Saturday, January 30, 2010

No Plates - A new GastroPub in Williamsburg!

I just signed up on Yelp.com and wrote one of my first reviews... and here it is for "NO PLATES" in Williamsburg, Brooklyn!
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If you're in Williamsburg, do not miss this delectable new gastropub that opened a week ago! The food is absolutely amazing; everything you taste from the chicken wings to the pork duo sandwich to the country fried chicken has a sophisticated taste that you will undoubtedly love and will make you yearn for more!

The restaurant believes in high quality, all natural ingredients -- serving beef from "Pat La Frieda", chicken from "Bell & Evans", seafood from "Wild Edibles", and seasonal, locally sourced organic produce. No Plates touts itself as a simple restaurant that serves "bar food" w/ classical French and Asian techniques.

If this is bar food -- then the nearby restaurants are going to have their draw drop and their cash register empty simply because this place is JUST THAT GOOD and AFFORDABLE!

So, lets get to the heart of this review:

Food. As you can tell, I'm a BIG FAN of this place. Here are the food items that my six friends and I ordered (yes, we were a bit indulgent!)

Fried Calamari w/ Wasabi Mayo and Popcorn Shrimp w/ Spicy Mayo ($7, $9, respectively) - both extremely tasty and you can't go wrong with these appetizers.

Classic Cobb Salad ($13) - produce is extremely fresh, so much so, that you do not even need to use the blue cheese dressing (definitely put it on the side) -- the crunchiness from the romaine lettuce and bacon combined w/ a thinly sliced hard-boiled egg w/ chunks of avocado are amazing!

Chicken Wings ($8 for six, $15 for twelve) -- if you do not order this dish, you will be regretting it! The Super Spicy Thai wings are deep-fried to perfection and are bursting with intense flavors. If you can't eat spicy, then I'd recommend ordering the Honey BBQ wings -- which were equally as good, w/o the spicy kick!

Pork Duo ($14) - Tender braised pulled pork and pork belly w/ pickled daikon, greens and spicy mayo served with extremely crunchy fries. Can I say the meat was absolutely divine and mouth watering? Yum. The whole-grain/7 grain baguette could be a bit softer, but still -- this dish was a huge hit at our table!

Country Fried Chicken ($15) - meat brined and marinated for one day, served w/ mashed potatoes and gravy - D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S and S-U-C-C-U-L-E-N-T. Chicken was crunchy and juicy... and couldn't get enough of the mashed potatoes!

Full yet? Oh, yeah, there is still more to come -- yes, you'll get your dose of food coma here!

Hangar Steak ($17) - garlic herb marinated and char-grilled beef served w/ glazed carrots and those delicious french fries that I love! Steak was juicy and flavorful.

Three Cheese Lasagna ($13) - mozzarella, fontina, parmesan and fresh basil served with garlic toast. This dish takes 20 minutes to prepare, so order this when you sit down! Why? Its incredible. Usually lasagnas have this tangy or too sweet taste, but this lasagna -- which I'm not surprised since everything else on this menu is absolutely fantastic - had once again, the perfect balance between sweet and sour. Lets just say, after we finished all our foods, we just had to have another bite of this dish... and then another and another...

and finally...

DESSERT -- Order the chocolate cake topped with the chef's 'specially' prepared vanilla whipped cream. You would think we couldn't put another spoonful of anything into our mouths/stomachs -- but, we could and did -- This was an extremely decadent dessert.

If you eat here, besides having one of the largest smiles on your face, expect to have your belly double in size. Yes, wear your spandex pants that you've been hiding in the back of your closet (jk).

Drinks. BYOB for now. No Plates is still waiting for its liquor license,

Price. You seen it above. In NYC standards, its affordable and comparable to other food establishments.

Space. Can accommodate parties of 6 or more, probably would say 10 max since you want other patrons to eat here too. There is a bar seating area as well.

Executive Chef. Hooni Kim, who previously worked at Daniel and Masa, is a culinary genius! Akin to how people pair wine with food, Hooni Kim has by a stroke of ingenuity paired his food with beer! Ask him his thoughts on salt, citrus and other seasonings and you'll hear how "in love" and how much "joy" he receives from cooking -- its enough to make you want to become his apprentice, or sous chef! Expect to see his own restaurant opening sometime later this year/or next year! so we hope his sous chefs learn how to cook as well as he does!

Service. Good. Jeff is the general manager and moonlighting as a waiter at the moment. One of our food items was a bit undercooked and they replaced it w/o any hesitation and gave us a free entree to try!

Negatives. With all this good, there has to be some negatives -- though this is painstaking for me to say this -- its a bit chilly in here, so bring your jackets. The gastropub is housed in an old building, which surprisingly, didn't have a functioning heater! BRRR.

Happy Eating!!!

No Plates
280 Bedford Avenue
(between Grand St & 1st St)
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 302-2002

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