Quick Bites: Brooklyn Star Shines More Brightly

[Pigging by Wilfrid: October 24, 2011]

This was an entirely impromptu drop in.   So much so that I didn't even have my camera with me (pictures are from early last year). 

I was headed somewhere else to do something different, when I thought - hey, let's at least go and take a look at Brooklyn Star's new premises.   I looked, I entered, I ordered.

Veterans of the Pig might remember that after I gave the original Brooklyn Star mighty praise here, a kitchen fire gutted the place and closed them for well over a year.   A series of fund-raisers ensued which must have been very successful, because the restaurant never moved back to the original premises.  Instead, it found a new home on a corner of Lorimer Street, a short walk away, and is much bigger, brighter and more comfortable.

Although I found the food at the first join creative and tasty, I wasn't truly comfortable in a tight-crammed, dingry storefront, with nowhere to stand while awaiting a table, and some of the counter seating actually facing the wall.  Nothing prepared me for the almost swanky pair of rooms which now houses the operation: in the front, a spacious bar with plenty of seating, in the back an even bigger room with highly polished wooden tables and smooth benches.  The kitchen itself is enormous by NYC standards.

Gold star service when I arrived solo.  I was seated at an empty four-top; after a moment, the greeter asked if I would be happier at the bar.  Not really, I said, although if she had a large party to seat...  "No, no," she smiled, "I want you to be comfortable."  Okay!

As before, most of the pleasures are to be found in the small plate section of the menu, although "small" and "large" are a little misleading here.  Two small plates with the signature skillet corn bread would feed most normal people.  I gorged myself on three.

(Pigs' tails last year)

I had to tackle the pigs' tails again, meatier than the average rib and served in a grossly sticky bbq sauce.  A ten napkin dish.  The tails came with small, darkly browned hush puppies, which I found dry - the only thing I didn't particularly enjoy.

But I had the cornbread in any case, flecked with jalapeño and bacon (unlike the plain version pictured).  I don't know where you can find better cornbread in New York - light, fluffy, sweet and savory at once.

I tried some different dishes too.  Fried oyster tacos with a smear of refried beans came two to an order, topped with shredded Napa cabbage.  A beef tongue special, the two slices of tongue smokily seared but rare in the center, on the side I guess a kind of cheese croquette - creamy cheese oozing from a crisp, breadcrumb casing (maybe there is a southern name for this?).  Here's the restaurant's own picture of the dish.

The large plates, if you get them, easily feed two people; dishes advertized for two, like the rib eye, doubtless feed four.  There's a fried chicken feast for parties which looked glorious as it sped by: at $20 a head a steal.

Prices remain reasonable, given the portions, and the wine list is much better than it was.  This place should be on your radar, if you're hungry enough for it.

Website here.