Hometown BBQ Visited 7/1/2017 5 Forks

Hometown BBQ  454 Van Brunt St., Brooklyn, NY 11231

Dear Fette Sau - you know I love you very much but I may have found another lover and his name is Hometown BBQ.  I've had this place on my radar screen for a while but since it's in Red Hook, it's a bit of a trek to get to.  Plus so many of my friends are vegetarians that it's a bit difficult to convince them to haul ass all the way out there just so that they can only eat like 2 things on the menu.  But now that I've been there, I don't know how I can not not go to this place ever again. 

Red Hook has always been one of my favorite neighborhoods in Brooklyn because of its isolation and un-gentrified feel.  But because of that, it's  also a huge pain the ass to get to if you don't have a car.  Luckily there is a cool new ferry line you can take and it drops you off not too far from Hometown BBQ. The main upside for being in Red Hook is the space.  This place is huge and easily twice the size of Fett Sau, which has to deal with the constraints of Williamsburg real estate.  Dan and I strolled in at 4pm thinking it would be totally empty.  Umm - we were totally wrong.  The line was out the door and we waited 45 minutes to get to the front of the line.  Similar to Fette Sau, it's meat by the pound and you order at the counter where they slice and weight everything for you.  Luckily, with all the time you spend waiting in line, you have plenty of time to read the menu and plan over and over again what you're going to order.  I think we changed our minds about 10 times because EVERYTHING and I do mean everything sounded amazing.  Everyone around us clearly over ordered and I can totally understand why.  There was one guy who order a dozen ribs and like 2 pounds of meat all by himself - my kindred spirit.  They have it all here - brisket, pulled pork, pork and beef ribs, turkey, chicken, lamb, bacon, amazing sounding sandwiches, and even tastier sounding sides.   What Hometown has over Fette Sau are the sandwich options and better sides with mac and cheese and collard greens.  After changing our minds 50 times, we netted out on 1/2 lb turkey (for Dan), 1/2 pound brisket (for me), pork spare rib, 1/2 a chicken, 1/2 lb pulled pork and a small potato salad.   I really really wanted to Korean sticky ribs and mac and cheese but there was absolutely no way in hell we could have eaten all that food without needing an ambulance afterwards.

Most of the meat is non-sauced but they have 2 kinds of sauces at the table for you.  My first bite was of the brisket and it was heavenly.  Moist, fatty and meaty all at the same time.  The pulled pork was my next bite and it was also super delicious, especially with a bit of sweet BBQ sauce on it.  The pork rib was also fantastic with the meat easily falling off the bone.  The chicken was a juicy wood fired chicken with a Oaxacian marinade and a tangy salsa verde - this was Dan's favorite.  We really should have gotten a 1/4 chicken instead but hell, when in Rome....I was so full at this point that I actually never even got to the turkey sadly.  I want to give a shout out to the potato salad too - it was pretty much mashed up red potatoes with a hint of mayo - super addictive but I'm glad we only got a small.

There is also a killer Southern style bar with lots of beer and brown liquor options.  There's also a back room where apparently they have live music and other events.  In short, this place is perfect.  I regret that we didn't just over order (especially the Korean ribs which everyone seemed to have ordered) and bring food back but left over BBQ is generally not as good as when it's served fresh. Due to its location, I probably wont' be going there as often as I like, but that's probably a good thing because I might die of a premature heart attack if I went there as often as I would like.  Total bill:  $45/pp with tax

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Chiang Mai Visited 8/15/2015 4.5 Forks

Chiang Mai 293 Van Brunt St., Red Hook, NY 11231

Van, Anuja, and  I had talked about having a weekend fun day in and around the Red Hook area and when it came time to make a list of places to go there were actually a lot of choices.   There was the Red Hook Lobster Pound, Brooklyn Crab, Hometown BBQ and Chiang Mai.  However, the one place on the list that none of us had been to was Chiang Mai.  Location-wise, this place is a pain the butt to get to, as it the majority of Red Hook if you don't have a car.  Originally we were going to walk from the closest subway stop (Smith and 9th) but it was 1,000 degrees that day, so we ended up taking various shuttle/uber combinations to get there. 

Chiang Mai is a pop-up located inside a random artisanal housewares store.  It's a bit confusing because the houseware store also makes food and there was a sign that said that if you were looking for brunch, it was around the corner.  But we were actually there for the Thai restaurant, not the usual brunch so we had to double check that we shouldn't have gone around the corner.  In any case, if you're looking for Chiang Mai,  don't go around the corner.   

