Nine months ago, herbalist Elizabeth DeCoursey opened Antidote Apothecary + Tea Bar at 200 Franklin Street and worked hard through the winter helping Greenpointers live a better life through her herbs and tinctures. Having lived in Greenpoint for 15 years, she’s felt that a great, friendly herbal-focused shop was desperately needed. But given the lack of healthy eating spots north of Greenpoint Avenue and a desire to make the shop a place the thoroughly nurtures her neighbors, a couple of months ago she decided to start offering a full menu from noon to 7 pm every day. Trust me, you will feed like the picture of health after stopping by for a quick bite.
At the top of the Antidote menu, you’re reminded of Elizabeth’s approach to cooking, “Food is Medicine.” This means that each item has been selected with your health in mind, but don’t think it’s boring rabbit food. There’s avocado on toast with slow-fermented black beans ($8). The pesto in the mushroom sandwich ($12) is made with gotu-kola, an Ayurvedic herb known to help with your focus while boosting collagen production. Since I am always in desperate need of vegetables, I went with the Bad Mamma Jamma Salad ($12), a plate chockful of fermented lentils, maitake mushrooms, a few krauts, and avocado on a bed of fresh arugula. I added a perfectly soft-boiled organic egg for $2 and had myself a satisfying lunch I’d easily go for again.
The only really cooked menu item, the brodo ($7.50), includes long brew cordyceps (a mushroom that helps with energy), chaga (a mushroom that grows on birch trees and may be an immune-boosting superfood), and reishi (another mushroom that may help your immune system). There’s also no lack of fermented foods available, from those wild fermented black beans to lacto-fermented pink sour kraut, and you can get a kraut flight if you want to aid your gut bacteria friends.
As for drinks, she does have one thing decidedly not for a calm and relaxed mind: Stumptown Cold Brew iced coffee and their coconut milk iced latte. The rest of the beverages is in the same “food is medicine” vein. There’s her answer to the unicorn latte, the Mermaid Icee with coconut milk, spirulina, Irish moss, figs, and ginger among other things. She has turmeric Golden Milk, made with black pepper, the combination that unlocks all of the spice’s benefits. Fermentation-lovers have their kombucha, homemade with schisandra, elder, ginger, and pink peppercorns. They can try the Mexican pineapple-based fermented drink tepache. Or, if you’re a big fan of switchel and other vinegar tonics, try the Proud Mary. It’s a great fizzy made with a beet ferment, lime, and ginger honey. Just try to not undo all your great healthy benefits by walking over to Ovenly for some cake.
Antidote Apothecary + Tea Bar is located at 200 Franklin Street. They are open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am – 7 pm, with food service from noon on.