Article by: The New Yorker
You could roll your eyes at the “Portlandia” aesthetic, but then you might miss the fact that the food is worthy of celebration.
Annicka, a new restaurant in Greenpoint, operates under Governor Cuomo’s “farm brewery” license, which means that beer, wine, and cocktails must be made with mostly local ingredients—and much of the food is local, too.
Photograph by David Williams for The New Yorker
The other night at Annicka, a new restaurant across from McCarren Park, I couldn’t help but think of Kermit the Frog. A woman sitting at the bar, under stained-glass panels in multiple shades of green, was wearing a jade-colored shirt and drinking water that had been poured from a green bottle. The ends of her dark-blond hair were dyed—what else?—green. Meanwhile, I was enjoying a bowl of “spring vegetable and hominy,” an incredibly viridescent sort of salad-as-soup, featuring both snap and shelling peas, asparagus, beans, radishes, mint, parsley, cilantro, and melty bits of preserved lemon in a thick, pesto-like broth. At Annicka it was—forgive me—easy bein’ green.
The front patio, which offers an unfettered view of McCarren Park.
Photograph by David Williams for The New Yorker
There are lots of other jokes you could make about this restaurant, with a nod to “Portlandia.” It operates under Governor Cuomo’s “farm brewery” license, which allows any New York State brewer—in this case, Greenpoint Beer & Ale Company—to sell alcoholic beverages by the glass so long as they’re made mostly with locally grown ingredients. Almost everything else on the menu is local, too, sourced, when possible, from North Brooklyn Farms, a few blocks away. You could laugh at the fact that the bathroom door handles are made of farm tools; you could say, “2007 called and it wants its mismatched vintage tableware and ironic schoolhouse chairs back.” You could roll your eyes at the cultured nut-milk butter or scoff at a cocktail made with absinthe and spirulina, which smells like raw yeast.
Cocktails include the Anne of Green Gables (left), which contains locally made absinthe, spirulina, and sour-cherry cordial.
Photograph by David Williams for The New Yorker
But if you got hung up on all that, you might miss the fact that the food is excellent, sometimes excitingly so. In the last gasps of winter, addictively sour, salty lemongrass chicken sausage, laced with Treviso and white kimchi, was fresh proof of the power of hearty lettuces and preserves. Wedding rice, a spin on the Persian dish tachin, a kind of crunchy-edged, savory cake, felt worthy of celebration: topped with cucumber raita, chopped almonds, and sliced chili, it hid sweet, juicy scallops and mussels within its densely packed grains. The nut-milk butter, served with flaky sea salt and sourdough, was a profoundly convincing substitute for the real thing, as was the macadamia ricotta.
When possible, ingredients are sourced from North Brooklyn Farms, just a few blocks away.
Photograph by David Williams for The New Yorker
There was plenty for hard-core carnivores, too: a whole ham steak with eggs at brunch; pork chops; lamb ragu. But as I finished my braised beef over grits, I thought only of the unusual garnish, a thick but tender leaf that tasted vaguely of licorice. A server, asked to identify it as she cleared the table, stuck her nose deep into the bowl. “Nasturtium,” she declared. Naturally, it was green. (Dishes $6-$30.) ♦
There are plenty of options for hard-core carnivores, but it’s very easy for a vegan to eat well at Annicka.
Photograph by David Williams for The New Yorker
Source: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/07/hyper-local-greenery-and-beer-at-brooklyns-annicka
