A favorite cited by a bunch of my friends, I was eager to try the brunch menu at Char No. 4 located on Brooklyn's restaurant row, Smith Street. The place itself has a different look with its black-brown siding than other area restaurants, which intrigued me. The bar area is located in the front of the restaurant so it looks super crowded and almost cramped when you get in. Yet once the host leads you to your table, the place seems to grow in size with a narrow dining room and then a comfortable large back room. The placement itself has dark woods and black painted walls - yet it still feels bright, light and airy.
The menu itself is Southern-inspired with Southern takes on egg and ham dishes. I was torn between ordering shrimp & grits or the house smoked artic char over crispy potato cake with a fried egg and egg remoulade. I decided to go with the artic char as I was interested in what exactly the potato cake would be. The dish itself was a fairly small portion despite its $15 price tag. The char was well cooked and seasoned and I liked the placement of the egg on a fish dish. Yet the rest of the dish was blah. The potato cake turned out to be a typical potato pancake (like the frozen kind you warm up in the oven) and there was an overabundance of sprouts on my plate. There were more sprouts than food. It was the kinda dish that might have worked better had the potato pancake been swapped for a biscuit on the bottom. Perhaps I should have opted for the shrimp and grits? I also got a buttermilk biscuit on the side, served with tasty pumpkin spice jam. Loved the biscuit as it was soft, flakey, and completely delicious.
Justin got a meat two ways sort of dish – the Char No. 4 Biscuits Benedict with house smoked ham, poached eggs & bacon gravy. It was sort of a meat and eggs dish that he seemed to like while I did not. I like the idea of a biscuits benedict but I don’t think it needed that much meat. Coffee was a bit pricey at $3 each which involved us trying to find our waiter for 20 minutes when we needed a refill. While we were seated fairly fast, it took awhile for us to order and then my biscuit came out 10-15 minutes AFTER our dishes came out.
All in all, a good brunch with an interesting and new take on what Southern brunch food can be. However is it really worth $46 for brunch – I don’t think so.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Traif - Williamsburg
Many entries to update but first a dinner update. Located near the JMZ and not much else, we journeyed to Traif in the southern part of Williamsburg. A pig on the front door gives you a good idea of what the menu is going to be like even before you walk in.
The decor is similar to many newer restaurants on Smith Street with lots of tables crowded on one side with a long bar on the other. We waited for about 5 minutes before we got a table though the Hostess had told us to anticipate a 20-30 minute wait. We were lucky enough to sit in the enclosed patio in the back of the restaurant with a view of the sky above and a garden behind us. It was cozy and comfortable.
Chef Jason Marcus is a chef well-known in Manhattan and so many people trek to Williamsburg to give this outpost a try. The menu is mainly small plates/tapas style with alot of bacon. Ironically enough, Traif is the Yiddish word for food that is not kosher. Dishes featuring shellfish, bacon, and cheese are decidedly not kosher so Marcus’s clever play on words is appreciated by this blogger.
We had inconsistent service. We waited for about 10 minutes before we were finally able to flag down a waiter. First, we got the bacon-wrapped blue cheese stuffed dates over spinach. This was the dish that food critics had raved about. It was good, not great. The blue cheese sort of overpowers the rest of the dish. You taste cheese and a slight crunch from the bacon - that's it. However, the tuna tartare and broccoli rabe dishes were each excellent - just a perfect dishes. Standout dishes period.
We also got pork belly, clams, and roasted carrots to round out our dishes. These dishes were pretty tasty too. The portions were all fairly small so I'd recommend 5-6 for 2 to split. After a long wait, we finally found our waiter to order desert. We HAD to order the bacon donuts for dessert because....well...bacon donuts, need I say more! They were great and a delicious way to end the meal. However, finding our waiter to get our check was a challenge. After debating where in the restaurant we’d sleep, our waiter emerged with the check.
All in all – Traif is recommended. For a bacon lover, this should be number one on your list. For someone who likes to try different and eclectic combinations of food, this is also a must visit. I’d give the food a 8 as the dishes are fun and unusual combinations but also delicious. I’d forget the bacon-wrapped blue cheese dates and order more tuna and broccoli rabe as they were truly spectacular dishes. Including service, I’d give Traif a 7 as the service was so spotty.
The decor is similar to many newer restaurants on Smith Street with lots of tables crowded on one side with a long bar on the other. We waited for about 5 minutes before we got a table though the Hostess had told us to anticipate a 20-30 minute wait. We were lucky enough to sit in the enclosed patio in the back of the restaurant with a view of the sky above and a garden behind us. It was cozy and comfortable.
Chef Jason Marcus is a chef well-known in Manhattan and so many people trek to Williamsburg to give this outpost a try. The menu is mainly small plates/tapas style with alot of bacon. Ironically enough, Traif is the Yiddish word for food that is not kosher. Dishes featuring shellfish, bacon, and cheese are decidedly not kosher so Marcus’s clever play on words is appreciated by this blogger.
We had inconsistent service. We waited for about 10 minutes before we were finally able to flag down a waiter. First, we got the bacon-wrapped blue cheese stuffed dates over spinach. This was the dish that food critics had raved about. It was good, not great. The blue cheese sort of overpowers the rest of the dish. You taste cheese and a slight crunch from the bacon - that's it. However, the tuna tartare and broccoli rabe dishes were each excellent - just a perfect dishes. Standout dishes period.
We also got pork belly, clams, and roasted carrots to round out our dishes. These dishes were pretty tasty too. The portions were all fairly small so I'd recommend 5-6 for 2 to split. After a long wait, we finally found our waiter to order desert. We HAD to order the bacon donuts for dessert because....well...bacon donuts, need I say more! They were great and a delicious way to end the meal. However, finding our waiter to get our check was a challenge. After debating where in the restaurant we’d sleep, our waiter emerged with the check.
All in all – Traif is recommended. For a bacon lover, this should be number one on your list. For someone who likes to try different and eclectic combinations of food, this is also a must visit. I’d give the food a 8 as the dishes are fun and unusual combinations but also delicious. I’d forget the bacon-wrapped blue cheese dates and order more tuna and broccoli rabe as they were truly spectacular dishes. Including service, I’d give Traif a 7 as the service was so spotty.
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