NYC Fall Dining Preview 2010: Brooklyn and beyond

At Sienna, modern American bites from the Oak Room's Eric Hara

NYC Fall Dining Preview 2010

From uptown to downtown to Brooklyn: the season's top chefs...

Written and reported by Alexis L. Loinaz, Jeremy Cesarec, Jamie Feldmar, Bret Stetka, Kelly Dobkin and Chantal Martineau

Cafe Madeline
1603 Cortelyou Road at 16th St., Ditmas Park
After finding a recipe for coffee shop success with their Milk Bar in burgeoning Prospect Heights, owners Alexander Hall and Sabrina Godfrey have set their sights on underserved Ditmas Park. Hall says the pair are almost like "property developers—we find areas that aren't saturated," where they open up shop. He describes the new project as "an up-market French-style coffee shop with a twist," and wants to establish a loyal clientele and become a neighborhood spot. The coffee will come from single-origin Counter Culture, with a focus on pour-over single-cup preparation. The food menu will include CeciCela pastries, granola with fresh fruit, and panini. With a convenient location right next to the Q subway stop, there's a solid chance Cafe Madeline will emulate its predecessor’s success. (September)

Akariba
77 N. Sixth St. at Wythe St., Williamsburg
After plans to expand to Manhattan fell through, husband-and-wife Zenkichi owners Shaul Margulies and Motoko Watanabe decided to convert the 40-seat yard space of their Williamsburg mainstay into a separate sake and oyster bar. The space, modeled after laid-back Tokyo cocktail bars, will be a more casual affair than the omakase-centric Zenkichi. The small menu will focus on sake drinks and a raw bar, plus a handful of cooked bar snacks. Expect jazz music and dim lights in what is already one of Williamsburg's more romantic spots. (September)

B.A.D. (Breakfast All Day)
131 Grand St. at Berry St., Williamsburg
Steve Lynn, owner of the citywide Burritoville chain, is trying his hand in Williamsburg with a 24-hour diner he hopes will appeal to carnivores, vegetarians, families and night owls alike. Never mind the name—the menu goes way beyond breakfast, so B.A.D. will hopefully avoid the fate of the failed East Village spot Permanent Brunch. Though there will be eight kinds of pancakes and a slew of omelettes, the diner will also serve everything from burgers (including a custom beef blend and veggie black bean) to burritos and pasta dishes. The kitchen is divided into veg-and-meat sections, and the menu tops out around $10. "Our priorities are quality foods, large portions and low prices," Lynn says. Can't argue with that. (September)

Breuckelen
268 Clinton St. between Verendah Place and Warren St.; Cobble Hill 718-855-8110
These days, there's no shortage of new Brooklyn (or should we say Breuckelen?) restaurants and bars looking back a century for inspiration. While this handsome new Cobble Hill spot has plenty of throwback touches, it has one thing most of its vintage brethren don't: landmark status. Owner Andrew Karasz, a former chef at Django, restored the original tin ceiling and brickwork, choosing to "excavate" rather than renovate, and gained a landmark designation for his efforts. The modern American cuisine is "hyper seasonal," with many new offerings daily depending on availability. Expect a wide range of interesting pastas (cappelini with Meyer lemon, Thai chili, parsley and olive oil) and fusion entrees like Indian-inflected grilled diver scallops with warm daal salad, spiced okra, cilantro yogurt and crisp papadam. (September)

Maritime Parc
84 Audrey Zapp Drive, Liberty State Park, N.J.
Ever want to eat market-driven food while staring at Manhattan? Come fall, you can. Chef Chris Siversen’s new sustainable, seafood-centric restaurant sits smack on the Hudson in New Jersey’s Liberty State Park. And it's not as tough to get to as you think: Ferry service runs from downtown Manhattan and docks right in front of the restaurant, making Jersey dining closer than ever before. Much of the menu will be sourced from New York and New Jersey farms, hopefully excluding the fish. Siversen sums it up nicely: “A place with great food and a waterfront setting, with an amazing raw bar, fresh local produce and a really great grass-fed steak." (September)

