Gwynnett St Visited 1/8/2012 4 Forks

Gwynnett St 312 Graham Ave., (between Ainslie St & Devoe St), Brooklyn, NY 11211

I was so excited to hear that Gwynnett St opened because it was within walking distance from my apartment and I definitely need more go-to place within a 5 block radius.  I was even more excited when I heard that the people behind it were from wd-50 and Esca, which is really gives it some street cred.

I went for brunch on Sunday at 11:30am and it was pretty empty at first but by the time I left, almost the entire restaurant was full.  One small pet peeve is that the menu online was slightly different from the one in the restaurant.  It turned out not to be a huge deal but sometimes I've already picked out what I want to eat (in this case the braised oxtail, whipped potatoes and poached egg) and it's a disappointment when it's not available.  Instead, I got the pork with fried egg and sauerkraut ($17) and Dan got the steak tartare with egg, pickled beets and horseradish ($12) and we split the pork sausage gravy with whiskey bread ($6).  As you can see from what we ordered, the menu here is pretty unusual.  The dishes weren't your typical eggs benedict or steak and eggs.  Instead they had dishes like parsnip yogurt, pork, chicken dumplings and duck scramble.   They also made their cocktails different: their bloody mary's were made with home smoked tomatoes which gave it a different taste to it.  As Dan said, it tasted fresh and not like V8 juice with vodka.

When my dish came out, it looked like a dinner size meal.  There were enough pork slices for 2 dishes.  The pork was amazing...thinly sliced and cooked almost medium rare.  It was pink and tender on the inside and seared just right on the outside.  The eggs were actually duck eggs, which I've never had and while it tasted the same as a regular egg, there is just this more gooey texture that might scare some people off.  The sauerkraut was tart and tangy but didn't hit you over the head with sourness.  The one part of the dish that I didn't like were the potatoes..they were a bit too heavy handed with the salt and I could only eat one of them.  I also had a bite of the steak tartare and it's amazing how you could taste the steak, beets and horseradish individually and it made for a great combination at the same time.  I was so full from my pork dish that I barely had room for the sausage gravy and whiskey bread.  From the 1 bite I had, it was pretty damn good but I'm not quite sure where the whiskey comes in since I didn't taste any alcohol.

The waitstaff was super attentive and friendly to talk to.  While I don't necessarily think this place is the right place for an everyday meal, I'm really happy that these more high quality and unique places like these are opening up so nearby.  Total price with coffees and tax: $54

Photo Credit: Yelp