I'm not sure where time goes in this city. Days turn into weeks turn into months. Hence the lack of love this blog gets, and the time it took us to finally eat at Olmsted.
Pete Wells gave this farm-to-table style restaurant in Prospect Heights two of his sought-after golden stars almost a year ago. Since then, there's been a webcam on the restaurant's site so you can see how long the queue is. This, as you can understand, is partly why it took us so long to dare to try to eat there.
B's birthday was finally the time to tackle the line. We got there early. The wait? An hour. It may sound like a while, but it was only 6pm, so really it worked out in our favor. We wandered over to the Bearded Lady for a drink, and came back to take the two vacant seats at the bar.
Two glasses of bubbly were ordered. We spent the next five minutes admiring the beautiful details of the space. From the colorful water glasses, to the menu folded like a letter, to the beautiful light streaming in through the windows.
When you have such high expectations from a place, both as a result of the critics' reviews, the popularity, and friends' recommendations, it can often end up being underwhelming. But Olmsted honestly did live up to the hype. The food was bright, delicate, original, and oh so pretty.
Snap pea sushi used snap peas instead of rice, with thinly sliced fish placed on top, adorned with a slither of lemon, and splattered with a zingy, refreshing dressing.
Fried pickles was a bowl filled with lightly-battered, warm, crunchy, tangy fiddlehead ferns.
If I could have the B.L.T. bowl for lunch every day, I would. Delicate salad leaves, baby tomatoes, and squares of pork belly hid underneath a salty, shattering parmesan frico hat.
Then came the dishes of many parts. First the English Pea Falafel: a pile of falafel balls on pea shoots, fluffy peata bread, bright cardamom labneh, and fresh mint. Perfect early summertime flavors.
The pastrami tray was a stark contrast to the other dishes. Everything was still pretty and delicate, but the flavors took a dramatic change of course with mustard coated pastrami, sweet cornbread, creamy potato salad, and crisp slaw. Who'd have thought that serving American barbecue in adorable portions on a pretty plate would actually work out? There's some sort of magic going on in the Olmsted kitchen.
Be sure to ask if you can have dessert outside. The backyard is a gardener's haven, and home to the most adorable pet quails. On this hot summer's evening, this is perhaps the most romantic place in Brooklyn: fireflies dart through the fairylight-strewn space, couples sip on tea, eat soft-serve cherry ice cream and lavender honey froyo, and hope the night will never end.
Olmsted, 659 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238
