Ugly Baby Visited 12/18/2017 3.5 Forks

Ugly Baby  407 Smith St., Brooklyn, NY 11231

I am torn about this review because the flavor profile at Ugly Baby is really outstanding.  Even though I don't love Northern Thai food, it's definitely got a lot more heat and flavor than Southern Thai food and if you're a spicy food nut, I can see why you go crazy for this kind of food.  Your mouth will definitely feel the burn so be prepared.  I'm just not one of those people. 

I met up with Vinita on a random Monday and it was packed to the gills.  This place has been the darling of the food blog world lately, so I wasn't surprised at all.   It's not very big and they don't take reservations, so your wait will likely be in the 45 mins to 1 hour range and there is no place to really wait around.  We ended up getting 2 seats at the bar which was perfect.  The waitress/host was super sweet and helped us with the menu.  Again, the food here is from the Northern region, so it's more khao soi and no pad thai and if you are vegetarian there is absolutely nothing you can eat on this menu - don't even bother trying.   The waitress suggested 3 dishes for 2 people.  We said we were ok with spice but not to the point where our faces were going to hurt.  We went with the Pad Tua Ngok Rau Kao  ($14), Kang Hoh ($17), and the Kao Tod Nam Klook ($16).   If these were "medium spicy" I can't even imagine some of the brutally spicy dishes that were listed.  My face didn't quite fall off but my nostrils were seriously cleaned out after this meal. 

The Pad Tua Ngok Rau Kao was the least spicy dish and I used it as a vehicle to cool off my tongue.  It's stir fried bean sprouts, with minced pork and tofu and was a very nice compliment to the other 2 dishes.  The Kang Hoh was pork shoulder, spare ribs, mung bean noodle, string beans and topped with chicharrones.  It comes with a side of sticky rice and you will need all of it.  Did I forget that this dish is made with red curry paste?  I had no issues with the pork but Vinita was getting pieces that had a lot of bone/cartilage that made it a bit challenging to eat.  The combination of the pork and noodles were great but I definitely hit pockets of insane spice and was downing beer like it was my job.  I was actually pretty full at this point and barely touched the  Kao Tod Nam Klook which made me sad because I think I would have liked it more than the Kang Hog.  It's curried rice with pork skin, peanut and ginger.  The few bites I had were tasty but again, I had to cool my mouth off with the sliced cucumber and string beans that came with it. 

On one hand, I shouldn't have been surprised by any of the food here.  I've been to several Northern Thai places and I always have issues with the spice level.  I really want to enjoy it but I don't think I'm programmed this way.  The rest of the menu sounded great and I would give it another go and try the khao soi or the chicken skewers or red snapper.   I've gotten much better with my tolerance for spice and I'm determined to get even better.  This place is not for the faint of heart - in either wait time or spice level so buckle up.  Total bill:  $55/pp with tax, tip and beer

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Freek's Mill Visited 10/12/2016 4 Forks

Freek's Mill  285 Nevins street, Gowanus, NY 11217

Freek's Mill is in smack in the middle of Gowanus or the part of Brooklyn that is surrounded by a Super Fund.  You can see that as being kind of cool or kind of gross - I'll take the former because it's still a part of Brooklyn that's still a bit untouched but it's got glimmers of hipster-ness.  Enter Freek's Mill.   It's a cute and much more refined restaurant than I was expecting for that part of town but it's still got a casual vibe to it. 

It's tapas style and if you've read my blog, you know how I feel about small plates.  I like the concept but I HATE how places still feel like they can charge entree prices for them.  The waiter here recommend 2-3 dishes per person (which I agree with) but the prices of these small plates averaged around $15-20 or more, which is a bit ridiculous for me.  But the good news is that at least the food was delicious here.  We got the scallop crudo, octopus, pumpkin, fettuccine, Arctic Char, duck and pork jowl.  

