Opened in October by owner Macnair Sillick and chef-owner Sandy Dee Hall, Black Tree Brooklyn’s fare is dubbed Urban American—an homage to Hall’s exposure to many cuisines and urban centers in his youth. All ingredients are sourced within 300 miles, and though the kitchen is tiny, the flavors are not.
A dish of roasted peach layered with Hackleback caviar, mustard, ricotta and chive oil ($12) has an addictive quality, with the sweet stone fruit cut beautifully by the mustard and chive oil. Spring rolls, fried until greaseless and piping hot, are stuffed with an imaginative mix of pork, nectarine, mint and curry; two to an order, they’re an ideal remedy after a night out. Cauliflower is on every menu these days, but Hall treats it right, pan roasting it with broccoli and setting it atop sharp Grafton cheese sauce; it’s the broccoli and cheese of your youth, but fashioned for adults. Skip the bland miso ramen ($14), served mazemen-style with bacon, quince and scallions, in favor of the exceptionally crispy rabbit leg ($21), presented with creamy ricotta, apple curry and honey. Fancy a drink? House-made stone fruit bitters add life to an old-fashioned ($12), while a fig-infused vodka mingles well with tart apple and spicy star anise flavors in the Fig, a French 75 variation ($12).
The dark, intimate dining room boasts colorful murals, tiki-inspired decor, and a throwback soundtrack befitting its Williamsburg location, but the service is less hipster blasé and more full-fledged, come-and-sit-down hospitality. With well-articulated cuisine and a welcoming vibe, Black Tree Brooklyn is sure to become a neighborhood joint for 'Burg and beyond.
