For Your Next Weekend Trip to Brooklyn

Confession: we'd never been to Brooklyn before December 2013 (except when Bradd ran through the borough during the NYC marathon). Some say Brooklyn is now the "hottest" place to be with endless great food and shops. Others say it's "so last year" and all the cool kids have already moved on to other [cheaper] boroughs. Well, all we know is that we had a great little weekend getaway - and ate tons of great food - so if you are looking for a foodie excursion, consider Brooklyn.

Here are a few reasons why:

Skirt steak and basil spaghetti from Chimu, a Peruvian restaurant in Williamsburg. We wandered in at 5:15pm on a Saturday to an already-half-full restaurant and were wow'd with every bite. Chimu's ceviche mixto appetizer is an absolute must-order. It's an enormous blend of mussels, shrimp, crab and white fish cooked ever so delicately in lime and cilantro.

After the ceviche, the skirt steak must be the most popular dish at Chimu, as all three people at the table next to us ordered it. The meaty cut of tender, simply yet perfectly seasoned steak is served over a heap of green spaghetti - so much that I made an entire dinner the next night out of my leftover pasta and some fresh shrimp. Basil sauce coats the spaghetti without drowning it and tasted just as good the next day. This dish is fantastic on its own, but you can kick it up another notch by asking for a side of chimichurri.

Peruvian basil spaghetti and skirt steak at Chimu