A New Tasting Menu Restaurant Opens Tonight off Myrtle-Wyckoff
In early 2014 Fair Weather Bushwick opened on Wyckoff as a coffee shop that served pastries, salad, and sandwiches. But starting tonight, owner Ebru Brun debuts Fair Weather Bushwick, in the same space, as something new: a full-service restaurant that serves 10-course tasting menus from Tuesday through Thursday, à la carte dinner service on Friday and Saturdays, and brunch on weekends.
Brun thought the area (the address is just a block off the Myrtle-Wyckoff L) could use a full-service dining experience. To make one happen, she renovated the now 22-seat restaurant and teamed up with Partner and chef John Creger (previously of Le Cirque, Public, Employees only, and others). Tonight, Brun will greet nearly two dozen diners, and Chef Creger will be out on the floor, serving and presenting each of his ten dishes to guests of the 8pm seating.
The tasting menu is $65 per guest, and an optional beer pairing goes for $30. Dishes change weekly, but, tonight, Chef Creger will kick things off with a “deconstructed Cold Spring River Clam Chowder,” or, grilled clams cooked in their juice, then put back in the shell with potato purée, bacon, crispy leeks, and trout roe; there will also be roasted cauliflower florets over a Bengal Curry; and a pork belly from Four Story Hill Farm, glazed with harissa and maple, then served with saffron poached carrots and black quinoa. Wow-zah.
Chef Creger, beyond working in restaurants, is from a culinary family but is otherwise self taught—which may account for some of the inventiveness in those dishes. And his creativity bleeds into the night’s soundtrack: He’s created a playlist with tunes that, in some undisclosed fashion, match each course.
Every menu will disclose the provenance of its produce, meats, and seafood; the optional brews are of the craft variety and come from Blackberry Farm, Evil Twin, Crooked Stave, and more. (You can have wine, too, if you ask nicely.)
Dinner service will continue à la carte on Friday and Saturday and feature things like quinoa fritters, potato gnocchi, and beef short ribs. Brunch runs Fridays from 10am – 4pm, and Saturday and Sundays from 9:30am – 5pm.
Owner Brun took pains to make things nice and cozy in Fair Weather Bushwick, with exposed brick and reclaimed wooden tables in the dining room. Plus, works of local artists hang on the wall (right now Sokar Uno is featured) and will continue to rotate; flatware also comes from a local maker, ceramics by Noble Plateware. A “serene” backyard will open in the spring with an additional 24 seats.
So, neighbors of Myrtle-Wyckoff: get ready for tasting menus that are price- and distance-wise, much more in your reach than they were before.
Fair Weather Bushwick; 274 Wyckoff Ave., Bushwick