Via:

The Water Table is Brooklyn’s very first dinner boat! Founded by Captain Kelli Farwell, formally of Rye, Dumont, Craft and Gramercy Tavern, it’s a New England style restaurant on the water. For a fixed price, guests of The Water Table will enjoy a three-hour cruise originating at one of the many new piers opening in Greenpoint, and a selection of two of our classic dishes, such as lobster rolls, oysters on the half shell, clam chowder, and delicious veggies, whipped up by our on-board chef. Enjoy classic craft cocktails mixed by our bartender, or try one of our selection of amazing New England craft beers or seasonal wine selections.

While Captain Farwell steams the boat around New York Harbor, you’ll be enjoying quality food and drinks, and drifting away with the gorgeous views of the city that we all love. Grab a date or some friends to join one of two nightly dinner tours!

They need some help launching this thing. Find out how you can help (and win free dinners) here.

Greenpoint is becoming an essential stop for beer snobs. We’re looking forward to this opening from Momofuku alum Daniel Burns!

Before working as the head of research and development for the Momofuku restaurants, chef Daniel Burns cooked at The Fat Duck in England, and he built and ran the pastry program at Noma in Copenhagen. Somewhere along the way, he connected with Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, an acclaimed Danish brewer who has created beer for some of the world’s best restaurants. Now Daniel and Jeppe are teaming up to open a new Brooklyn project that they hope will be the best beer bar in the country.

The bar is called Tørst (the Danish word for “thirst”), and it will open at 615 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, just around the corner from the Nassau Avenue G-train station.Jeppe is curating the beer list, which will feature about 20 beers on tap. Jeppe owns both a brewing company, Evil Twin Brewing, and a beer distribution company, so he has deep connections in the world of European craft beer. The menu is still a work in progress, but expect a few selections that have never been served before in the United States. The bar will also have a special beer storage system, where the ales will be kept at different temperatures — serious beer nerd stuff.

In addition to the barroom up front, the space will also have a 25-seat restaurant in the back called Luksus (the Danish word for “luxury”) where Burns will serve a menu of Scandinavian-influenced American fare, all paired with beer. Burns notes: “We want to focus on food that will go well with the beer.” The restaurant will open a few months after the bar up front

Dear Bushwick

Village Voice Says:

Inside the long, narrow dining room, couples talk quietly and a cyclist massages a cramp from his bare, tattooed calf. A small kitchen relays smells of meat and vegetables sizzling in duck fat, of hot oil meeting battered shrimp. Jessica Wilson is the chef. She used to run the kitchen at Goat Town, in the East Village. Here, she cooks English-inspired dishes with American ingredients: A grand pork chop ($20), the centerpiece of the menu, sits on shaved brussels sprouts in a bacon-y vinaigrette. The sprouts pack flavor without adding weight to the dish. This is the sort of simple, seasonal food that might change your mind about contemporary English cooking. Tiny appetizers are ideal with the cocktails (all priced at $10) that make use of many gins and exciting tinctures. Fried potato peels ($4) are a tangle of see-through fairy wings, dusted with salt and vinegar. There’s a fine duck-sausage roll ($6) with ginger-cranberry chutney, but it has a sad, soggy bottom of undercooked pastry (no, this does not make it more traditional). Halved, smoked eggs ($6) with creamy yolks and horseradish butter are squeaky and wonderfully messy. As prices go up, so do portions. A slab of crisp-skinned pork belly on wilted beet leaves ($12) could make a light meal paired with dressed roasted carrots ($5) or a shaved vegetable salad ($9) studded with cheddar. Big, juicy oysters ($11) are hot under a blanket of bread crumbs, spooning with fennel stuffing. A blob of goose terrine ($12) tastes precisely of Christmas: racy game, pickled plums, and enough clove to numb the tongue—Wilson is not shy with spices. A mutton shoulder ($21), though cooked inconsistently, was terrific when it was served tender and pink in the middle. Service is scatterbrained but caring. Twice, something my party ordered simply never arrived (on both occasions, apologies were genuine). Despite this, and the long waits that can draw out between dishes, it’s easy to see why locals like to gather at Dear Bushwick: They can eat and drink well without much fuss.

