360 in redhook
$25 AND UNDER
A Little Bit of the French Renegade in Red Hook
By ERIC ASIMOV
dream about finding restaurants like 360, a storefront in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where passion, generosity, commitment, eccentricity and skill outweigh any semblance of good common sense.
No committee could ever plan a place like 360, no focus group would ever endorse it, and at the end of the day, no group of shareholders would ever approve it. The owners of 360 care first and foremost about pleasing themselves. And if what pleases them pleases you, well, then you have magic.
By many definitions, one would call 360 French. The daily menu is written in French, in a blurred, overstruck font reminiscent of a clattering manual typewriter, and the wines are almost all French. There is a cheese course, and one of the owners, Arnaud Erhart, is from Alsace, though his English contains only phantom cobwebs of an accent. Yet every dish on the menu would be as at home in an American restaurant as in a French one.
In the end, what defines 360 best is its singular vibe, which combines a connoisseur's pursuit of quality with a bohemian disregard of authority. Perhaps it is best to call 360 a Red Hook restaurant, because only in a neighborhood as unusual as Red Hook could a place like 360 exist. Unburdened by high rents, untraveled by Manhattanites and unconcerned with stylistic trends, airy Red Hook exists in a realm of its own, sort of a New York Australia where the strangest animals can evolve in isolation.
The small, boxy dining room seems stark and gray, yet on closer inspection it is stylishly spare, with light bulbs covered in gossamer bubbles. The $20 three-course menu is small but changes nightly, with several à la carte items that can be swapped in and out.
Mr. Erhart likes to take the pulse of newcomers by their reaction to his list of little-known wines. He seems to have traveled every backwoods road in France to find renegade, nonconformist winemakers obsessed with organic practices and unknown grapes. If you ask for a standard-issue Beaujolais, he would probably shrug his shoulders and suggest something else.
But if you ask him to suggest a wine that he thinks will go with your meal, he is yours for the evening. That may include bringing you glasses of different wines over the course of the meal, each unusual and delicious in its own way, while engaging in vigorous discussion of the wine business, organic foods and the history of Red Hook's waterfront.
The food is intensely seasonal, like a chilled corn soup that captures perfectly its late-summer sweetness and yet is never one dimensional. The chef, Alexander Tchistov, excels at pairings, serving sea scallops roasted to where they are about to explode with flavor together with crisp sautéed cauliflower and peeled cherry tomatoes, which look like orange and red baubles.
I loved an appetizer of steak tartare, served molded into two pristine red eggs, flavored with Worcestershire and cornichons rather than the traditional capers. I also loved a hunk of Spanish mackerel under an umbrella of sesame sauce, not visually arresting but delicious.
Beets and goat cheese are folded into a disc-shaped tart, with walnuts for crunch, while a salad of field greens, partly grown in a garden a few blocks away, is superb. Perhaps best of all is a dish of tiny, feathery spaetzle, blended with bits of braised chicken and Chinese chives, an airy dish with powerful flavors that take you by surprise.
You will not find a rib-eye steak and French fries at 360; too ordinary. But you may find an astonishingly flavorful chicken breast with a pleasingly crisp exterior, puréed potatoes flavored with garlic and rosemary, or a dorade with green and yellow wax beans, the fish sautéed just enough to coax out its reticent flavor.
Mr. Tchistov pairs mild cabbage with sautéed cod in a riesling sauce, which cushions the assertive fish. The braised short ribs with parsnip purée and a sliced hanger steak with water spinach are fine, yet lack fireworks.
The small dessert selection has been inconsistent. I've had a perfectly correct poached pear. But what is great are the unexpected moments, when crepes of bananas and stewed plums go so perfectly in a chocolate sauce that you cannot help trying to sop up every last drop.
Looking up, there is Mr. Erhart, taking pleasure in your pleasure, striding over with a sweet wine that he says you have got to try, or maybe a fortified apple wine from Normandy that he stumbled upon. Each menu and each meal at 360 is unpredictable, and that's part of the joy.
360
360 Van Brunt Street (Wolcott Street), Red Hook, Brooklyn, (718) 246-0360.
BEST DISHES Chilled corn soup; sea scallops; steak tartare; seared Spanish mackerel; field greens; spaetzle with braised chicken; roasted chicken breast; sautéed dorade; sautéed cod; banana and plum crepes.
PRICE RANGE $20 three-course prix fixe.
CREDIT CARDS Cash only.
HOURS Tuesday through Saturday, 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. Sunday, 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Closed Monday.
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS Step at entrance (ramp available).
corn soup followed by braised chicken and spaetzle sounds yummy, had a fun time there when they opened, have not been back and thats bad of me:<( Arnauld is cool!!
taking over the joint on saturday......he doesnt know what he's in for, nor do I.....
