Please Pass the Porcini Popcorn: Inside Syndicated, Bushwick’s Cinema-Eatery
In a world when taking in a movie involves $15 tickets, soda-gummed floors and a high probability of contracting bed bugs, it’s no wonder that indie art houses have a major leg up on Regal and Loews in Brooklyn. Especially when in comes to a growing strain of full-fledged cinema-eateries, such as Williamsburg’s Nitehawk, Downtown’s forthcoming Alamo, and Bushwick’s recently debuted Syndicated—all of which have circumvented heat lamp hot dogs and cheese-pump nachos in favor of seat-side service, premium concessions, bespoke cocktail programs, and altogether restaurant-worthy fare.
In fact, $3 screenings of Mean Streets, Groundhog Day, and Predator actually read as more of an amenity at Syndicated; designed by the illustrious hOmE (behind some of the borough’s sexiest hospitality spaces), and featuring an enviable open kitchen helmed by a legitimate chef—Bret Macris, of Park Slope’s farm-to-table favorite, Rose Water. In addition to offering gourmet popcorn (sprinkled with pimenton, smoked salt, or porcini mushroom powder), locally sourced candy (such as Salty Road Taffy and Fine & Raw chocolate), beyond-cola beverages (including Coney Island IPA and Brooklyn Lager cans) as well as high-end bites like bacon-butter meatballs, duck confit nachos, and popcorn-fried oysters in the 50-seat theatre (boasting custom-designed banquettes with leather headrests, set at a 30-degree pitch for unimpeded sightlines), there’s also an entirely distinct menu for the adjoining dining room and bar.
Running the gamut from small bites to sandwiches to full-fledged, carefully composed entrees, Syndicated might even end up taking a bite of Roberta’s dinner service action; imagine a pre- or post-show repast of lobster quesadillas, roasted pumpkin salad, and heritage porchetta, paired with fingerling potatoes and walnut rosemary jus. And then there’s the roster of film-inspired tipples from Piora vet, Kenneth Vanhooser—like a suitably rummy “Redrum” accented with cynar and aperol; the “Oolong Rouge” with cranberry tonic and Bombay Sapphire; and the foggy “Up In Smoke,” featuring orange blossom, egg white, crème de menthe, and a heady double-whammy of herradura tequila and mezcal—a vast improvement, to say the least, over 44-ounce tumblers of Fanta.
40 Bogart Street, Bushwick
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All photos by Jane Bruce.