More information here.

Zizi Limona (c/o NY Times)

Mr. Mesika doubles as pastry chef. (His grandfather was a baker for the king of Morocco.) A cardamom-laced semolina cake anointed with rosewater syrup arrives in rubble around a mound of vanilla ice cream, with shavings of sesame halvah twisted up into a peak and drizzles of tahini and silan down the slopes ($7). It is an astonishingly calming dessert, the polar opposite of a sundae: there are so many flavors that you want to take your time eating it. Baklava ($6) is almost as light, with spice outflanking sugar, the pistachio-walnut paste seeded with coriander, fennel and ginger, then finished with a syrup of anise, cardamom and cinnamon.

The restaurant, which opened in Williamsburg in September, cultivates an air of unhurry. Enter and the pulse slows. Tables are set a respectful distance from one another. Empty picture frames hang on exposed brick walls, blank as the mind. The only distraction is the soundtrack, which makes jarring shifts: you might start the meal with “Stairway to Heaven” and end it with Jack Johnson. It is a long way to fall.

More information here.

NYCurated

FREEwilliamsburg and My Social List are  partnering on a North Brooklyn cultural e-mail newsletter, NYCurated. This collaborative effort will provide you with a weekly guide (yes, no annoying daily e-mails) to the best shows, the tastiest food, and the most awe-inspiring art in Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick.

And we’re looking for YOUR help! Our little North Brooklyn enclave is brimming with sophisticated, creative individuals who not only attend the sorts of events we plan on covering, but make them happen. We are specifically looking for folks that are good at examining art, food and culture in the heart of North Brooklyn.  Your content will appear in both NYCurated and on FREEwilliamsburg. If you’re interested in contributing, please e-mail a writing sample to nycurated@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your feedback on the best new restaurant in Greenpoint, a recent gallery opening in Bushwick or the latest trend coming out of Williamsburg.

QI Thai (c/o Gothamist)

They’re still awaiting their liquor license but Qi Thai Grill is now open for business. Hopefully it won’t suck as much as Sea.

And here we have the new Williamsburg restaurant QI Thai Grill, a collaboration between Pichet Ong, the creative chef and baker who ran the now-defunct P*ong, Sripraphai Tipmanee of Woodside’s Sripraphai, and chef Kea SiwaSila….

The menu is divided into two parts, with Ong handling the “Grilled” side, creating such items as Grilled Pork Jaw (Kor Mooh Yahng) served with spicy tamarind dipping sauce; Cinnamon Pork & Crispy Pork Belly (Mooh Dang Mooh Grohb), which is described as a “duo of roasted marinated pork and crispy pork belly, sweet Thai cinnamon soy dipping sauce; and Pork Satay (Mooh Sa-teyh). Ong explains, “Chicken satay didn’t originally exist in Thailand, just juicy pork! Served with toasted bread (as Bangkok street food style), peanut sauce and cucumber chutney.” And then there is the aforementioned Ovaltine Pork Ribs (Kra Dook Mhoo O-Wun-Tin), which are slowly marinated in five spices and then glazed “with Ovaltine barbecue sauce.” And be sure to save room for the Cinnamon Pork & Crispy Pork Belly (Mooh Dang Mooh Grohb), a “duo of roasted marinated pork and crispy pork belly, sweet Thai cinnamon soy dipping sauce marinated in five spices.” That’s ALSO glazed with (why not?) Ovaltine.

Tipmanee’s half of the menu focuses on small plates such as Spicy Pork Trotter with Fresh Herbs (Kee Mao kah Mooh); Mango Soft-shell crab (Yahm Puu Nihm) with mango salad, red onions, chili, lime, cilantro; and a Spicy Beef Tendon Salad (Larb Enn). They’re still waiting on the liquor license, but once that comes through you’ll be able to order (deep breath) Krungthepmahanakhon Amornrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharat Ratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphiman Awatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit. Named for Bangkok’s official name, it’s made with gin, vodka, star anise, ginger, yuzu, lime, Thai iced tea, and guava juice.