Sienna
2802 31st St. at 28th Ave., Astoria
The Deck
3015 Newtown Ave. between 30th and 31st Sts., Astoria
Eric Hara will be one busy dude this fall: The talented chef, who revived the troubled Oak Room in 2009, will be opening two projects in Astoria, just around the corner from each other. Sienna will be an upscale 250-seat eatery and lounge with its own sushi bar, while The Deck will be a more intimate, casual café that seats 70. Both will feature Hara's brand of modern American bites laced with international flavors. The smaller spot will serve a comfort food-ish menu with dishes like chicken-chorizo pot pie and roast beef with candied carrots, while the larger eatery will offer higher-end fare like octopus salad with white beans and citrus vinaigrette, and New York strip steak with bone marrow gremolata. (The Deck opens at the end of September; Sienna drops in mid-fall)

Court Street Grocers
485 Court St. between Nelson and Huntington Sts., Carroll Gardens
On the heels of the opening of nearby Prime Meats Delicatessen & Provisions, two former art students with stints at upscale grocers like Williamsburg's Bedford Cheese and Balducci's are adding to the bounty on south Court Street. Matt Ross and Eric Finkelstein originally signed a lease on a long, thin space that formerly housed a direct mail operation, with the plan to install deli cases and a sandwich shop within the limited confines. After an adjacent space became available, they've since decided to devote the neighboring space to sandwiches and the like, reserving the original for deli and pantry items. After quickly picking up on the turf-consciousness of the somewhat old-school neighborhood, the friends realized they should steer clear of Italian specialties (already well-served by nearby Caputo's and the aforementioned Prime Meats), and will instead focus on American regional specialty items, and even ubiquitous national brands. As Matt says, "We want to keep prices reasonable. No $12 ketchup. You can't get any better than Heinz, so that's what we'll have." (Late September)

Unnamed European Gastropub
33 Nassau Ave. at Dobbin St., Greenpoint
Rob Shaliman, who's behind the Lower East Side bars Fat Baby, Spitzer's Corner, Mason Dixon and Los Feliz, is branching out to Brooklyn with this new 6,000-square-foot space in Greenpoint. The converted factory, a former baking plant, will retain an industrial look and feel, as it peddles Belgian and German fare alongside an extensive selection of craft beer on tap. “The idea will be a European-style gastropub. With the décor, I’m using more metals and glass, whereas I used only wood before,” says Shaliman, adding, “It’s very different [from my other bars]… The space is a lot more substantial.” (Late October)

MexiQ Kitchen and Draft
37-11 30th Ave. near 38th St., Astoria
With the identically named (although entirely unrelated) Mexicue truck already making the rounds, it looks like Mexican BBQ may be the menu concept du jour. Consulting chef Julieta Ballestros (Crema, Los Feliz) designed the menu at this Astoria eatery, which owner Dino Philippo describes as "American barbecue with a Mexican twist." The tentative menu will feature items like pulled pork carnitas, cowboy-style beans and panko-crusted truffle mac ‘n' cheese. The bar will feature 48 beers on tap and will appropriately have an extensive Mexican beer selection as well as a tequila list. Queens-native owner Dino Philippou owns and operates Cavo restaurant, and partner Dimitri Paloumbis owns Astoria pool hall, Break. (September)

Joya
723 Fulton St. at Fort Greene Place, Fort Greene
If you've ever happened upon popular Court Street spot Joya, especially on a packed Thursday through Saturday night, you'll no doubt notice that Brooklynites seem to love a combination of inexpensive Thai cuisine, modern decor and bumping music. With this spin-off location opening in the very heart of Fort Greene's nexus of affordable eateries, we'll see if the same formula translates to a new neighborhood. Housed in the former Taste of Indian space, this sleek spot has undergone a complete overhaul, giving it an industrial, concrete-and-brick heavy look, and the kind of ambience that plays as big a part as the food in the Joya universe. (Fall)