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“Vinegar Hill House”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	New American	Brooklyn	Moderate	Good

ds were three deep at the weathered bar (the back of which is a salvaged antique organ), there was a slow moving line of couples and threesomes trying to get the attention of Sam Buffa, the owner and acting host, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an attack of rabid foodies. The man was weeded and overwhelmed. I could hear his muted inner scream. It took about 10 minutes for him to even make it down the line to us and ask (in a low defeated voice that betrayed his utter exhaustion) our names which were placed on a list that at 7:30 offered a two-hour wait for a table of two.

We were not deterred. We were not leaving. There was no place to go that wasn’t a twenty-minute walk, at least. So Kiri and I stationed ourselves strategically behind a couple with a baby at the copper stamped bar, ready to pounce on the next available seats and have our meal there. Our wait was surprisingly short-lived. Indeed, the couple and their new baby were just getting up and we snagged their seats, and in no time at all we were perched on stools within arm’s distance of the open kitchen and wood-burning hearth where Adamson does most of her hearty seasonal cooking, and presented with the narrow sage green dinner menus.

While we found seats quickly, this was a peaceful dining experience. I was probably elbowed, shoved, jostled and possibly felt up by at least a half-dozen strangers who were smashed into the bar space with wine glasses dangerously close to spilling with every twist of the shoulder and turn of the hip. It was a bit stressful. But the room, had it not been filled to fire code capacity, was quite sweet, in an old mountain log cabin retreat sort of way—vintage tables and chairs, dishtowel napkins, wrought iron farm equipment, antique prints, and various other bric-a-brac that made the space feel as much like a flea market on the prairie as a restaurant.

Adamson’s menu is brief. At the moment it includes just three starters—meatballs in red sauce ($12), duck rilletes with soaked prunes and grainy mustard ($13), and a wood-fired tart made with potato and kale ($13). Entrees also number three: stewed pork shank with cannellini beans and tomato confit ($16), wild striped bass with mushroom butter ($16) and a crispy chicken in a cast iron pan ($15). There are three choices for dessert too: a Guinness cake, a sweet potato cake and a cheesecake ($6).

The menu, while brief, was c ... [more, click below]

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Posted: December 22, 2008

Other restaurants in Brooklyn :
+ Chickenbone Cafe-- Closed   + Pier 116-- Closed   + Chestnut   + Lunch at Peter Luger's   + 360   + Palo Santo   + The Good Fork   + Porchetta-- Closed Now   + Bocca Lupo   + Flatbush Farm   + DuMont Burger   + Dressler   + Farm on Adderley   + The Grocery   + Saul   + Black Mountain Wine House   + The General Greene   + Char No. 4   + James   + Chestnut   + No. 7   + Vinegar Hill House   + Motorino   + Buttermilk Channel   + Buttermilk Channel   + Vutera   + Watty & Meg    + Prime Meats   + Aqualis Grill   + Jack the Horse Tavern   + Roman's   + Fatty 'Cue   + Thistle Hill Tavern   + Broken English   + Trix, by Dara Pollak   + An Ode to New Orleans in Williamsburg: Maison Premiere, By Dara Pollak   + Brooklyn Wok Shop by Dara Pollak   + Arthur on Smith   + La Vara   + Gran Electrica   + Pok Pok Ny   + Ganso    + Reynard   

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