My first impression of this place was that I knew it would be a different Thai experience.  The owners were super friendly and walked us through their menu which is strictly Northern Thai style food - so no pad thai would be found on this menu.  Northern Thai food is making a real name for itself these days with Pok Pok and other places in the city.  It's known for its spicy and bold flavors. There were 4 of us, so we decided to try a bunch of different dishes.  We got the Tum Mamuang ($8), Krabong ($10), Khao Soi ($12), Sai Ua ($15), Khoong Yang ($11), and Pla Muk Yang ($9).  As you can see everything was very reasonably priced and very authentic.  We started with the Tum Mamuang, which is green mango pounded with palm sugar, garlic, chili, pickled fish, and served on a betel leaf.   It was made with incredibly fresh ingredients (our waitress told us they frequently get them direct from Thailand) and the mango had quite a spicy kick to it - luckily the betel leaf had a bit of a cooling element to it.  The way the dish was made and presented really brought me back to eating in Thailand.  You could just tell that everything was made from scratch and with a lot of care in the back room.  Next we tried the Krabong which is fried papaya, taro, and banana bloom fritters served with a chili vinaigrette and sweet chili peanut sauce.  These were basically Thai style fritters but what I loved about this dish wasn't the actual fritters but the dipping sauces.  They were sweet, sour, tangy and amazing.  I had the waitress keep them around even after we polished off all the fritters as I poured it on to all my other dishes.  Next we had the Khoong Yang which were 2 giant grilled prawns with the head on.  Presentation-wise, it was super impressive.  The prawns were huge and the tail meat was tender and delicious with a slight taste of the grilled charcoal.  Next we moved on to the Pla Muck Yang, which was grilled squid with the same dipping sauces.  I personally love grilled squid more than fried squid and this dish reminded me why.  It was prepared very simply with some salt, pepper and grilled with some lemon - super clean and it had a nice crunch and give to the meat.    Lastly we moved on to the entrees.  The Sai Ua is herbal pork sausage and white pork sausage served with sticky rice and steamed okra, squash, lettuce and cucumber.  The dish reminded me of the Vietnamese style pork because it's chilled and sliced vs. served warm and in a link form like a German sausage.  I liked that it wasn't a very heavy dish despite being a sausage dish and the steamed okra, which looked a bit bland and boring, was a nice way to cleanse the palate a bit and cool your mouth down from the heat of some of the other spices.   It was a nice dish but compared to all the other ones that had an in your face flavor profile, this one didn't seem to have it.  Lastly, we tried their famous Khao Soi, which is a curry soup served with egg noodles, dark chicken meat, mustard greens, coconut cream, soy sauce, chili oil and topped with thin crispy egg noodles on top.  It was a fantastic curry with the right amount of heat to it but I love that the coconut flavor really came out too.  As an Asian, I love a good piece of dark meat from the chicken and this was no exception.  It was a bit weird to eat such a hot and spicy dish on a boiling hot and humid day but you can't really come here and not try it.

I walked out of the restaurant hot and sweaty but really felt like I was transported back to Thailand and eating food made from real Thai people right off the streets.  It's a true departure from all the regular Thai places in the city.  The staff was super nice and you could see that they really took pride in their food.  While half of the charm of this place is that it's located off the beaten path, it really is a pain the butt to get to, otherwise I could see myself going here more often.  Total bill:  $25/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Brooklyn Crab Visited 7/3/2015 3 Forks

Brooklyn Crab 24 Reed St., Brooklyn, NY 11231

I have been hesitant to try Brooklyn Crab for a while because I had heard that the prices were crazy expensive and the lines were super long.  Plus as someone from Maryland, I have extremely particular tastes about my seafood - especially crabs.  But after having taken a walk past this place the other day and seeing how fun it looked, I figured it was worth a try.   

