With the sky clearing up and the city cleared out, there’s plenty of room for your outdoor spread. All you need is the blanket. We’ve supplied the (suggested) food, drink and spots.

The Community Garden Picnic
Sweet Spot: 6/15 Green Community Garden, on 6th Ave. between 15th and 16th Sts. in the South Slope. This lush patch’s tables and chairs are open to the public Saturday mornings and Thursday and Sunday evenings (though, sadly, the on-site grill is for members only). If you’re bringing six or more, check beforehand to ensure your gathering doesn’t clash with another’s. (For contact info and hours visit>>)

Perfect Meal: Fresh mozzarella balls marinated with sun-dried tomatoes, handmade bread, olives, and a pasta salad from Eagle Provisions, a small Polish grocery store on 5th Ave. and 18th St. that’s been serving the South Slope since the Thirties.

Picnic Cooler: Ommegang Witte, a Belgian-style white ale brewed in Cooperstown, NY, also at Eagle Provisions. The brewery itself recommends this coriander-spiced beer for summer picnics, and we couldn’t agree more.

Picnic Between the Bridges
Sweet Spot: Enter Dumbo’s Brooklyn Bridge Park on Plymouth St. (at Washington or Main). Walk the loop of the pathway and spread your blanket on the grassy high ground. If you’re not up for a blanket picnic, try the benches facing the Brooklyn Bridge, or the steps leading down to the rocky beach.

Perfect Meal: Stop by Foragers Market on Front and Adams and just try not to go overboard. Of their consistently delicious prepared foods, opt for a pasta salad (like penne with kale, chick peas, proscuitto, and fresh ricotta, perfectly complemented by fresh grape tomatoes from the salad bar). Grab one of the fresh Eli’s baguettes, some artichoke Parmesan tapenade, and Jules Destrooper Belgian almond thins for the Bucheron goat cheese. Buy watermelon or spread American Spoon rhubarb marmalade on your bread for dessert, or if you’re up for something decadent, go to Jacques Torres (66 Water St.) for one of their over-the-top ice cream sandwiches. (Note: lazy picnickers can get classic pressed sandwiches and a grilled vegetable salad from Dumbo General Store, 111 Front, to go.)

Picnic Cooler: At Blanc & Rouge (81 Washington St.) try the $9, citrusy, light and crisp Terra Andina Sauvignon Blanc from Chile, or, the refreshing Karl Schmitt rose ($13). Also, Foragers has exciting sparkling beverages, like a pomegranate presse, or for the more daring, a Cricket green tea cola.

The Stuff-Yourself-Silly Picnic
Sweet Spot: Enter Owl’s Head Park in Bay Ridge from the southwest corner and walk parallel to 68th St., past the restroom and people barbecuing. Head for the slope in front of you. About midway up the hill, chose a tree to sit under, and a view of the harbor you like best.

Perfect Meal: On Saturday’s only, any good picnic goer’s first stop should be Chowhound favorite The Family Store (6905 3rd Ave., 718-748-0207), where my personal favorite Mediterranean goodies are the sauteed chard with caramelized onions, beet salad with tahini, and their own, to-die-for halvah. Second stop, also only on Saturday, is Nordic Delicacies (6909 3rd Ave.), directly next door, a treasure trove of Scandinavian specialties like gjetost, for their tube of Ham-Cheese spread thickly on one of their house-baked multigrain rolls. The final food stop should be one of the city’s best Polish restaurants, Polonica (7214 3rd Ave., 718-630-5805). Order either (or both) their delicious cold borscht and cold pickle soup, and for every two people, a mixed salad plate — six different salads of red cabbage, white cabbage, beet, carrot, sauerkraut and lettuce that are always amazing.

Picnic Cooler: Two doors down at the Polish grocery store Polbridge (7218 3rd Ave, 718-491-1398), you’ll find many, many kinds of Polish beer. If you want to adhere to the rules, mix one of their zany boxed juices with seltzer to concoct spritzers.

The Skyline Picnic
Sweet Spot: Ok, ok, we know that Long Island City isn’t Brooklyn, but it’s so close, and no amount of Brooklyn pride should keep you away from Gantry Plaza Park. In terms of cleanliness, size and snack options, it’s the best spot between Astoria and the Manhattan Bridge. Plenty of benches and modernist wood loungers line the fishing piers that stretch out into the water, but if you’re more into the classic grass-based picnic, spread your blanket out behind the famed Pepsi sign.

Perfect Meal: For snacks, check out E & I Deli (4912 Vernon Blvd.) for cheese and crackers, sandwiches to go, fruit, chocolate and Newman-Os, some of our favorite picnic cookies. If you’re feeling a little more high-low sophisticated, head to Manetta’s (10-76 Jackson Ave.) for thin-crust pizza and an antipasti or two.

Picnic Cooler: Neighborhood wine store Vine Wine (12-09 Jackson Ave.) carries Three Thieves Cabernet and Pinot Grigio, which come in cute and convenient juice boxes, as well as one-liter sizes. No corkscrew necessary, and, if you ask nicely, they’ll give you a straw. Or grab a bottle of sassy, sparking Shiraz or Lambrusco to wash down Manetta’s crisp crust and fresh, flavorful sauce. Gazing across the river at the UN building, you won’t even care that it’s not Brooklyn.

The Greenmarket Picnic
Sweet Spot: Beneath Elizabeth’s Tulip Tree, just west of the footpath that leads into Nellie’s Lawn, on the northeast edge of Prospect Park. (Locate it using “Map Overlay” here>>)

Perfect Meal: The Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket has all the makings for a fantastic fresh picnic. Pair Cato Corner Farm’s Womanchego — a fruity Manchego-like cheese made from cow’s milk rather than sheep’s — with black olive semolina bread from Baker’s Bounty. Serve with a refreshing summer salad: Cut up some heirloom tomatoes, now at their peak, and mix them with fresh basil leaves, sea salt, and olive oil (okay, you’ll have to bring those last two ingredients from home). For dessert, treat yourself to ripe peaches and old-fashioned vanilla ice cream from the grass-fed cows at Ronnybrook Farm Dairy, or that picnic classic, watermelon.

Picnic Cooler: To better enjoy their garden, outfitted with a bring-your-own-meat grill, the Slope’s Quarter Bar (676 Fifth Ave., 718-788-0989) has just begun to offer “bar picnics” — baskets of handpicked Italian nibbles to enjoy with one of bartender David Moo’s signature drinks. He gave us one recipe — the Chili Lime — for the park (serves four): Split two Serrano Peppers lengthwise, put in a bowl. Add juice of two fresh limes, 4-8 dashes of hot sauce (to taste), 8 oz. of vodka, 4 oz. of Sprite / 7 UP, 2 oz. of seltzer. Serve over ice, garnished with a Serrano slice.

Text by Chryanthe Tenentes, Annaliese Griffin and Nina Pearlman Community Garden and Prospect Park photos by Jenna Bascom, Brooklyn Bridge Photo by redxdress on Flickr, Bay Ridge Photo by Ann of A Chicken in Every Granny Cart.