More pictures at Gothamist.

Qi Thai Grill
176 North 9th Street, Williamsburg
718.302.1499

via Eater:

Daniel Delaney’s barbecue joint BrisketTown will start serving breakfast tacos this coming Saturday, with brisket and pulled pork taco options. Also starting this week, BrisketTown will be open seven days a week.

More information here.

Also, Monk Pizzeria is now open:

The new concept in the Williamsburg space that briefly housed the ambitious Basque restaurant Mercado on Kent is now open. Called Monk Bar & Pizzeria, it’s a Neapolitan pizzeria with a menu that includes Southern Italian pastas, as well as some cheese and antipasti options. The pizzas all run between $14 and $17 and come on a crust of white organic flour, with spelt or khorasan wheat crusts available as a $2 add-on. Monk opened in early December, and Eater hears that at least one of the Mercado on Kent principals is involved in this project as well.

Monk Pizzeria is located at:
291 Kent Ave Williamsburg
Brooklyn, New York 11211

BrisketTown (c/o Eater)

There are lots of great new places now open in the hood:

Selamat Pagi

From the NY Times:
Indonesian restaurants are scarce in New York, and this one specializes in the cuisine of Bali. The owners are the ice cream artisans Ben Van Leeuwen, Pete Van Leeuwen and Laura O’Neill, who had some storefront space at their production kitchen and decided to take their love of Bali to the public. Of course, their sweets are served. But before dessert, consider finishing your plate of lemon-grass fish curry, prawn and fish satay, bluefish caramelized with palm sugar, and nasi goreng (a type of fried rice). The chef, Sophia Loch, came from Otto. The pastry chef, Chelsea Wilkes, from Marlow & Sons, is whipping up a Balinese coconut crème brûlée

Williamsburg Pizza:

From Serious Eats:
The pizza was really good: housemade or Grande mozz on the slices, sweet canned San Marzanos strained as the sauce, and an old school NYC slice crust that had a crisp veneer and tender insides, with plenty of color and bubbles to boot…. We [also] had a grandma slice, a regular slice, a slice with apples, gorgonzola, and a rectangular slice with mushrooms and fresh rosemary. None were less than very good, and it’s clear that Coniglio has the chops and the desire to make terrific slices pizza born out of NYC slice tradition at its finest.

(more…)

Their “Eastern European comfort food” looks tasty and they have a heated garden. Let us know what you think in comments. More information here.

Kristophe Menu:

Appetizers

Spicy Hungarian Beef Soup 6.5
in bread bowl

Grilled Bacon 6.5
pickles and honey mustard

Devils on Horseback 7.5
Kurobuta bacon wrapped dates

Sweet Potato Pierogies 7.5
butter, rosemary, thyme

Grass Fed Spicy Beef Tartar 8
with shallots, pickles, black olives

Grilled Mixed Sausage 11
daily selection of wild game sausages

Salads

Kale Salad 9
sweet garlic dressing, quinoa,
red cabbage, tomatoes

Arugula Salad 9
citrus vinaigrette, gorgonzola cheese,
Asian pear, walnuts

(more…)

via Landhaus blog

When I think of The Woods, the place to go in south Williamsburg when you want one of those kinds of nights, I don’t really think of fancy “farm to sandwich” cuisine. That may soon change; according to Eater, Brooklyn Flea favorite Landaus has announced that they’re opening a full restaurant inside The Woods. The restaurant – that’s right, not just a food cart – will take the place of the taco cart that’s been operating out of the backyard since 2009.

Landhaus at The Woods, as it will be called, will have a full kitchen and menu items like “wood-grilled heritage pork chops, grass fed cheeseburgers, lobster rolls, and roasted mushroom sandwiches with cheddar cheese sauce.” There will be a party for the restaurant’s opening this Sunday, October 28th from 2-6pm.