It was a perfect night for the perfect storm. I decided to leave my land lubber gig, put on my sea legs and set afoot on The Bounty (131 Greenpoint Ave).
As I walked inside, I felt like I was inside a ship – from the salvaged barrels to the massive sail in the ceiling to the bar comprised of haphazardly-stacked reclaimed tables and bureaus whose drawers were spilling out (because that’s what happens on a boat on a rocky sea when you don’t lock them).
This newly opened spot is essentially a raw bar featuring local and responsibly-harvested seafood, hand-made pasta and in-house cocktail syrups.
I ordered a dark and stormy and the pasta of the day which was clams in white wine sauce, the perfect balance of creamy and salty. The pasta is made daily in-house and the clams were so fresh they were as if I were eating the ocean.
Lance Hess, one of the main honchos of The Bounty was able to sit down and answer a couple of questions for me.
GP: Why call it the Bounty?
Lance: It started with “Mutiny on the bounty”, and we were playing around with it and came to the consensus.
GP: What was the concept behind the restaurant?
Lance: The main concept of The Bounty was to be a local seafood joint. We wanted to offer the community reasonably-priced and locally-sourced seafood. We source everything “as-much-as-possible” responsibly on the eastern seaboard. We’re not going to offer west coast oysters, or anything that is not available or in-season. We just wanted to lessen the carbon footprint of our day-today operations.
GP: Who are the owners and what are your backgrounds?
Lance: Well, “The Bounty” was a group decision by the four partners: me, Adam Collison, Nika Carlson and Kevin Ang.
I’ve been in the hotel and restaurant business for 20 years, most recently with Andre Balazs. Adam is the builder and artist of the group; he also owns The Drink in East Williamsburg with his partner in life Nika Carlson. Kevin Ang used to work at Roberta’s as the baker — hence we have our house-made pasta, crackers, croutons, as well as bread and burger buns. He also tailored our cocktail menu.
GP: You have very interesting interiors. What was the inspiration?
Lance: We’ll have to credit the marvelous mind of Adam Collison for that. It started from the movie “Dark City”, then from the materials we got like the barrels that we used as table bases, to the sail in the ceiling. We also wanted to use repurposed materials, to coincide with our responsibly-harvested fare. The partition and bureaus and side tables, and flooring are from Build-it-Green. The bar is from 30% scrap wood.
GP: What are the defining highlights of your food and bar menu?
Lance: I would say we have a fantastic seasonal cocktail which is the grapefruit gimlet. We make the juice ourselves, just like the ginger syrup for your dark and stormy. As for the food, it would be the whole grilled fish with shaved fennel and red grapefruit salad in pink peppercorn vinaigrette. The flavors are perfectly balanced and the fish is always depending on the season and our source.
GP: What’s your fave cocktail and menu item and why?
Lance: I’m a fan of our Hemingway daiquiri. As for food, I’m a burger kind of guy. Our burger features house-made roll with tomato jam and red onion. Simple, classic and good.
GP: What should we expect from The Bounty?
Lance: Definitely brunch and a full seafood menu soon. We are still currently working under the veil of “soft opening” and our “Grand Opening” really hasn’t been set as of now, but we are adding menu items weekly until we reach a volume we are comfortable with. Not only in terms of production, but also freshness and quality.
Our menu is constantly evolving. Our executive chef Eric Mann, trained in the kitchens of Craft and Prune, has been great in establishing our menu. We’d love to be known as THE local raw bar in Greenpoint.
The Bounty
131 Greenpoint Ave
“Summer Hours”
Tue-Sun: 6p-12a