T.B.D. Garden: True, we told you about the massive new courtyard garden at Greenpoint's T.B.D. in last week's big roundup of al fresco drinking options, but what we didn't know then is that they're also going to be barbecuing back there every weekend and on select weeknights. Cook Min Chen, who knows T.B.D. co-owner Allen Welch from when they ran Long Island City's Lounge 47, tells us she's working on an expanded menu that promises to push beyond the standard BBQ fare. To that end, last weekend's menu featured seitan pulled "pork" and house-made potato veggie burgers, in addition to the regular burgers and potato salad you'd expect to find. Still under the radar and open just a few weeks now, this is a sweet space to spread out and read the paper while drinking a hard lemonade or five, and on weekends there's usually an old-timey jazz band or slot car racing.

224 Franklin Street, Greenpoint; (718) 349-6727

DBGB: At a press preview last month the four-star chef Daniel Boulud climbed a construction ladder and told the crowd he wanted his new burgers, beer, and sausage spot DBGB to have a “kitchen supply feel,” and it does: the dining room is enclosed by a series of tall, stained ash shelves piled with labeled copper pots from famous chefs around the world. They're museum pieces: you have a fancy bowl from Anthony Bourdain, Ferran Adria's fish poacher, Bocuse's favorite omelet pan, and a giant cauldron from Alain Ducasse—stuff like that. All things considered, DBGB has more in common with upmarket antiquing at the Puces de St Ouen than it does with the old, demented, dented-pots and pans Bowery, so it's a good thing the food is not similarly preoccupied with either authenticity or serving a museum piece menu. Chef Jim Leiken oversees a kitchen that makes 14 kinds of sausage from scratch, plus terrines and charcuterie. There's even something called the Piggie Burger, topped with Daisy May pulled pork. After dinner, an ice cream cart laden with custom toppings roams the dining room. —Hugh Merwin

299 Bowery; (212) 933-5300

Palace Gate: Vacant since the departure of Le Cirque for the Bloomberg building, the courtyard of the New York Palace Hotel in Midtown now plays host to its new Palace Gate Outdoor Lounge. The full bar menu from the two star Michelin Team at GILT was conceived by Executive chef Justin Bogle, and includes modern American comfort food, such as the Suckling Pig Tacos, Truffle Potato Fries and Tuscan Melon Salad. For dessert, Executive Pastry Chef David Carmichael offers Chilled Tuscan Melon Soup with tarragon sorbet and honey funnel cake, as well as his own interpretation of the Knickerbocker Glory Sundae Set. Sneak over in between rainy days and enjoy an outdoor atmosphere that Martini Boys describes as "a terrace worthy of Catherine the Great or an Aristocrat in a Henry James novel." — Jessica Madison

455 Madison Avenue; (212) 891-8100