The scallop crudo came highly recommended by the waitress and while I love scallop, I wasn't a huge fan of the fact that it was cut into cubes.  For me, the glory of scallop comes when you keep it intact. But it was a sweet clean flavor that was wonderful none the less.  Next I tried the pumpkin dish and with fall pretty much here, it was a warm comforting dish.  It was sweet and served with a sweet riccotta like cheese to it.  It was basically fall in a plate.   Next was the octopus and unlike the one at Thursday Kitchen, this was a long meaty tentacle charred and served with fingerling potatoes.  Solid dish and cooked the way octopus should be.  Next was the fettuccine which had ham and a sunny side egg on it.   While it wasn't a pasta dish that brought me back to my days in Italy, it was a very comforting dish with a nice homemade taste to it.  Next was the Arctic Char which was cooked with the skin on.  It was pan seared and cooked to the right texture but in general Arctic Char isn't my favorite fish - give me a piece of salmon over Char any day of the week but if are looking for a fish dish here, this one will get the job done.  Lastly came the 2 meat dishes - these were definitely the winners of the night although I'm not sure if we really needed both as they were both on the fatty side but in a good way (at least for me).  The pork jowl was melt in your mouth delicious but I can't stress again how fatty it was but that's where all the flavor is!  I can see how it might turn some people off but not me.  The duck was also cooked very rare with the fatty skin on.  While I'm a gal who loves her meat as rare as possible, this one could have actually been cooked just a smidge longer as it did have a tough consistency and I almost chocked on a piece that I couldn't chew all the way through but flavor wise, I wouldn't change a thing. 

Of course, we left room for dessert and we got a chocolate bread pudding and another dish that I can't remember the name of but it was like a baby dutch pancake.  I was a bit tipsy at this point and full from the fatty meat that I didn't really indulge all that much in the dessert.  From the few bites I had they actually weren't all that sweet and wouldn't really be the kind of dessert that I would go ga-ga for. 

Overall, it was still a lovely dinner experience despite some of my issues.  As Neel and I discussed, the meal was good and the food done well but but with so many stealler NYC restaurants, it's really hard to compete.  But if you live in the neighborhood and/or want to try something out in this part of industrial Brooklyn, I would recommend giving it a try.  Just a note, they used to be gratuity free but they recently switched back to not including it in the bill.  Total bill:  ~$300 for 3 people with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Nightingale 9 Visited 4/11/2015 3 Forks

Nightingale 9  329 Smith St., Brooklyn, NY 11231

Apparently I've been on a Vietnamese kick lately since this is the 2nd Vietnamese review in a row (and there is another one coming up), which isn't a bad thing at all!  I had read about Nightingale 9 a while ago and even though it sounded like a very Brooklyn-fied version of Vietnamese food, I was still very curious to try it out.

The space is casual yet modern and I sat at the lovely bar while I waited for Virginia.  They had an excellent sounding cocktail menu, but I started the morning off with an Vietnamese Iced Coffee ($4). Although I wasn't a huge fan that it was already pre-mixed, it was quite sweet and tasty with the right balance of coffee to condensed milk.   I could have had 3 more that morning.

The menu here is traditional with a fusion slant - they try to incorporate traditional Vietnamese dishes but put their own spin on things.  I'm usually a fan of keeping things more authentic and classic but I was open.   They have a bunch of great sounding appetizers:  green papaya salad, assorted meats and cheese, spring rolls, and donut holes; while the entrees also peaked my interest with lemongrass pork chop, Hanoi style omelette and a few pho options.  I was not a fan that they said that for a $1 you could add a poached egg to your pho.  Not only does that sound disgusting but that also makes no sense when you think about what a traditional pho tastes like.  Given that it was brunch, I opted for a steak and eggs combo and Virginia got a their version of an eggs bendict.  We also split the spring rolls ($10) to start.  I was quite impressed with spring rolls - they are perfectly crisp on the outside and they were filled with delicious ground pork, woodear mushrooms and served with fish sauce and fresh mint and lettuce leaves.   This dish plus the ice coffee was a nice start to the meal.  Next came my main dish which was their play on steak and eggs.  For some random reason they also paired it with baked/burned potato chips as the bottom layer of the dish and that was a turn off for me.  It's not that I don't like potato chips, I do, but it just seemed a bit out of place here and added more salt than was necessary.  The meat was cooked well and was nicely medium rare but cut into pieces as opposed to being served like one piece of steak.   The egg looked great but was a tad overcooked for me - I like a much runnier egg while my meal.  I didn't try Virginia's dish but it was essentially a benedict but served on white pieces of bao instead of english muffins - which is a nice touch but seemed like too much bread-y stuff for what was on top.  We were both still a bit hungry so we got the donut holes ($6) to finish and that was one of the best ideas all day.  It was served with a coconut curd which was fantastic - there were actually a lot of donuts to this order so be ready to eat.  They were lightly sprinkled with sugar on the outside and while they were thick, they weren't super dense - it was a great way to end a meal.