Holly and I got there around 4:30 and it was packed with tons of people just hanging out at the downstairs bar drinking and playing cornhole.  If I lived closer, I could see this as being a fun place to just hang out and grab a couple of drinks with friends but it's really in a pretty hard to get spot without a car or bike.  They quoted us a wait of over an hour, but that was expected so we grabbed some beers and just walked around the venue.  After only 40 minutes they called us and we luckily got seated at the upstairs level where there is a fantastic view of the water.  They did a great job with the decor and open design of the place - it really makes you feel like you are not in NYC.  As expected the menu is all seafood with a focus on crabs - blue crabs, snow crabs, and Alaskan crab legs.  I was shocked that they were charged $35 for 6 blue crabs - that's almost $6/crab!!  Insanity - I could easily polish off 6 crabs in my sleep and without seeing what size they were, there was no way I was going to order it.  We had wanted to get the lobster potato salad but they said they sold out of it a few hours ago - waa waa.  But they sold lobster and potato salad separately so I'm not sure why they could just mix the two together and make more. Regardless, we started with the popcorn shrimp ($11) and fries ($3.50) to start.  Holly got the Atlantic King Crab roll ($24) and I got the steam pot of the day ($28) which came with 8 mussels, 8 shrimp, 1 cluster of king crab legs, corn and sausage. The popcorn shrimp was small pieces of shrimp tossed in a spicy black pepper batter - they were sweet and salty although a bit too peppery for me.  But combined with the fries - it was a good way to start the meal while we waited for our food. The steamed pot was served in a spicy cajun mix which was fine for the shrimp part but I didn't really want the mixture on my crab or mussels.  I was very pleasantly surprised at how delicious the mussels were - they were the large New Zealand kind and they were super plumb and meaty.  If I had known that, I might have ordered an entire order of them instead.  The shrimp came with the head on, which I love, but they were on the small side so that was disappointing.  The cluster of crabs came with about 4 legs and they were ok, there wasn't as much meat in them as I would have liked.  The actual meat was sweet and good but there just wasn't enough of it and I was still pretty hungry after polishing off all the seafood in the pot.  Luckily they had 2 pieces of corn to help fill me up and I had a couple pieces of sausage as well.   I didn't try Holly's crab roll but she mentioned that it was tasty and it looked like a fairly decent sized crab roll.  

They were quite strict about the 2 hour time limit without actually kicking you out.  They would come by every 5 mins and "clean" our table or drop off the check without us asking for it.  I mean, I get it, it's a busy holiday weekend but if this was any other day, I might have been annoyed by it but the waiter was generally pretty nice overall (and also a dead ringer for Landry on Friday Night Lights). Brooklyn Crab is a fun place to hang out and it has great views but if you are looking for really good seafood in Red Hook, I would say you will have better luck at the revamped Red Hook Lobster Pound down the street.  They turned it into a full blown spacious restaurant with a fantastic menu (if I had to re-review it, I would give it at least 4 forks) and really great lobster at fairly affordable prices.  I would go there for food first and come here for drinks.  Total bill:  $110 for 2 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Pok Pok NY Visited 6/8/2012 4.5 Forks

Pok Pok NY 127 Columbia St., (between Kane St & Irving St), Brooklyn, NY 11231

Pok Pok has got to be one of the most highly anticipated restaurant openings this summer and I was super excited to try this place out as my first post-vacation outing.  Cicily had mentioned that there is always a super long wait, so we agreed to meet at 5:45pm on a Friday, 15 minutes before it opens.  I expected there to be a line but was shocked to see how many people were already in line when we got there (we were probably # 10 or 12 in line).  One thing to note is that its location is no where close to public transportation but on a good day the 15 minute walk is quite pleasant (just be prepared for it).  So my advice is the same I gave for Parm, get there early, be the first group to be seated (even if it means eating earlier than you would like), otherwise, be prepared to wait 1 1/2 hours as all the tables will likely to turn over at the same time. 


The menu here is authentic Northern Thai food.  There is no trace of pad thai, pad see eww or anything of that sort here.  We were starving and totally went to town in ordering.  We got the Ike's Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings ($12.50), the Hoi Thawt ($14), the Kaeng Hung Leh ($14) and the Phak Kad Jaw ($12).   You'd think that the wings would come out first but instead the Kaeng Hung Leh came out first.  This dish is comprised of stewed mustard greens with pork ribs in a soup base.  We mixed it with sticky rice and it was fabulous.  The mustard greens were cooked well so that they were super soft and easy to eat (even the stalky party) and the ribs pretty much fell off the bone as soon as you bit into it.  The broth was flavored heavily with dried chilis and tamarind and I would have been happy with just a soup/rice mixture nevermind adding in the pork.   The wings came out next and they were also delicious.  They are marinated in fish sauce, palm sugar, and garlic and super super sticky.  I usually don't love wings because they're so messy and are a lot of work for not a lot of meaty return.  Yes, these were still messy to eat but the mixture of fish sauce, sugar and garlic was really fantastic and made up for the sauce all over my fingers.  Next came the Hoi Thawt, which was the one dish that I was really looking forward to.  This dish is actually one of my all time favorite Thai dishes and it's not really found in a lot of restaurants.  It's a crepe with steamed mussels, eggs, garlic, chives, bean sprouts and served with a side of sriacha sauce.  I loved this dish but actually thought it could have been a bit crispier as I did find the crepe a little bit soggy, but otherwise all the ingredients worked really well with each other.  They didn't skimp on the mussels at all and had at least 1-2 full pieces of mussels with each bite.  I wished more places offered this dish!  Lastly, the Kaeng Hung Leh came out and it was essentially a pork belly and pork shoulder curry.  The pork was incredibly tender and fell apart with each bite.  The curry wasn't spicy at all and it was more of a caramelized sauce vs. what you would typically think of in a curry. 

