Brooklyn's Latest Brush With Art

Squished between Ad Hoc and a health-food store, this kick-back coffee shop is filled with people who ooze creativity, if only by way of their unconventional dress code. Find comfort in a cup of java and grilled cheese prepared one of three ways, including the classic yellow American cheese. The back of the shop is a movie rental place, with most flicks organized by director, so you'd best know who made "La Dolce Vita" if you want to watch it.

Info: 49 Bogart St., 718-381-1944.

· English Kills Art Gallery

Owner Chris Harding doesn't care if anyone buys the art; he just wants your attention. "We don't have to stress out about selling stuff from our show," he says. "That's a luxury." To be honest, Harding might be hard-pressed to find someone with enough square footage to fit such behemoth sculptures as, say, Jason Peters's spiral of illuminated plastic buckets that seems to stretch forever, thanks to cleverly placed mirrors. The gallery's works tend toward paintings and massive installations, though, Harding admits, "we are open to anything." Even a procession of plastic buckets.

Info: 114 Forrest St., 718-366-7323, http://www.englishkillsartgallery.com.

· Pocket Utopia

This narrow nook multi-tasks as a showplace, salon, social space and site of an artist-in-residence program. "We try to bang on all eight cylinders in the art world," says Austin Thomas, brightly dressed in purple tights and grayish-blue frames. "For me, this is like an extension of my artwork." The owner-artist explained that her mission is not to show emerging talent or her friends' pieces. She is about ideas -- something to think about, perhaps, while staring at Fred Gutzeit's trippy floor-to-ceiling wall coverings. Or share those thoughts at one of the lectures held in conjunction with each exhibit.

Info: 1037 Flushing Ave., 917-400-3869, http://www.pocketutopia.com.

· Factory Fresh