While I liked elements of my meal here, I couldn't help be feel a bit disappointed by it.  I could see real potential to the place and would definitely come back for the spring rolls, coffee and donut holes but I've just got to be a bit weary of a place that encourages people to add an egg to their pho.  Total bill for 2 pp with tax and tip: $77

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Clover Club Visited 1/5/2013 4 Forks

Clover Club 210 Smith St (Butler St & Baltic St), Brooklyn, NY 11201

First entry for 2014 and it's a pretty good one.  I have actually been to the Clover Club a few times before for drinks but I've never eaten there before, but I'm glad I finally did.  Vinita mentioned that they had a great brunch and even though I had literally just been there on a date 2 days before,  I was up for trying the food there. 

It's a really beautiful space and is more of a cocktail bar than a restaurant but they have a surprisingly robust food menu that goes beyond just bar or finger food.  The brunch menus is slightly more upscale than your typical brunch menu but still has a solid egg section as well as some lunch-y food like a lamb burger and oysters.  Vinita had mentioned that she got the bacon tasting (yes, that's right a tasting of different kinds of bacon) and I would have totally been down for that but since we were both going to the gym afterwards it just seemed a bit gluttonous to order that before sweating it out.  So I opted for the wild mushroom soft scramble ($10) and a side of cheddar grits ($4) and Vinita got The Englander ($14).  Again, if I wasn't going to the gym afterwards, I would have gotten one of their lovely bespoke cocktails but I didn't but they are definitely worth a try.   I envisioned the scramble to be served on a plate with toast but it was actually presented quite elegantly in a lovely deep white bowl which made it seem much more upscale than a blob of eggs on a plate.  The eggs were served with roasted wild mushrooms and topped with Vermont cheddar and creme fraiche.  It also had a very heavy taste of truffle oil but they didn't list that on the menu as an ingredient (probably just remnants from the mushroom).  But it was a lovely dish, if not, a touch on the heavy side.  It's rich and creamy and it's a lot of food despite its presentation.  Mixed in with the grits, I couldn't finish my dish.  But the mushrooms were roasted nicely and the eggs were definitely a very soft scramble which I love.  It went really well with the toasted and olive oiled soaked sour dough bread that it was served it.  At first I was annoyed that it didn't come with a side of something like potatoes but for $10 and the fact that it was very filling, it didn't really matter.  The grits were a nice consistency and had the right amount of cheesy taste to it but it was starting to get a small film on top after we let it cool down a bit.  I tried a bite of Vinita's dish which was essentially an eggs benedict but instead of ham it's made with sliced hanger steak (medium rare) and it was delicious.  It was a very decadent meal and the hanger steak just made it seem more higher end than slapping a piece of ham in there. 

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised that a lovely cocktail place like this also serves such quality brunch food.  It's a great place to enjoy a fancy but not stuffy brunch on Smith Street - plus if you aren't going to the gym afterwards, you can indulge in some fantastic cocktails and really make it afternoon out.  Total bill:  $25/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

Ki Sushi Visited 11/19/2013 3.5 Forks

Ki Sushi 122 Smith St., (between Dean St & Pacific St), Brooklyn, NY 11201

Even though I've been Smith Street a bunch of times, I've never actually been to Ki Sushi, so when a long time high school friend was in town, staying not too far from Smith Street and had a craving for sushi, Ki Sushi seemed like the perfect fit.  We met on a Tuesday night and I was surprised at how crowded it was for a random weekday night.  I had read about Ki in Eater as having one of the best omakase deals and when I looked at the menu, they indeed had an option for $45 - which is quite the steal!  But I wasn't quite in the mood for an omakase meal and was torn between getting a sashimi combo or a bunch of rolls.  This is one of the sushi places that had tons and tons of different kinds of fancy rolls (which I don't think always sound that good because you end up not tasting the fish at all) - so not really a purist high-end sushi place like Ushiwakamaru or Sushi of Gari, but I still love places like this because the fish is still good but you aren't paying crazy town prices.  I opted to go with the Sashimi Deluxe ($27) - which, if you are curious, has 3 more pieces compared to the Sashimi Deluxe ($25).  I figured for $2, why not get the 3 extra pieces?