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- bill 9-24-2003 8:11 pm
$25 AND UNDER
A Little Bit of the French Renegade in Red Hook
By ERIC ASIMOV
dream about finding restaurants like 360, a storefront in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where passion, generosity, commitment, eccentricity and skill outweigh any semblance of good common sense.
No committee could ever plan a place like 360, no focus group would ever endorse it, and at the end of the day, no group of shareholders would ever approve it. The owners of 360 care first and foremost about pleasing themselves. And if what pleases them pleases you, well, then you have magic.
By many definitions, one would call 360 French. The daily menu is written in French, in a blurred, overstruck font reminiscent of a clattering manual typewriter, and the wines are almost all French. There is a cheese course, and one of the owners, Arnaud Erhart, is from Alsace, though his English contains only phantom cobwebs of an accent. Yet every dish on the menu would be as at home in an American restaurant as in a French one.
In the end, what defines 360 best is its singular vibe, which combines a connoisseur's pursuit of quality with a bohemian disregard of authority. Perhaps it is best to call 360 a Red Hook restaurant, because only in a neighborhood as unusual as Red Hook could a place like 360 exist. Unburdened by high rents, untraveled by Manhattanites and unconcerned with stylistic trends, airy Red Hook exists in a realm of its own, sort of a New York Australia where the strangest animals can evolve in isolation.
The small, boxy dining room seems stark and gray, yet on closer inspection it is stylishly spare, with light bulbs covered in gossamer bubbles. The $20 three-course menu is small but changes nightly, with several à la carte items that can be swapped in and out.
Mr. Erhart likes to take the pulse of newcomers by their reaction to his list of little-known wines. He seems to have traveled every backwoods road in France to find renegade, nonconformist winemakers obsessed with organic practices and unknown grapes. If you ask for a standard-issue Beaujolais, he would probably shrug his shoulders and suggest something else.
But if you ask him to suggest a wine that he thinks will go with your meal, he is yours for the evening. That may include bringing you glasses of different wines over the course of the meal, each unusual and delicious in its own way, while engaging in vigorous discussion of the wine business, organic foods and the history of Red Hook's waterfront.
The food is intensely seasonal, like a chilled corn soup that captures perfectly its late-summer sweetness and yet is never one dimensional. The chef, Alexander Tchistov, excels at pairings, serving sea scallops roasted to where they are about to explode with flavor together with crisp sautéed cauliflower and peeled cherry tomatoes, which look like orange and red baubles.
I loved an appetizer of steak tartare, served molded into two pristine red eggs, flavored with Worcestershire and cornichons rather than the traditional capers. I also loved a hunk of Spanish mackerel under an umbrella of sesame sauce, not visually arresting but delicious.
Beets and goat cheese are folded into a disc-shaped tart, with walnuts for crunch, while a salad of field greens, partly grown in a garden a few blocks away, is superb. Perhaps best of all is a dish of tiny, feathery spaetzle, blended with bits of braised chicken and Chinese chives, an airy dish with powerful flavors that take you by surprise.
You will not find a rib-eye steak and French fries at 360; too ordinary. But you may find an astonishingly flavorful chicken breast with a pleasingly crisp exterior, puréed potatoes flavored with garlic and rosemary, or a dorade with green and yellow wax beans, the fish sautéed just enough to coax out its reticent flavor.
Mr. Tchistov pairs mild cabbage with sautéed cod in a riesling sauce, which cushions the assertive fish. The braised short ribs with parsnip purée and a sliced hanger steak with water spinach are fine, yet lack fireworks.
The small dessert selection has been inconsistent. I've had a perfectly correct poached pear. But what is great are the unexpected moments, when crepes of bananas and stewed plums go so perfectly in a chocolate sauce that you cannot help trying to sop up every last drop.
Looking up, there is Mr. Erhart, taking pleasure in your pleasure, striding over with a sweet wine that he says you have got to try, or maybe a fortified apple wine from Normandy that he stumbled upon. Each menu and each meal at 360 is unpredictable, and that's part of the joy.
360
360 Van Brunt Street (Wolcott Street), Red Hook, Brooklyn, (718) 246-0360.
BEST DISHES Chilled corn soup; sea scallops; steak tartare; seared Spanish mackerel; field greens; spaetzle with braised chicken; roasted chicken breast; sautéed dorade; sautéed cod; banana and plum crepes.
PRICE RANGE $20 three-course prix fixe.
CREDIT CARDS Cash only.
HOURS Tuesday through Saturday, 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. Sunday, 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Closed Monday.
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS Step at entrance (ramp available).
- bill 9-24-2003 8:12 pm [add a comment]
corn soup followed by braised chicken and spaetzle sounds yummy, had a fun time there when they opened, have not been back and thats bad of me:<( Arnauld is cool!!
- Skinny 9-25-2003 3:13 pm [add a comment]
taking over the joint on saturday......he doesnt know what he's in for, nor do I.....
- Skinny 10-31-2003 9:34 pm [add a comment]