Pok Pok NY is one of the restaurants that really lives up to its hype.  The food is incredibly authentic and doesn't skimp on flavor or deliciousness.  I would absolutely go back in a heartbeat, despite it's slightly out of the way location.  The prices are incredibly affordable considering the quality of food.  Just be mindful of the wait and the size of the restaurant (no more than 10 tables inside...I didn't see what the outside is like).  The waitstaff was pretty helpful but I did feel a tad bit like they were rushing us through our meal given the enormous wait behind us, which I kind of understand but didn't love.  Oh well, it's a small price to pay for amazing Thai food like this.  Total bill $42/pp with tax and tip. 

Photo Credit: Yelp  

Petite Crevette Visited 2/3/2012 4.5 Forks

Petite Crevette 144 Union St., (between Columbia St & Hicks St), Brooklyn, NY 11231

I had always been a bit scared of Petite Crevette not because I thought the food would be bad, but I had read a story on a food blog once that someone returned their food and the chef/owner went ballistic on them and threw a lobster at them!  But luckily, I overcame my fear of flying seafood and when my friend Elissa wanted to go there on one of her "last outings" in Brooklyn, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. 


The location is totally out of the way (it's on the OTHER side of the BQE) and not very showy from the outside.  But once you're inside and taste the food, none of that matters.  It's super cozy inside and they have all their dishes written up brown paper that's taped up on the wall.  One nice thing about this place is that it's BYOB, so don't forget to bring a bottle of wine.  Everything on the menu looked and sounded totally amazing.  They had fried oysters, tuna carpaccio, crab corn chowder, mussels, tuna burgers, salmon burgers, a variety of whole fish, thai coconut curry with seafood, scallops, swordfish, cioppino with all sorts of seafood, and the list could go on and go.  Basically anything that you can think of that has seafood, they had it on the menu.  I decided to go simple and go the crab corn chowder ($8) and the salmon burger ($15).  The chowder was rich and creamy and the best part was that it was chock full of fresh crab meat.  Now as someone from MD, fresh crab meat means a whole lot to me, so I was pretty pleased with this dish.  At first I kind of regretted getting the salmon burger because it's so unoriginal, but once I bit into it, I was totally happy with my choice.  While it is a salmon patty, it was really a bunch of chopped up super fresh salmon (of sashimi quality) with very little filler on a toasted bun served with wasabi mayo, fries and a side salad.  It was almost like eating a bunch of salmon sushi on a bun, which may not sound appealing but believe me, it was delicious.  I was super full by the end of it, but totally wished that I had room to order more dishes because I rarely get to eat seafood this food and at such reasonable prices!  

Luckily no fish was thrown my way, but of course I didn't have anything wrong with my food.  Elissa got the tuna burger and also said that it was pretty amazing.  The only bummer is that this place is so out of the way and I'd really have to make a super effort to get there.  But part of the charm I think is because it's so tucked away that it's not bombard with your usual overflow of yuppies from Smith street.  The real bummer is that it's cash only, so remember to go to the ATM. Total bill $33/pp with tip and tax. 


Photo Credit: Yelp

The Good Fork Visited 9/20/2011 4 Forks

The Good Fork 391 Van Brunt St., (between Coffey St & Van Dyke St), Brooklyn, NY 11231

Four forks for The Good Fork! Ok, I had to get that out of the way.  But in all seriousness, The Good Fork is a great neighborhood restaurant in a great neighborhood, Red Hook.  It's one of those places that just makes you feel super homey and comfortable.

