The Vanderbilt

The Vanderbilt
570 Vanderbilt Ave
(between Pacific St & Dean St)
Brooklyn, NY 11238

I don't dine in Brooklyn.

With the exception of Williamsburg (Roberta's, The Commodore, Pies n' Thighs) and Park Slope (Al di La), I consider my borough, as Gabrielle Hamilton would quip, "a minor league stretch" that simply disappoints culinarily.

I don't consider the farm-to-table restaurants that have sprouted up in Brooklyn legitimate concepts. To quote the man David Chang himself: "How else are you supposed to cook? You're supposed to get the best ingredients possible. Do you want a [expletive deleted] pat on the back?"

***Rant ended***

The Vanderbilt is one of the few restaurants that get a personal pat on the back. Started by "that dude who runs Saul," it's an American-style gastropub that's major-league with its execution.

Like a French brasserie, the meats, sausage, and charcuterie shine. The grilled merguez sausage was smoky and spicy, delightfully offset by the lactic tang of lemony raita. The butter-brushed, homemade pita that accompanied it provided a soft, pillowy cradle to slather the yogurt sauce and stray pieces of merguez that fell off my fork + knife. The German bratwurst was juicy and well-cooked; the meatiness complemented by acidic bite of fermented sauerkraut and horseradish dijon musatrd. The (rare) hamburger included a nice blend of funky dry-aged beef that went well with my equally funky Monk's Cafe Flemish Red Sour Ale. The only disappointment was the country pork pate: the lack of meatiness/smokiness was compounded by the small hunks of fat and tendon strewn throughout the meaty slab.

Where the Vanderbilt shines is the beer list. Personally selected by the head bartender, it includes an solid domestic draft and eccentric international bottle list. On draft are solid domestic selections available at any high-end craft beer establishment (Allagash, Dogfish Head, Pretty Things. The bottles are more interesting with international selections from Belgian brewery Van Steenberg (Piraat Ale, Monk's Cafe Flemmish Red Sour Ale) and other weird stuff from Germany (Schlenkerla Marzen Rauchbier) and Spain (Estrella Damn Inedit).

At least that dude from Saul is doing something right in Brooklyn.