This past Tuesday, Brooklyn Winery opened the doors of its new space at 61 Guernsey Street—including a new, adjoining restaurant, Rosette.
In celebration of the opening, I paid a visit to Rosette to experience the menu promising chef-forward, seasonal dishes, and perfect wine pairings (most, if not all, of which were aged in the previous North 8th Street winery location, for the nostalgic among us).
And it did not disappoint. From the moment my guest and I walked in the door, the atmosphere felt elevated, but still inviting, with warm low lighting and extremely welcoming staff across all levels. Every recommendation we received was spot on, starting off with the Chef’s Whim board—a tailor-made selection of garden-fresh fruits and vegetables, cheese, and charcuterie chosen by Chef Shaun Lafountain, which, according to the menu, is always one of a kind—including poached Bosc pear, Shropshire Blue cheese, fresh bread, and breasola, to name a few (not to mention the countless accoutrements). This board was so good it inspired me to snack on Trader Joe’s blue cheese and Ritz crackers the following day (it was not the same).
The course that followed was the A Dream About Carrots shared plate, an amalgamation of shaved carrot, cured carrot, carrot sponge, carrot greens powder, and roasted carrot coulis that Chef Shaun admitted he had been trying to get onto menus “for years.” Those other restaurants sorely missed out. The balance of sweet and savory combined with complementary but diverse textures was a definite palate-pleaser, and as my guest put it, “I didn’t even know there were this many ways to eat carrots.”
My guest and I ordered the Cajun Congee and Braised Short Rib, respectively, as our main courses, and our server’s recommendation of Riesling cut perfectly through the richness of the short rib dish (I, stubbornly, stuck with rosé the whole night; sue me). The Cajun Congee nailed both taste and texture and didn’t skimp on any elements—shrimp, crawfish (whole ones!), andouille sausage, and rabbit were abundant throughout, while the rice porridge remained light enough that I kept going back for bites long after I told myself I was “full.” The short rib was melt-in-your-mouth tender in a sauce you could probably convince me to drink off the plate if it wasn’t thicker than a pint of Guinness (this is, ultimately, a compliment!).
For dessert, we soldiered on (not for any fault of the restaurant, just the fault of the size of our stomachs) with the server’s 10/10 recommendation of the Milk & Honey, which included honey ice cream, white chocolate, mascarpone, waffle comb, graham cracker crumbs, macadamia nut, and fennel pollen and tasted unbelievably fresh and light. This was the perfect way to punctuate a well-rounded meal, though I’m sure the flourless chocolate cake and banana split would also be incredible if the rest of the cuisine was any indication.
The recommended experience—a board to start, two to three shared plates, and two entrees (at least for a party of two)—may not be for the faint of stomach, but that’s only because everything is so tasty you’ll clean your plate. And Lafountain knows how to portion a meal so you’ll leave full and satisfied.
As a person who’s no stranger to a $7 bottle of Barefoot Moscato, I can’t say I wasn’t mildly concerned about feeling like a fish out of water at Brooklyn Winery and Rosette, but the recommendations were copious and condescension absent—this is clearly a team that just wants everyone to have a great time.
Looks like a classy restaurant. Great review, like a NY Times restaurant review. Good luck to the owners.
However, if you go here you better be well off or take a loan out from the nearest bank, pricey.
The new young team at Triple Decker did a better job at price inclusion ie not raising the price too much, keeping most of the food items and only raised the music and opened a bar for the hipsters. If any old timer senior gets friendly with the owner they will let you skip the line outside and seat you ASAP and lower the music a bit.