Neighborhood Food Crawl: Boerum Hill
Sandwiched discretely between the riotous Barclay’s Center/Atlantic Yards hub and the heavily saturated dining district of Cobble Hill’s Smith Street, the lovely, sleepy Boerum Hill is often overlooked as a major food nexus. But that it is, especially along its own main drag of Atlantic Avenue; a true United Nation of flavors expressed through alternately Middle Eastern, Caribbean, French, Italian and Vietnamese establishments. That’s why it’s next on our list of drink-to-dessert neighborhood mini crawls, where we tackle one gastronomically blessed BK strip at a time by spreading the love—and your dollars—among some of the tastiest restaurants within.
Pre-Dinner Drinks at Bacchus: As you can likely infer from the name, wine is the raison d’ etre at this longstanding French bistro, which features a 200 bottle-strong list, and even a hidden, onsite “cave,” housing especially rare finds. Although by the glass is a great way to go too, like a sprightly Cotes de Gascogne from Domaine d’Uby, or a plummy Bordeaux from Château Bordeneuve, at a highly reasonable anytime price of $9 a pop.
409 Atlantic Avenue
Appetizers at Bedouin Tent: You can easily make a meal of apps at this congenial, family-run Middle Eastern eatery, but for the sake of the food crawl, try to limit yourself to a precious few — such as an assortment of salads, including diced feta, beetroot, and the thick, mint-scented yogurt spread called labne, an unctuously creamy foul medamas, and the savory lambajin, an individual, middle eastern pitza topped with lamb, onion, tomato, parsley and spices.
405 Atlantic Avenue
Dinner at French Louie: Essentially an inverse of its Carroll Gardens-based big sibling, Buttermilk Channel, this chic Boerum Hill brasserie does classic French with American flourishes — exemplified by foie gras and country ham terrine flavored with chamomile and strawberry, snails ‘marchand de vin,’ paired with grits and house-cured bacon, and pan-fried skate plated over crab ‘dirty rice.’
320 Atlantic Avenue
Dessert and After-dinner Drinks at Krescendo: Celebrity pastry chef Elizabeth Falkner may have long parted ways with this under-the-radar pizza place, but desserts remain some of the most appealing items on the menu, such as a rich Cassata, layered with ricotta crema, pistachio sponge, campari cherries and chocolate, or an assortment of refreshing, frosty granitas, in cappuccino, lemon or mixed berry. Top cocktail options are similarly sweet, including the Rosa Nera with rosemary-infused vodka, honey and black pepper, and the Barbary Coast, a muddle of pisco, citrus, pineapple, and falernum bitters; not especially suited to pairing with pizza, granted, but they certainly make for satisfying nitecaps.
364 Atlantic Avenue