Back when I livd in Park Slope, 4th Ave was a total dead zone. It was full of tire shops and it was not a street that I would walk along by myself at night. While it's still not totally gentrified, it's definitely come a long way. There are now luxury apartment buildings and condos and lots of bars and restaurants popping up. Amy and I were headed to Anuja's birthday party in the area and needed a veggie friendly place for dinner. Luckily The Pickle Shack totally fit the bill.
It's a veggie/vegan friendly bar/restaurant with a fantastic outdoor patio. It was packed to the gills when we got there but we luckily were able to still get a table outside. The menu has a bunch of healthy sandwiches, salads, side dishes and of course pickles. Even as a meat eater, all of the sandwiches sounded great and I was really having a hard time deciding what to get. I ended up getting the cornmeal battered oyster mushrooms ($8) and the all green sandwich ($11). The waitress had mentioned that particular sandwich was only a half size, so based on that I got the side salad ($3) with my sandwich. Amy got the tofu bahn mi ($11) and a side of hop pickles ($5). While neither of us ended up getting anything to drink, this place surprisingly has an amazing beer (lots of Dogfish Head beer) and wine list. Seriously, it was very impressive for a place that you think is more health conscious. I would definitely come back and try out some of their craft beers.
On to the food. So remember when the waitress said it was a half sandwich?! Well, if that is a half sandwich then I don't want to know what a whole one looks like. It was more than enough for one person and not small at all. I honestly didn't need to order that side salad or even the oyster mushrooms. The all green sandwich was made with avocado, cucumbers, fresh herbs, arugula, sprouts, eggplant and tahini spread and miche all on a toasted multi-grain type bread. All the ingredients were very fresh and it most definitely felt like a very healthy California style meal. But the one major gripe I have about the sandwich was that the crust of the bread was so hard and overly toasted that I cut the roof of my mouth several times. I resorted to trying to cut the crust off but then that promptly lead to the whole structure of the sandwich being destroyed. As I continued to eat my sandwich the more it just started falling apart and it just became very messy to eat. Luckily I was with Amy and not on a date, otherwise I would have been super paranoid about having food all over my face. I didn't try Amy's sandwich but she said that she really enjoyed it. I also really liked my cornmeal battered oyster mushrooms. They were very hearty and with the cornmeal batter it tasted less greasy vs if it had actually been battered and fried up. I kind of forced myself to eat my side salad - which was some mixed greens with a vinaigrette dressing - because I was so full at that point but it was totally fine albeit a bit basic salad.
This place is an adorable place in the middle of a burgeoning neighborhood and despite having the roof of my mouth shredded, I would come back and try a sandwich with a softer bread. The waitstaff is also really nice and it's just a really nice and pleasant place to spend an evening with friends. Total bill: $24/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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