Ramp Spotting: Where to Find the Prized Wild Onions in Brooklyn
Workaday onions and scallions don’t tend to generate furors of excitement like many types of produce. And yet, their wild, foraged brethren—ramps—are well known for whipping consumers into a veritable frenzy, creating runs on local farmers markets during their fleeting high-season of early to mid-spring. As such, any restaurant that manages to gets its hands on ramps becomes a de facto destination, like Brooklyn’s following, allium-blessed locales.
Sunday in Brooklyn
Wisely leaving a perfect thing well enough alone, Jaime Young throws whole ramps (wispy roots attached) straight onto the fire, and serves them garnished with black walnut miso and crispy puffed rice.
348 Wythe Ave, (347) 222-6722
Delaware & Hudson
Patti Jackson held a one-night-only all-ramp dinner with farmer/forager Pete Bishop last month, yet his Catskills-sprouted alliums have yet to fade from menu, popping up in ramp and morel tart, ramp carbonara, chicken and ramp croquettes, and squares of fried scrapple, misted with warm ramp vinaigrette.
135 N 5th St, (718) 218-8191
The recent ramp caper at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens may have you looking at Rob Newton slantwise, but the chef has long sworn by his personal network of creditable, sustainable suppliers, for dishes like ramp-stained dumplings floating in chicken and fiddlehead fern stew.
990 Washington Ave., (718) 307-7136
Otway
Drink to spring with Otway’s ramp, rhubarb, sorrel, fennel, pisco and suze cocktail, followed by a rectangle of raw beef tartare, topped with a tumble of spring onions and ramps.
930 Fulton St, (917) 909-1889
Stewards of the land that they are, you’ll only find ramp leaves on Fredrik Berselius, Claus Meyer and Andrew Whitcomb’s lunchtime menu, mantling confit and smoked celery root, sorrel puree and cured egg.
29 Norman Ave., (347) 966-2092
The venerated Franny’s keeps it classic when it comes to ramps, turning to their preferred partner, pasta, for a seasonally-charged penne dish augmented with asparagus and mushrooms.
348 Flatbush Ave, (718) 230-0221