Baoburg in Williamsburg is a Little Gem!
Last week, I caught up with Christine at a lovely little (this is an understatement!) restaurant in Williamsburg. The spot is called Baoburg (http://baoburgnyc.com/) and it describes itself as "artisanal cuisine" - the dishes certainly lived up to this hype. The restaurant has about 20 seats and many of the seats are counter style. We ended up sitting on two counter seats facing a mirror. This choice made it easy for me to check that I had nothing in my teeth, an unintended benefit.
To start our meal, we ordered a bottle of Ramon Bilbao Albarino, a nice Spanish white that was reasonably priced at $25. Our server presented the wine a bit awkwardly. It wasn't chilled already, so he brought it over in an ice bucket but did not open it. We were sort of confused since the bottle cap was a screw off - do we open our own bottles now? Is that what "artisanal" means? I attempted to take it off and it didn't work, so I asked the server. Naturally, I loosened it for him so it was soooo easy for him to open. Once it was open, it was a nice wine. We were desperate for a drink, so warm was going to have to do for the first pour!
We ordered several plates to share and were very pleased with our choices! We started with the Cheesy Truffle Fries with BACON ($7). The fries were a lovely start while we waited for our entrees to come.
French Fries TOTALLY count as vegetables!
Our first entrée that arrived was the Sparkling Ribs ($12), grilled baby back ribs tossed in a Cola cider sauce with truffle fries potatoes and a pickled garnish. This was absolutely fantastic! I was concerned I'd have to eat the ribs with my hands and this would result in sticky fingers. To my delight, the ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender. The cola marinade was so yummy.
Sparkling Ribs
Our next arrival was the Lamb Stew. I didn't take a snap of the menu and the entrée must be new as it is not yet on the Baoburg site. The dish was fantastic and influenced by Asian flavors. It was served with a poached egg on top, it really added to the creaminess of the sauce and overall nom-factor.
Lamb Stew
The final entrée was the Seared Duck Breast Noodle ($16). This dish was my favorite! Seared duck breast is served on top of fresh, thick ramen noodles, bok choy, shiitake mushrooms and poached daikon in a duck consommé. Since this is a broth based dish and awkward to share, I asked our server to have the chef split the entrée into two portions. Instead of splitting it PRIOR to bringing to us, he brought two extra bowls for us to split it. This was a bit awkward but I managed because the dish was THAT delicious.
DUCK DUCK YUM
Overall, this is a solid new spot. I highly recommend checking it out!
Cheers,
Liz