Corto and the Beauty of a Complete Neighborhood

This kind of coffee shop does not exist in Orlando. But it should.

I stayed in Brooklyn for four days before meeting up with my family in Manhattan for a week so I can finally spend extended time in a borough that isn’t quite inundated with tourists. And I admittingly stayed at an AirBnB (which I will always defend the concept in practice, while also admitting that the company has taken its good idea and allowed it to wreck entire cities) in order to be closer to actual local Brooklyn, not a touristy side of Brooklyn that isn’t as visited by the actual people living in the area.

The Bed-Stuy area of Brooklyn is situated between Williamsburg and the Prospect Park area and it just might be one of my favorite neighborhoods in all of America. Its beautiful, clean, quaint, charming, easy to navigate, has good proximity to plenty of green space, and best of all it has clusters of restaurants, bars, and smaller markets to visit while passing through the neighborhood. It is the exact opposite of what you see within most of Central Florida, with Bed-Stuy having almost everything you need within walking/biking distance.

And found among the beautiful houses, and tightknit streets, the personality-filled markets is easily one of the best coffee shops in existence.

Corto is just spectacular.

The pastries (special shoutout to their Nutella cookie, oh myyyyyy), the coffee, the chill vibes, the nice outdoor patio seating, the focaccia sandwiches, everything. It almost seemed like I was destined to find this place because it wasn’t originally on my list of restaurants to visit, but this place actually is featured in a book I had purchased a year ago about good coffee shops around the country (The Third Place). I ended up coming here four times within four days because I couldn’t get enough. The fourth time however was a hilarious story that likely happens often only in New York City.

I had planned on visiting this coffee shop/bar hybrid in northern Brooklyn, north of Williamsburg. I’m not going to name the place because I don’t want to shame a local business, despite the disappointments I’m about to mention.

I had researched that the place closed at 1 a.m., so I decided to stop by to get a drink and relax. Turns out they were closing the place three hours earlier than posted because of slow traffic by order of the unseen manager. What made it interesting was that on my way there via bus that was delayed 40 minutes was the sheer amount of people roaming around the streets and playing sports in the parks, and enjoying the ambiance despite it being closer to 9:00 on a Tuesday. Downtown Orlando is notoriously trying to kill foot traffic after 8 as a way to appeal to upper class families wanting to transform Downtown into a plethora of expensive apartments and restaurants. Either way, the place was closing at 10:00, not 1:00. I was already a 35 minute bus ride from home, so I decided to surrender and make my way back “home.”

But to my surprise while just a block away from the AirBnB, I notice Corto wasn’t closed on the late afternoon like normal, they actually have an after-hours feature which transforms the venue into a late-night bar. They offer coffee, cocktails, a few appetizers, and a place to relax within the neighborhood if you aren’t ready to go home yet. It was a delightful surprise, and a tasty surprise at that. The concept of Coffee By Day, Cocktails By Night is one I’d love to see more of, especially in Central Florida where there is an influx of coffee shops---but they tend to close early.

Corto being a top-notch coffee shop within a beautiful mixed-use neighborhood that’s easy to access and navigate is one of those shining examples of why people tend to love New York City even with its craziness and edgy hostility. If you’re trying to escape the city pressure, you can take a couple buses here, have a nice coffee, relax, and enjoy what else Brooklyn has to offer. I wish Florida would be more open to the concept of mixed-use where the establishments can blend and mesh within the neighborhoods, as opposed to always being in separate plazas or forced to remain far from any sort of housing.

Honestly the proximity with the delightful people among all the housing probably makes that coffee taste that much better, the local flavor of a great neighborhood is impossible to beat.

Corto

262 Halsey St, Brooklyn, NY 11216