Woodland

Brendan Spiro—owner of the stylish and sedate Northern European eatery Vandaag—loosens his collar and heads to Brooklyn to open this bi-level American grill, lounge and live-music venue. For the meatcentric kitchen, Spiro drew on international talent: star British butcher Jack O'Shea, who supplies Heston Blumenthal's the Fat Duck in London, and chef Merrill Moore of the renowned Hartwood restaurant in Tulum, Mexico. Moore works the meat slicer's pristine cuts into eclectic plates, like lamb T-bone with turnip and green-onion gratin; riesling-braised rabbit with rag pasta and licorice root; and clams and crayfish with hunter's sausage, maple sap, cayenne and celery root frites. To drink, find craft beers; draft, shaken and stirred cocktails (such as the Forest Julep, made with apricot-infused bourbon, walnut bitters and rosemary); and a wine list spotlighting six producers. You can dig into the full menu indoors, or retire to the backyard to sip chilled rosé and choose from wieners and brats cooked on the wood-burning grill. Park Slope brunchers can also watch live rockabilly bluegrass performances on the main dining room's stage, while late-night revelers will find live DJs in the subterranean lounge, which is decorated with paintings of wine-swilling satyrs playing flutes. The multiroom space—titled after the Flatbush Avenue's original Dutch name, vlacke bos, which translates to "wooded plain"—features exposed ceiling beams, brick walls and brown leather banquettes.