Martha got the Volcano roll ($16) and a spicy tuna roll ($6).    We both had a side garden salad and while the ginger dressing was delicious, it felt like the salad had been sitting in the fridge for a while because the lettuce was super cold and it had a bit too much of iceberg rind for my liking - I prefer more of the leaf vs. the rind.  My sashimi came out and it was a good number of fish:  salmon, tuna, white tuna, yellowtail, whitefish, and mackerel (3 of each).  So basically your standard sashimi combo.  The fish was tasted fresh and it was a solid sashimi dish - no frills, but hits the spot.  Usually my standard of mind blowing sashimi is how the mackerel tastes - if it doesn't come off as fishy, then the fish is definitely on the higher end, if it's got a mild fish taste, then the fish is good and if it's super fishy, then I should run out of the place.  This was the passable version - which is how most places are.  I had one of the volcano rolls and it was tasty and it made me kind of wish I had gotten a bunch of rolls instead.  I figured the sashimi would be healthier without all the rice but of course I just ended up eating the entire bowl of white rice anyways.   

This is one of those basic but good sushi neighborhood joints that I wish I had near my apt, but don't. Yes, it's got a bunch of ridiculous rolls that have fruit in it (eww) and might have too many ingredients shoved into a roll, but if I had a place like this in my 'hood I would definitely go frequently to satisfy a sushi craving at an affordable price and I might even check out the omakase next time.  Total bill:  $45/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Battersby Visited 9/29/2012 3.5 Forks

Battersby 255 Smith St., (between Douglass St & Degraw St), Brooklyn, NY 11231

There always tons of hot "It" restaurants lists in New York and Battersby in Brooklyn seems to be on every single one of these lists lately.  So of course I had to check it out.  After careful research, I read that like every other hot restaurant in town that is the size of my bathroom and doesn't really take reservations for small parties, you need to get to Battersby right when it opens if you want to avoid getting angry and be told you have a 2+ hour wait.  So Aarti and I decided to meet at 4:30 and walk around the area first.  When I got there are 4:30pm, lo and behold, there already was 1 person patiently standing in line.  Seriously, is this what we've come down to now? Waiting in line for dinner at 4:30?!  Regardless, we came back to the restaurant at 5:20 (10 minutes before it opens) and there were already 10 people in line.  Sheesh.  We anxiously waited to see if we would make the cut and luckily we did get a nice seat outside in the back patio.

I'll get into the food in a bit (which was excellent) but there were just some things preceding my meal that bumped the fork rating down a bit, besides the ridiculous wait outside.  First, when we were seated (and mind you there were only 5 other tables seated before us), the hostess told us that we wouldn't be able to see a food menu for a bit because they only have 1-2 menus and that other people were using them first.  Umm, what?!? How does that even make any sense? Why can't they print more menus? Or if it's a timing thing with the kitchen, I'd still rather see the menu but have you tell me that the food will come out later.  Luckily, we were able to order from the cocktail menu first.  Second,  we waited and waited to get the food menu and then waited and waited to actually order our food.  I wasn't sure why it would take someone so long to order and pass the menus on because there are only 11 items on the entire menu.  It takes about 2 minutes to read the whole thing.  In any case, Aarti and I started with the crisp Kale Salad with Green Papaya, Radish, Peanuts ($12), I also got the Corn Chowder with New Potato, Smoked Bacon, Peekytoe Crab ($15).  For entrees, Aarti got the Roasted Broccoli Pecorino Toscano, Lemon, Arugula ($12) and the Market Green Ravioli with Baby Vegetables, Brown Butter ($19) while I got the Berkshire Pork Belly with Coco Beans, Aji Dulce Peppers ($27).

Before the food came out, they served us this fresh from the oven delicious rosemary focaccia bread with a ricotta cheese spread.  We could not stop eating the bread and that's probably why we walked out of dinner feeling like someone had stuffed us like turkeys.   But the bread was amazing.  Warm, soft, pillowy with a hit of crunch on the outside.  Then they delivered a complimentary small plate of chicken liver crostini with a button mushroom on top.  It was pretty good, the liver wasn't too grainy and the bite size was just enough to whet my appetite for real food.  I had heard a lot of great things about the kale salad and they weren't wrong.  It was fabulous.  There was a layer of crispy baked kale and then the bottom had finely shredded fresh kale with green papaya and then topped with radishes and peanuts.  It was incredibly refreshing and light and probably one of the best kale dishes I've had in a long time.   For my chowder, it was one of those fancy soups where they place all the ingredients in the bowl first and then they pour the soup base separately in front of you.  The chowder was creamy and you could indeed taste and see all the cubes of potato, bacon and crab meat in there.  But it was more thin than I expect a chowder to be.  When I hear chowder, I have visions of really thick and hearty dish.  This was more of an actual soup except it was a cream base.  In hindsight, with all the bread I ate and the heavy pork belly dish that I ordered, I probably didn't need to have ordered another rich dish.  Oh well.  Next came the pork belly dish.  I will say that the quality and presentation of this dish was 4 to 4.5 forks.  The pork belly was delicious and cooked to perfection.  It wasn't too fatty where I felt like I would be clogging my arteries while I ate my food, but it did have the perfect layer of fat and crispy skin on the outside that made my mouth and stomach very happy.  The layers of meat was also cooked exactly how pork belly should be cooked: moist and juicy.  My one small complaint would be that the beans that came with the dish, while very good, made the dish too heavy.  The beans were similar in taste and texture to baked beans (though not as sweet) and combining that with a hearty meat dish made the whole dish a bit too rich for me.

