Brooklyn Roundup

I got involved in the 12 days of Crassmas project because The Gurgling Cod is about giving back, dammit, but there were a few Brooklyn impressions to share before they fade in a haze of spiced pecans. (It would be interesting to have someone follow you (well, me) at a holiday party, take one of whatever I take, plate it, and see what it looks like as a meal.)

--Char #4: Thanks to a rediscovered childhood friend of the cinetrix, (gearing up for a b-day arthouse binge, beetubs) we stopped in here the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The notion of a Library of Congress, except for bourbons, and other whiskeys and whiskys, is a great one. As a short money aspiring rye nerd, it was fun to try some rarer ones without making a commitment to a whole bottle. That said, I'm surprised how seriously some folks are taking the food. I can't offer a systematic appraisal -- the sausage plate I had was tasty enough, as was the Flinstone BLT I got to sample. But this is a place putting an emphasis on fried pork nuggets, (not that there is a thing wrong with that), and serving an unconsionably soupy shrimp and grits. It's nice to have something to eat as you chart your bourbon bildungsroman, but Platt dug the food a good deal more than I did.

--The General Greene. I really wanted to like the General Greene. Around the corner from TGC NYC HQ, and an eager staff who wear cute shirts with pictures of pigs and tractors. Small plates and a casual atmosphere -- seemed perfect. In principle maybe, but in reality, it falls short. They feature cocktails of their own devising, which sound nice, but tend to seem like Amway versions of brand-name products. Robin and Rob must have eaten at a different place, or, maybe we caught GG on a bad night. Innovations seemed askew, and the vaunted bacon and gruyere bread pudding tasted like a piece of French toast that had lingered too long on the buffet line. The service was similarly out of joint -- the grilled steak was, indeed, delicious, but it arrived minutes after the rest of the food, when we were expecting dessert menus or a check. I've heard better things about the burger, which I hope to try at some point, but for now, the heart may be there, but there is plenty of room for improvement in execution.

--Thirst. Better news a little bit further down DeKalb Ave. Thirst Wine Merchants offer a gracefully curated selection of wines in a small space, with an emphasis on Kermit Lynch favorites. If Other Music sold wine instead of CDs, it would be Thirst.

Comments

[real estate]

The Gurgling Cod is about giving back,i m interesting to have someone.The service was similarly out of joint- the grilled steak was, indeed, delicious, but it arrived minutes after the rest of the food,
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