Brunch At No. 7

(I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures in this post; I completely forgot to take any of the food.)

For Mothers Day this year, my sister suggested that the family should have brunch somewhere in Brooklyn, since we've already sampled a good number of the places in Hoboken, where she and my brother-in-law live. Always cognizant of an opportunity to let my borough of residence make a good impression, I suggested No. 7 in Fort Greene, which has received some excellent reviews since opening a little over a year ago, including (perhaps most notably) being named one of 2009's Top Ten Best New Restaurants In America by Bon Appetit Magazine.

We arrived for our 11:00 reservation to a crowd waiting both inside and outside the restaurant; they apparently open for brunch at 11, so nobody had been seated yet, but once they had begun seating parties, we were quickly shown to our table. The interior is lovely; it has a retro-country look with a tiled floor and antique mirrors and a marble-top bar, and towards the back of the restaurant, where we were seated, there are skylights and windows to let in natural light. Everyone who worked there was very friendly; full marks for service.

When we sat down, we were greeted with a plate of bite-sized raspberry cakes, one for each of us, as a Mothers Day special; they were good enough that my father asked for more of them, but they didn't have enough, so he ordered a very tasty cherry-cheese pastry-type-thing for us to share. (I can't remember exactly what it was called.) My father and I both had bloody marys, which were pretty good, though I thought there was a little too much going on in them (two sticks of celery, a toothpick with two olives, a wedge of lemon, a wedge of lime, and a straw). My mother and my sister both had lemon lavender spritzers, which they enjoyed.

We also shared, among the five of us, an order of tater tots and an order of corned beef hash. The tater tots were good, but, I mean, they were tater tots. The zesty dipping sauce they were served with was nice, but I preferred them with the (house-made, I assume) hot sauce that was on the table. The corned beef hash was a whole other animal; not like what I've seen elsewhere, the corned beef was shredded into pieces that were maybe a little smaller than what I'd call bite-sized, and was mixed with zucchini and yellow squash and onions, rather than potatoes like expected. I think we all agreed that it was very good.

No. 7 appears to do the "deconstructed" thing with their food. When our main orders came out, my mother observed that they must have a whole lot of the little ramekins that the side ingredients all come in. For example, my scrambled eggs (perfectly cooked in my opinion, though I prefer scrambled eggs a bit less well-done than some people do) arrived in a medium-sized bowl on a large plate, with three freshly-made tortillas (about the size of my closed fist), and separate smaller bowls with sliced fontina cheese, rhubarb pico de gallo, and curried crema (sort of a crème fraîche; the curry flavor was so understated that I couldn't even remember what it was seasoned with at the time). All the ingredients worked well together; like the tots, I thought the eggs were excellent with some hot sauce added.

As for the rest of the family, my mother and brother-in-law both ordered yellow squash grits, which were served with spring vegetables (a mix that included broccoli, I'm not sure what else), swiss cheese (they both agreed that cheddar would've been a better match), fried hominy, and a poached egg (also served in one of the ramekins, and with only the white showing at first; my mother forgot that it was an egg and put her fork into it thinking it was sour cream, and was quite surprised when egg yolk started leaking out). My father ordered the french toast (which seemed to be made from corn bread, quite an interesting choice) with passion fruit syrup, hummus (another interesting combination), and coconut chantilly. Finally, my sister ordered the waffle, which had the most traditional accompaniments of any of our dishes: almonds, banana butter, and real maple syrup.

Though some of the combinations were odd, we all agreed that everything we ate was very good. I'm definitely hoping to go back for dinner sometime, and I highly recommend it if you're in the area, or even if you aren't but you're looking for someplace new to try in the city. It's pretty much right above the Lafayette Avenue station on the C train, and a quick walk from the Fulton Street stop on the G train, or the big 2/3/4/5/B/D/M/N/Q/R Atlantic-Pacific LIRR Flatbush Avenue complex.


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Soon to come... a short addendum about yesterday's dessert.