After six seasons on “Saturday Night Live” with Will Ferrell at her side, Ana Gasteyer came out singing — on Broadway and off, at places like Pace University’s Schimmel Center, where she performs Saturday. The Brooklyn mother of two tells BARBARA HOFFMAN how she spends her downtime.
“WE live in DUMBO, and we always hit Almondine Bakery — the kids love the croissants, but they also make a beautiful boule. If the weather’s nice, we’ll Citi Bike it and go all the way up to Atlantic Avenue. We love a ramen place called Ganso, which is up near the Fulton Mall. I’m obsessed with the triple shrimp, and my son’s a Japanese-dumpling fanatic — he usually eats them and bogarts my noodles.
“We have a lot of pizza in this neighborhood. Juliana’s and Grimaldi’s used to be one place, but split into two, and both are overrun by tourists. Table 87 [Coal Oven Pizza] is yummy and feels more neighborhoody, even though it’s technically in Brooklyn Heights.
“To compensate for all that pizza are a lot of nice gyms. My husband [ad exec Charlie McKittrick] is really disciplined about working out, and he’s a lot nicer when he goes to the gym! Brick Brooklyn on Water Street has great classes. I also like the Lab — their Pilates classes are fantastic. I say this as if I’ve actually worked out in the last six months …
“My kids love bowling and my husband is a stealth killer bowler. The Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg is fantastic. Among other things, they play good music and the food is good — higher-end nachos, sliders and salads: It’s not your average chicken-finger fare. There’s also Melody Lanes, on 37th Street, which has authentic Brooklyn bartenders — not hipsters or ‘mixologists.’ These guys know how to pour beer!
“Sunday night is the only night we have a family dinner, which tends to be stew. We’ll have one of those Almondine boules and talk and connect. I’ll read my son the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ books while my older one is Snapchatting … My family has so little time together that you have to be as in the moment as you can be.”