I should note that they do have a 7 course tasting menu and I did see several people get it and the food did look amazing.  It almost seemed like the food wouldn't stop coming out for them. The couple next to us got it and they hadn't even gotten to dessert by the time we left.  All in all, the quality and presentation of the food was definitely top notch, no complaints there.  My only gripe was all the pre-seating drama and the waiting before hand.  I'm not sure if the hype will all die out, at which point I would be happy to come back but not if I have to get in line at 4:30 on a Saturday again.  Total bill: $71/pp with tax tip and a drink.

Photo Credit: Bon Appetit

Buttermilk Channel Visited 4/7/2012 3.5 Forks

Buttermilk Channel 524 Court St., (between Nelson St & Huntington St), Brooklyn, NY 11231

I had been to Buttermilk Channel many years ago when it first opened.  It didn't blow my mind but I thought that it was a solid joint.  Over the years it became more and more popular especially since famous people like Beyonce and Jay-Z have shown up multiple times. 


So I wasn't surprised when I showed up on a Saturday and the wait was quoted as 30-45 minutes.  Crazytown.  Luckily for us, a 2 top opened up at the bar in 15 minutes.  I ordered the breakfast scramble with house cured lox, green onion and cream cheese which came with hashbrown, toast, salad and your choice of juice, mimosa, bellini, or sparkling wine for $11, which is a pretty great deal.  I also ordered a side of bacon ($5) and the buttermilk biscuits ($4) which I split with my friend.  The scramble came out and it didn't look like what I was expecting.  The eggs were in a small bowl and the hashbrown was a small circular cut.  The eggs were moist and the combination of the green onion and salmon were great.  The cream cheese was really just used  for some light flavoring/texture as you couldn't really actually see the cream cheese in the dish.  I enjoyed the eggs a lot but unfortunately the hashbrown was overcooked and a bit burnt.  The side of bacon was huge, almost 5-6 slices in total.  Some were cooked perfectly crispy with some fat left on it and some were a bit overcooked and too dry but overall the bacon strips were a solid addition to my egg dish.   Meanwhile the biscuits were a bit on the heavy side.  They were very buttery and flakey...but almost too flakey.  The biscuits were so heavy that my friend and I could barely split just one together.   I was so full that I didn't eve get to try the toast or salad.


Overall, I still think Buttermilk Channel is a solid place to go for a meal.  But best brunch in Brooklyn and a 45 minute wait? Hmmm, not 100% sure on that.  However, the prices were super reasonable and it's in a great neighborhood of Brooklyn.  Total bill: $24/pp. 


Photo Credit: Yelp

Char No. 4 Visited 7/3/10 3.75 Forks

Char No. 4  196 Smith St, (between Warren St & Baltic St), Brooklyn, NY 11201

I've been to Char No. 4 before for drinks and snacks before but never for dinner. I always kind of thought that it was a bit expensive food-wise, so when Blackboard Eats had a $38 3-course prix fix meal plus whiskey tastings I thought that I would finally give the food a go (although I will say that I've had their pork nuggets and fried cheese curds before and they were delicious).  The set menu came with a cold pea soup with shrimp to start, a choice of jambalaya, hot sausage link or gnocchi for an entree and a key lime pie with marshmallow topping.  Each course came with a 1 oz whiskey pairing.

Priced separately the total meal would have been around $50ish, so the $38 gives you around the standard 30% discount.  The soup, as described, as chilled with bits of shrimp and chunks of avocado.  It was good to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of cold soup in general.  There was an element of spiciness to the soup...I'm not sure if that came from the shrimp or that added something to the soup.  While I love avocado in general and would eat it in any form, I'm not quite sure they it was in the soup.  It didn't really add much to it.  The whiskey pairing for this was the Rittenhouse Rye, which was pretty good.