The menu is basic American with a slight Korean flare.  The menu isn't huge but that's ok when most of the food on there is good.  Dan and I split the pork and chive dumplings ($9), I got the crispy tofu and eggs ($15) which is their vegetarian version of steak and eggs and Dan got the good fork burger ($13).  While we were waiting for our food, the cute black neighborhood cat saunters in, which is probably a huge health code violation, but it just made the place feel more homey.  It also felt so comfortable there because the location of this place is such that really only people who live in the area can come or those who were on their way to Fairway (which is where Dan and I would fall in).  The dumplings came out first and they were extremely plump and full of filling.  The skin was fairly thin and it was really packed to the max with pork (didn't really taste too much chive).  The dipping sauce was different, it had this thick almost molasses consistency but it wasn't super sweet.  You could definitely tell that these dumplings were handmade and were much better than the frozen kinds you typically get at a Chinese restaurant.  Our main dishes were also equally delicious, but in a subtle way.  My dish wasn't anything totally mind blowing but there was something about it that was very satisfying.  It came with 3 fairly big pieces of lightly tempura battered soft tofu on a bed of kimchi rice and sauteed arugula.  The kimchi rice wasn't spicy at all but all the flavors were mixed well that it tasted better than just your standard rice.  The fried egg on top of the dish was ok, it actually could have been a bit runnier.  The tofu was battered perfectly and it made me feel super healthy eating this dish.  I also tried Dan's burger which he got medium rare and it was most definitely much closer on the rare side...in fact the middle was pretty bright pink but that didn't really bother either of us.  And good god, that burger was probably one of the best burgers I've had in a while.  It was juicy and salty and addictive.  The bread was a super soft brioche and it was also one of the biggest burgers I've had in a while. Really delicious.

The waitstaff was also super nice and when Dan I ordered the Six Point and instead of telling us they were just out of it, our waitress brought a tasting of another really tasty beer.  The waitress was really nice without being super pushy.  I wished I lived closer to here because it would totally be one of those places I would come into over and over again. I noticed that even on a random Tuesday night, there was a constant stream of people coming in from 8-9pm.  Total bill: $65 for 2 people with tip.

Photo credit: Yelp   

Red Hook Lobster Pound Visited 10/17/10 3.75 Forks

Red Hook Lobster Pound  284 Van Brunt St, (between Verona St & Visitation Pl), Brooklyn, NY 11231

 I have always been a sucker for lobster rolls. I mean, how can you NOT love them? I had seen the Red Hook Lobster Pound at various Brooklyn outings such as the Brooklyn Flea (where I actually had one) and Brooklyn Bridge Park.  But I had never visited the actual "pound", so I was thrilled when BBE had a 30% discount for dine-in only.  
When they say dine-in, you should know that it's really just a bunch of picnic tables next door (you have to actually exit the space where you order and walk to the space next door).  The menu at the pound is pretty limited: 2 types of lobster rolls for $15/each (Maine version which is the typical cold meat with mayo or CT style which is warm lobster drenched in butter), shrimp rolls $8, or you can get the lobster dinner for $25 which is a 1 1/2 lb lobster with corn and cole slaw.  You can also order lobster salad and buy buns there to make your own lobster rolls.  Dessert wise they offer whoopie pies ($3).  I knew that one roll wouldn't be enough for me, so Dan and I each got a Maine roll and then split a CT style roll and a whoopie pie.  
First there is a good chunk of lobster meat and they are big pieces, not small string-y bits of the lobster.  I started with the CT style first and it was delicious and warm and extremely soaked in butter...and the bun was also very butter-y and well toasted.  I should also mention that the rolls come with a small bag of chips and a pickle.  I really liked this version although I'm sure my doctor would tell me to only have it once a year.  I moved on to the Maine style next, and it was also very lobster-y, but I didn't like the celery in it.  I did like the thinly sliced scallion but the size of the roll which definitely more of a snack than a full meal.  I think for $15 they were great rolls but I would have liked something more substantial than just chips for dinner.  Of course when you go to a place like the Pearl Oyster Bar or Mary's Fish Camp the rolls are bigger and come with fries, but they are also $27+.  But what really put me over the edge for dinner was the whoopie pie, which is just two pieces of dense chocolate cake sandwiched around marshmallow fluff.  It was good, but totally sat like a brick in my stomach afterwards.  All in all, I think it's a cute informal place and they had mentioned that they were going to expand their menu soon, which I think is a great idea.  Total bill $36.50.

