Filed under American, Brooklyn
81 Broadway between Wythe and Berry Streets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718/384.1441
about $96 for two people, without drinks, with tip
♥
No paying customer should have to wait an hour and a half to be seated at any restaurant. No one deserves to wait an extra forty-five minutes to eat after that. Alas, we suffered both while sitting on a sliver of wood under some canned goods on a shelf. Twice someone had to excuse herself to reach for a few items while we ate. But at least there weren’t five of us squeezed in the corner of a shared table by the door like those next to us–they looked more uncomfortable on their small Goldilocks chairs than we were on our bench. Welcome to much-hyped Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
When our oysters came, the waiter couldn’t tell us which ones were briny. We had to share our beer and onion soup using one spoon because he never returned with our request for another. I had to get up and get our own forks and knives from the counter when he abruptly put down our plate of brick chicken on our table without a pause. It took another twenty minutes to get our tab; we could have probably just skipped and no one would have noticed our absence.
I liked the dimly-lit and wooden look of Marlow & Sons because I’ve always liked the idea of eating in a market setting, but the staff struggle during the week and can barely eke it out for weekend service. Luckily for them, a lot of New Yorkers will carry the burden of waiting for seats and food just to be surrounded by what’s new and hip.
Related post/s:
Market Table’s lamb chops are superb and you can make a reservation so you don’t have to wait
Filed under American, Brooklyn
288 Smith Street between Sackett and Union in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
718/596.3335
about $125 for two, without drinks, without tip
♥ ♥
We were in Brooklyn to visit friends who were house and dog sitting while on vacation from San Francisco. When it was time to eat dinner, another friend–a Brooklynite–quickly suggested The Grocery. It’s one of his favorite haunts but he has never visited in the summer when the garden is open, so when we arrived we asked to be seated out back to enjoy the warm summer breeze.
The Grocery’s staff works from a kitchen half the size of a New York City apartment’s. You can imagine how tight it was in there to maneuver but somehow they make it work because they churned out some of the best meals I’ve had this summer. And I do not say churn lightly: we waited for almost thirty minutes to get our appetizers. The waitstaff were so busy running the front and the back that it took twenty minutes to get the menu. We had to order wine with our food because she forgot to show us the wine list while we waited for her to reappear to give us glasses of water.
Because we haven’t seen our Californian friends for a while, we didn’t mind the wait even though we didn’t have anything to drink. We passed the time catching up and talking about our respective lives. We realized we had been waiting too long when the youngest member of the family behind us whined so loudly about being hungry–they were already seated when we came in to wait for fifteen minutes to complete our party.
But when the food came, the short-staffed restaurant delivered as if they worked out of a professional and very spacious kitchen. The slow-rendered duck breast was superb in caramelized red wine sauce with baby carrots and beet greens. I would most likely wait another forty minutes to eat this again. The toasted farro salad was a nice break because of the summer greens in a very interesting sorrel vinaigrette that gave the dish a kick and acidity. The roasted beets were nothing new, but they were perfectly cooked. One of my favorites was the fried artichoke because of its texture. The little crunch lent beautifully to the escarole and the Parmesan. For dessert, I was very happy to get the wild strawberries with the buttermilk panna cotta. You can’t get small and tart strawberries from supermarkets anymore, so I was very pleased that they featured them unadorned. The warm peach cobbler made everyone else happy as we took turns scooping it out of its ramekin.
At the Grocery, the wait time is longer than I want it to be but the food showcases the season’s best and the cooks in the kitchen make up for the service that needs sharpening.
Related post/s:
Frankie’s 457 is in the same neighborhood
I need to return to Applewood which introduced me to Brooklyn cookery in the first place
