Cino's
243 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn
718-622-9249
Two Boots
514 Second Street, Brooklyn
718-499-3253
Coco Roco
392 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn
718-965-3376
Patois
255 Smith Street, Brooklyn
718-855-1535
At Cino's, a throwback red-sauce Italian joint in Fort Greene, when you say that your 4-year-old son wants his ziti plain, you don't need to explain to Sal or Marcello that plain means no tomato sauce, no parsley, no nothing. And both waiters know without being told to bring the kid's food as soon as it's ready. At Two Boots of Park Slope, the pizza is inferior to the East Village original's, but handing out pizza dough to the restless young is a masterstroke; the warm-weather patio and the alligator ride out front, plus waiters so patient they must be heavily medicated, make the place a staple for Brooklyn families.
When the offspring are ready for something more challenging but still relaxed, head straight to Coco Roco for outstanding rotisserie chicken and intricately seasoned Peruvian food, plus addictive roasted corn kernels called cancha and the ubiquitous but useful crayons-and-butcher-paper diversion. And the cozy Carroll Gardens French bistro Patois deserves kudos for its child-friendly attitude -- not to speak of the crowd-pleasing steak-frites -- since it doesn't pretend in the least to be a kids' place.