For an entree, I got the jambalaya and Dan got the hot sausage link.  Both entrees were pretty big in size.  The jambalaya was served with manilla clams and 3-4 big,de-shelled shrimp (I thought it was a nice touch to have it completely de-shelled).  I thought it was flavored well and all the seafood was prepared to the right consistency.  The hot sausage link came with crispy shallots and potato salad.  The potato salad was pretty good...it was the yellow mustard-kind and not the white mayo base.  The sausage could have been cooked a bit warmer...strangely the plate was extremely hot but the meal could have used a few more minutes on the oven.  The whiskey pairing was the Eagle Rare 10 yr, which was a substitute from the listed Elijah Craig.  The Eagle Rare was very good. Extremely smooth and easy to drink.

If this wasn't a prix fixe meal, I would have stopped eating and drinking here.  I was pretty full by the time dessert rolled around, but I couldn't say no.  When the pie came out, it was way bigger a slice that it needed to be.  And damn it, it was really good too. The graham cracker crust was really yummy and the pie was the right amount of tartness and sweetness.  The marshmallow top didn't really need to be there, but who's going to say no to marshmallow?  Unfortunately, I couldn't finish my piece even though I really really wanted to.  The whiskey pairing here was the George Dickel No. 12.  At this point, all my senses were in overload and I think I liked this whiskey? Even though I didn't drink a lot of alcohol and I ate a heavy meal, by the time I got home I seriously felt like someone had drugged me. I couldn't stay awake past 11pm.

The total bill plus tax and tip was $98 for two.  Not too bad when you factor in each person got a 3 course meal and 3 1 oz. pours.  I would always go back for the whiskey as they really have an awesome selection.  While I enjoyed my meal too, I definitely don't think I would order a 3 course meal there. I might just stick to the snacks.

Prime Meats Visited 2/20/10 3 Forks

Prime Meats 465 Court St
(between 3rd Pl & 4th Pl), Brooklyn, NY 11231


Prime Meats has been very hyped due to the fact that it's owned by the same people as Frankie's. I tried to go a month ago and was told it was a 2 hour wait on a Friday at 9:30pm. This time, I went on a Saturday night @ 8pm, which obviously was no better. The host told me it was about a 2 hour wait and I just gave in. I gave him my cell # and Dan and I went and grabbed drinks at the Irish pub next door.

The wait ended up being a little over an hour instead. After sitting down, I totally understand why the wait is so long. The place is tiny! There must be about 10-15 seats total in the entire restaurant. It doesn't help that the bar is in the front and takes up half the restaurant, which makes the place overly crowded. I don't know what is up with this hipster, old school, Prohibition look, but Prime Meats also had it. Everyone wore vests, had many tattoos and had ironic mustaches. I'm so over that look.

I ordered the Apple Sazerac ($10) after finding out that the punch of the day was a Mai Thai. I was torn over what to order for my main meal. I was partial to the burger but I kind of feel like that's a cop out. So instead, I ordered the Sürkrüt Garnie (chouchrote garnie, slow cooked pork belly, Thuringian bratwurst, calf tongue & knackwurst served with house made sauerkraut ($16) and Dan ordered the burger with cheese and thick cut bacon ($13 for the burger and $4 extra for the cheese and bacon) and a pint of Oatmeal stout ($7). I was a bit hesitant about my meal but when I came out I was overwhelmed. There was so much food and lots of meat! I wish they had told me what was what on my plate b/c they all looked like meat to me and I was particularly curious as to which one was the calf tongue. But I was able to pick out the pork belly immediately and it was amazing. I think it's really really hard to get pork belly wrong. I also surprisingly loved the sauerkraut, it cut the fattiness of the meat well. But I could barely finish my plate and I am even regretting eating as much as I did. One of the meats just tasted like a hot dog and what I think was the calf tongue really just tasted like meat.

Dan's burger came out super rare, which is the way he actually like it and I had a bite and it was super delicious, but I'm not sure if it was worth $17. My drink turned out to be much stronger than I thought it was not very cocktail like. Instead it came out looking like straight whiskey in a small glass.

I was super curious about the meat plate that everyone was eating but I definitely could not have eaten more than I did. The name definitely speaks to how incredibly meat focused it is there, but I did see some veggie items. The host was very nice and apologetic for making us wait, and although I liked it, I'm not sure how worth the 1+ hour wait it was. Maybe 30-40 mins max. But definitely a great place if you are craving meat.