How New York’s Brooklyn ‘neighbourhood’ restaurants have raised their game
Diners’ more sophisticated palates and acceptance of experimental cooking mean chefs have transformed old unadventurous menus to tempt locals back
On a recent Tuesday evening, Mettā, in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighbourhood in New York, was just starting to come to life. It was 7pm.
“We’ve observed that the room usually fills up around 7.30pm,” says Peter Dowling, a partner in the restaurant.
We’re not trying to bring Manhattan back to [the locals]. If anything, we wanted to offer food that is interesting and ambitious but also affordable.
Once the tables filled up, though, they stayed that way until the restaurant closed at 11pm.
Inside Mettā’s glassy corner storefront, diners can watch chef Noberto Piattoni cooking over fire, skills honed in the kitchens of South American grilling master Francis Mallmann.
Crispy lamb neck (US$16) was on the menu one night, as was a whole redfish served on top of preserved tomatoes, listed as market price and costing US$26.
“We’re not trying to bring Manhattan back to you,” Dowling says. “If anything, we wanted to offer food that is interesting and ambitious but also affordable.” (At least, affordable by New York standards.)
In short, Mettā, which opened last year, personifies the new neighbourhood restaurant. It is a transformation that is gaining traction not only among New York’s five boroughs but also across the United States.
Thanks to diners’ increasingly sophisticated palates and acceptance of experimental cooking, neighbourhood restaurants – broadly taken to be reliable joints with unadventurous menus – are raising their game to previously unconsidered heights.