the old Greenpoint and you play half albums sometimes…
BONUS POINTS– at one time the wifi password was pizza

(Thoughts going through my head last week at Boneshakers.)
Nice little café. Are they going to bump techno all day? It’s 70 degrees outside; why is everyone wearing a wool cap? Flannel, too? And I’m over here sweating in a t-​shirt. I’m gross.
I guess I should order something so I’m not freeloading on the wi/​fi. Uh oh… this place is vegan. Those cookies look good. The counter girl is so nice and cute, but she can tell I’m a meat-​eater, I know it. She’s giving me the stinkeye. Should I order some seitan to throw her off the scent? I can’t do it; it goes against my cruelty-​only lifestyle. Green tea it is. $ 1.25? Not bad at all.
Where can I sit? There. Huh; that woman’s coffee mug says «Over the hill and off the pill.» I wonder if she brought that with her. Maybe they have a whole host of descriptive coffee cups behind the counter. It would be weird if I got that one. Boobs. Mine might read: «Not close enough to retirement and a strong proponent of (and argument for) birth control.» I suppose it doesn’t have the same rhyming appeal.
Oh, of course I picked the one seat that isn’t near an outlet. Tea’s actually not bad. That guy’s sandwich actually looks amazing. Maybe vegans are on to something. Wait, why is that girl laughing hysterically? Has she seen me naked?

I was a huge fan of their breakfast. HUGE. It’s not too heavy, plenty of options, and coffee’s a dollar! I’ve only had the tofu scramble but I tasted the tofu and sham sandwich and it was delightful.
So now I finally had their Reuben sandwich… and I’m still having phantom taste-​bud stimulation. Easily the BEST mock-​Reuben I’ve ever had. The sauerkraut was superb. It was a little «buttery» since the bread is toasted (i’m pretty sure they wouldn’t use real butter) but I think that just added to the flavor… it wasn’t too, too much.
We also had The Magnus which was also awesome (spicy aioli sauce rules). The roll they used must have come from a local bakery because the bread alone was delicious.
Now these sandwiches are 8 or 9 bucks which is a lil’ pricey considering they don’t even come with a pickle or something… but they are so fresh ad well made and delicious and make you want to eat them everyday. They are so much better than any other vegetarian option in the neighborhood. Plus they deliver to basically anywhere in Wburg or Gpoint.
Sometimes it’s hard to wrangle a table since there is always someone sitting, alone, on a laptop or a group of 12 friends that have been done eating for an hour but just haven’t moved… so it’s annoying but also a sign that this is a place to hang out and be comfortable. Also, as other mentioned, there is a scene as almost every establishment has some sort of scene… but I wouldn’t say that its pretentious or annoying or rude. I dunno, it’s people who like this food. And bikes. =)

Since moving here I’ve been looking for a wheelchair friendly coffee shop. I’m quite happy to have found one right around the corner from my apt. (Note… wheelchair accessible entrance is on the side. Front door has a 3 inch step).
I am always skeptical of vegan fare, but I have to say this place is starting to convert me to the idea of baking sans dairy. I’ve had both a croissant sandwich and scone… both were phenomenal. I was particularly impressed with the scone, which was not your typical rock hard sahara desert style scone.
My coffee could have been a tad bit stronger, but maybe it was just an off batch… but for 1.00 i’m not really complaining.
Inside is comfortable with a decent variety of tables from single to group options. Free internet is also a plus.
As far as attitude, my first experience was pleasant. The barista was very nice and we even had a brief conversation on CPR techniques and the modern re-​working. So, I’m not sure where the elitist reviews come from.
Of course… maybe this just means I’m an elitist and just fit in better with my own kind.
Either way… I’ve found a new daily hang out.

Same old pretentious hipster scene.
If you’re a super sweet hipster and do crosswords while your friends work so you can get free coffee, by gosh! Go here and be super elitist yay! :D
Otherwise, normal human beings: beware of social glare. I’m sure there are better vegan treats and cheaper coffee elsewhere …

First off, I’m a cyclist so I LOVE the bike theme at Boneshakers, but more than that, I love that their menu is so interesting, especially the little touches they add to sandwiches like chipotle mayo and olive tapenade. Definitely more interesting than just slathering on plain Veganaise (although I do love me some Veganaise).
I am a big fan of both sauerkraut and cole slaw so I was pretty excited to find both items on the «Polish National Team» vegan sausage. I really enjoyed both the kraut and the slaw, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the sausage texture. It tasted like Field Roast, which I think most people really love, but I have never liked the texture of their sausages. That said, I dined with a meat eater who tried my dish and he really liked it. I aslo tried the Merckx Werks, which has Tofurky, sham, olive tapenade, among other items, and I really enjoyed it and liked it more than the Polish National Team, mostly because of texture.
We also tried the vegan hot chocolate, which came with marshmallows, and it was really good. At first, they told us they didn’t have time to make it because they were so busy (apparently they make the syrup from scratch and it takes 15 minutes), but then they said they could. It seems like it only took them 5 minutes to make it and it was really good, but it didn’t taste any different than any other hot chocolate I’ve ever had so I’m exactly sure what their homemade process involves.
Finally, I really liked that they had a screen showing the name of each song and its artist that was playing because I’m often in restaurants/​clubs/​bars/​etc. and a song comes on that I love but I have no idea who the artist is. Way to go, Boneshakers! :)

I went to Boneshakers after typing ‘cupcakes’ into Unilocal before my trip to NYC and looking around my friend’s neighbourhood for hits. This is the first place that popped up and that picture of vegan, no less, cupcakes looks amazing. After a night of heavy drinking I meandered over there and found it substantially full for a Friday afternoon.
I ordered the ‘Kevin Bacon’ sandwich and had an iced tea after disappointingly learning that they had no shakes, smoothies or detox teas. I usually wouldn’t make this request at any place but on that day I was particularly poisoned and could have benefited from it.
The iced tea was alright and served it’s re-​hydration and cooling purposes. The sandwich oozed with tofutti cream cheese, sprouts and crispy faux bacon. It was messy and delicious. My only complaint would be that they use those cheap thin bleached white napkins that really can’t handled the damage of the ‘Kevin Bacon’. If they switched to the thicker brown recycled ones I could have saved a lot of trees.
I also noticed that my friend’s sandwich was delivered to him at the table and I had to pick mine up at the counter. So be prepared for varied service and to share your table with reserved cool kids otherwise known as hipsters and their laptops.
There were no cupcakes that day so I can’t conscientiously give out full points.

During our NYC trip, we went out of our way to go to Boneshakers in Brooklyn one evening. The cabs in total cost us $ 40.00, so you can see that I really wanted to try this place. When my bf and I arrived at the restaurant we walked in and were not acknowledged by the waitress. She was busy having a conversation with three men for a long period of time, if we didn’t spend all that money on a cab we would have walked out and gone elsewhere. I understand if they may have been regulars, however, there is no excuse to ignore and allow other customers to wait for the employees to finish personal conversations… awkward.
I got the Merckx Werkx sandwich and thought it was decent, but they put on too much olive tapenade. It was spread thickly on both sides and was just overkill; after I scrapped a bunch off it was much better. My bf’s sandwich was really good and I felt the salads were really good as well. I didn’t mind the décor of the place and understand they’ll add more to it in time; hopefully their customer service improves as well.

This place freakin rules.
The merckx werkx was sooo good. The bread was perfect.
BF had the polish national team and loved it.
The cookies were really good as well as the coffee. I have a feeling this will be a new spot for us when the weather gets warmer. It’s short biking distance from queens.