5 of Brooklyn’s Food Influencers Talk About the State of Brooklyn Food
Dale Talde: Talde, Pork Slope, Thistle Hill Tavern
In just under three years, you’ve pretty much revolutionized the dining options in Park Slope, a neighborhood that used to be somewhat starved for good dining options. What brought you to Brooklyn, and what brought you to Park Slope specifically?
My business partners, David Massoni and John Bush brought me to Park Slope. They originally opened Thistle Hill Tavern in 2010, I joined them in 2012 after we opened TALDE and Pork Slope. It was a neighborhood we felt could use more dining options.
Notably, your three restaurants all opened within the span of about 10 months. This seems crazy, maybe? Was this crazy?
*As a note, Thistle Hill Tavern was opened by David Massoni and John Bush in 2010, Dale came in as a partner/ chef in 2012
It was crazy opening two places that quickly. We signed the lease for Pork Slope the day we opened TALDE. I would never do that again.
How have each of your restaurants evolved since opening?
Talde has really come into its own since we opened. After the NY Times review, we really poured our hearts into making it as good as it could me. Service wise we really stepped up our game and our cooks are constantly tasting and retasting food to make sure it’s perfect. We spent a lot of time thinking about what our diners really wanted.
Pork Slope is always evolving. We started as just a bar that you walk up and ordered food and cash only. We wanted to make it more approachable so now we have table service, a menu with great bar food and an awesome beer and whiskey program.
Thistle Hill Tavern has had some of the biggest changes. We made the restaurant more consistent. At the beginning we wanted to be everything to be everyone, now we are more focused on being a great neighborhood spot.
What have been the most surprising aspects of running restaurants here? Both good and bad.
The most surprising thing I experienced coming into Brooklyn was the neighborhood loyalty. They are a biggest fans and hardest critics, they push us to keep evolving.
You had a lot of experience working in huge Manhattan restaurants before moving to brownstone Brooklyn. What would you say is different about the people you’re cooking for in Brooklyn?
In Manhattan some of the restaurants I worked in were just so huge that people were sometimes just tables on a number- 2-top, 4-top, etc. Here in Brooklyn we are making a real connections with people and get to know our customers better. On a Tuesday, I’ll see Ian and Kathy on Table 4 for Mr. Johnson and his wife on Table 2. We really get the opportunity know our guest.
What’s the one dish on any of your menus that you could eat over and over?
Hands down the Pork Slope Cheeseburger.
Are there any dishes that you’d like to remove, but customers would riot?
The pretzel pork & chive dumplings have been on since day 1. They are awesome but we had to figure out a better way to make them.
Now that you’ve conquered Park Slope, what’s coming up next for you?
Right now we are really excited about our two new projects opening in Jersey City in the fall—a new locations of TALDE and an Italian market and restaurant called Carrino Provisions. I’m also working on my first cookbook that will come out in Spring 2015.