NYC's new comfort food

'ABC' Grilled Cheese | Buttermilk Channel

Since opening last winter, Buttermilk Channel, in Carroll Gardens, has become an instant neighborhood hit. Chalk a good part of that up to chef Ryan Angulo's menu of comfort mainstays: casual, unpretentious fare done superbly well. Consider the "ABC" grilled cheese ($11) an elevated take on your childhood favorite.

The lowdown: Angulo stacks New York state cheddar cheese with double smoked bacon and thin apple slices atop sourdough bread, before melding all the components via panini press. The result is a blissful marriage of juxtaposing flavors—salty, smoky, sweet—commingling between crunchy-gooey layers. Everything plays so well together, you may find yourself wishing you hadn't been such a purist in your youth.

Buttermilk Channel
524 Court St. at Huntington St.
Carroll Gardens
718-852-8490