Red Hook Tavern

329 van brunt Street

11231 Brooklyn, USA

The food

Shrimp Cocktail, Bun’s fancy Cocktail Sauce, Old Bay

Chopped Kale Salad, Granny Smith apples, toasted almonds, two-year aged Gouda, Champagne Dijon vinaigrette

Cavatelli, Oxtail Ragout, Garlic Breadcrumbs

Fish And Chips, Malt Vinegar, Tartar Sauce, Frites

Dry Aged Red Hook Tavern Burger, White Onions, Fries

You could be excused for thinking that Brooklyn’s Red Hook Tavern is an old school neighbourhood diner (in fact, the Red Hook neighbourhood of Brooklyn, hence the restaurant’s name) that serves casual American fare and beers. Clearly, the first impression one is left with when walking through the tavern’s doors is of just that type of establishment; after all, the Red Hook Tavern was designed in homage to and in memory of the corner taverns of the owner’s youth. Dark paneling, rustic tables and chairs, cramped quarters and dim lighting: the place has ‘tavern’ life down to a ‘t’. But dig deeper, and the Red Hook turns out to be a whole lot more. The wine list, for one, is an exceptionally good one: not the biggest and deepest you’ll ever see, but compiled with rare levels of competence and insight (just gaze at the sapient mix of emerging wine stars, super-trendy quaffs, and old reliables). The fact it offers a smattering of older vintages too just makes it that more interesting. And the food too is quite a few notches above the typical diner fare: the much-ballyhooed Tavern burger is certainly excellent (though, as good as it is, it might not be good enough to fully avoid the risk of being smothered by its own hype); the cavatelli with oxtail ragout better than 90% of the pasta dishes served even in high-end, starred, Italian restaurants outside of Italy (restaurants whose idea and rendition of authentic Italian food leaves a lot, and I mean a lot, to be desired); and the salads are really at another level when compared to most pub, tavern, and diner fare. Why, even the fish and chips were better than many I have had in serious London fish and chipperies, and that’s no small feat. And so, kudos are in order to owner Billy Durney and his staff.