Red Hook Ball Fields Visited 5/30/10 4 Forks

Red Hook Ball Fields Clinton St & Bay St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

I have been to the Red Hook Ball Fields many times and I love it every time. It's basically a bunch of Latin American food charts that line a soccer field in Red Hook. There are pupusas, tacos, huraches, corn on the cob, fruit drinks, ceviche, etc. The carts are very authentic and run by many different kinds of latin americans. It's hard to decide where to go and where to start...and I would warn you to come hungry and with cash. We started off with a freshly squeezed watermelon juice ($2) and 2 corn on the cob with mayo and chili ($2.50/each). The watermelon juice was great and the ideal summer drink. The only hard part was that there are chunks of watermelon at the bottom so it's hard to drink sometimes. The corn was very fresh and the combo of mayo and chili was very tasty, but extremely messy.

It was hard to pick what our main meal would be...I had wanted pupusas, but everyone seemed to have the huraches, so we thought it would be good to try. The line was super long but goes pretty quickly. The signage on the carts are in spanish with some english, so I think if you know spanish you will have an easier time interpreting the menu. We got a hurache with chorizio ($6)...the thing is HUGE. It's a giant fresh tortilla (so good on its own) and it had chorizio, lettuce, tomato, and sour cream. It was delicious and extremely filling. One is enough for 2 people. What I love about this place is that it seems like you're a world away from New York City but it's really not that far away from the city. I will warn you that it's pretty hard to get to. Even after you get off the F train at Smith and 9th street, it's still a long walk through a semi-sketchy 'hood. But once you are there, the people there are all incredibly nice and you can see them cooking the food right there in the cart, so you know it's fresh and made well.

We ended the day with a strawberry shake ($2.50), which was made from fresh strawberries and milk, I think. I used come and get the ceviche but they've since raised the prices from $7 to $9, so I took a pass on it but in the past it tasted really good.

Calexico Carne Asada Visited 4/10/10 3.5 Forks

Calexico Carne Asada 122 Union St(between Columbia St & Hicks St)

One of my biggest gripes about NYC and Brooklyn in general is that there aren't enough good mexican places. While Calexico isn't really near my apt, but it's definitely an option that I would consider going back to many times. When we first got there the cashier guy told us that the wait would be 50 minutes! I had to do a double take b/c, while the place was full, it didn't seem like it would merit an almost 1 hour wait for food. But I was to tired and lazy to go somewhere else, so we decided to stay.

They have the typcial mexican assortment on the menu: burritos, tacos, quesadillas, etc. I got the carne asada burrito with crack sauce and dan got the pulled pork version. We got a bottle of water and buckled down for our wait. But after 25 minutes our food came! I was a bit surprised by that b/c other people who were there before us still hadn't been served. But i wasn't going to complain. The carne asada burrito($8 + $.50 for crack sauce) was delicious! The meat was incredibly juicy and well cut and seasoned. I know I had asked for crack sauce but I didn't feel like it was in my burrito, even though the burrito had a lot of other stuff going on in it. Dan had some kind of orange sauce that tasted like 1,000 island dressing that we thought was the crack sauce. The burrito was wet and the shell was not dried out, which is what I get from a lot of places around here. After trying the food here and seeing what the other Mexican options are in the 'hood, I completely understand why there would be a 50 min wait. I just wish they delivered to my apt.

Fort Defiance - Visited 1/30/10 - 2 Forks

Fort Defiance 365 Van Brunt Street (corner of Dikeman) Brooklyn, NY 1123

This place has been getting a lot of great press lately and I was eager to check it out. I love Red Hook and usually like places that are a bit off the beaten path. We went for brunch on a Saturday afternoon around 12:30pm. The place is cute from the outside and inside it's pretty small, maybe 8-10 tables, with some seating at the bar. The place claims to be New Orleans style food, so I was excited to try the Muffelatta sandwich, which is a New Orleans classic. I should have asked what was in the sandwich first and I painfully later learned that it was covered in olive paste, which I hate! The sandwich was decent sized ($10) but from what I heard, in New Orleans they are gigantic. The bread was nice and soft and the meats and cheeses were fine, but I just couldn't get over the olive taste. Dan got the Savannah ($11), which sounded great on paper: biscuits, eggs, gravy and small piece of fried chicken. I just had a small bite, so I couldn't really properly assess the meal, but Dan claimed it completely lacked flavor and was something that he could probably make at home. He also left feeling hungry, which usually doesn't happen with him. The coffee was individually ground and brewed ($2.50), so there were no re-fills, which I generally don't like when you're having breakfast/brunch. I'm not sure what all the hub-bub was about...although I think the cocktails get most of the buzz and they did sound good, but the food was a bit of a disappointment.