Friday night some Chew Food contributors attended happy hour at The Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg. Matt is a huge beer nerd, so he was excited because it was the unveiling of Brooklyn Brewery’s new Brooklyn Local 1 (a bottle conditioned Belgian inspired beer).

At the Brewery, you buy beer tokens for $3 each or 7 for $20. The Brooklyn Local 1 was available with take-home glass (as pictured) for three tokens.

Matt, Vincent and myself went to dinner at Diner (in South Williamsburg). First off, you can’t talk about Diner without mentioning the atmosphere. It’s located in a renovated 1920’s diner and the service counter is turned into a huge full service bar. Diner is extremely dim. I hate dim restaurants. (This is something I tend to experience more in Brooklyn than in Manhattan.) I like to see my food and not fall asleep. See the photos below? I didn’t know the color of those dishes until I loaded the photos onto my computer. That’s how dim it was. The crowd leaves a lot to be desired. Or a lot to be resented. Lots of hipsters of all ages clad in black, but that’s par for the course in that neighborhood.

Crowd and lighting aside, Diner had good food and, for the most part, professional service. They have a small regular menu and an extensive specials menu that changes every day. This particular night included seven special appetizers and four entrées. While this is an awesome concept, I felt bad for the already slammed waitstaff that had to go through all the specials for every table. Our waiter did something that I don’t like: He sat down next to me to tell us about the specials (and wrote them down on the paper tablecloth). For appetizers, we split the pork belly with butterbeans and sage oil, the sea scallop fritto misto with orange slices , and the chicken liver crostini with pancetta and onion jam.

(Other appetizer specials included a soup, two salads and cheese plate.)

The pork belly was amazing. It had a nice, chared crust. Crispy on the outside and fatty and soft on the inside. Butter beans were excellent to pair with it to cut through the fat. The crostini was crispy and flavorful, yet not overwhelming. The fritto misto was a disappointment. It was flavorless. The buttermilk semolina batter slid off of the scallops. I didn’t have more than a bite or two. Deep fried orange slices aren’t good to eat, period. They aren’t bad, but they aren’t good. Actually, they are kind of pointless

Matt and Vincent had Otter Creek Stovetop Porter. For some reason, which I cannot explain, I got a specialty cocktail. A Grapefruit Royale. This is very uncharacteristic for me because I don’t care for juice based cocktails and I hate martini glasses for anything besides martinis. And I also don’t like grapefruit. I’m gonna go ahead and blame that one on the perm solution seeping into my brain.

For entrées, Vincent got the burger, Matt ordered the pork stew with a tomato beer base, and I got the grilled branzino (European sea bass, as pictured), stuffed with lemon and herbs. It came with a side of grilled raddiccio with thick slices of pancetta and thyme. The fish itself reminded me of my own grilled sea bass recipe, except they charred the skin better than I can. The fish was a little dry and the raddiccio side-dish was greasier than, and rather bitter, for my liking.

For dessert Matt got the apple pie and I got the flan. I am very picky with desserts (most of the time I don’t think they are worth it), so they didn’t impress me much.

Would I go back? Yes, except never again on a Friday or Saturday night. And I’d skip the dessert and specialty cocktails.

Summary: Hip and casual eatery with a bistro feel and an array of fresh, well paired ingredients that needs a little tweaking.

Cost: $115 for the three of us for all of the above mentioned food and beverage, not including tip. They don’t tell you the cost of the specials, but the burger was $10.

Overall grade: B

85 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 486-3077
Diner’s website

Brooklyn Brewery has happy hour every Friday from 6pm until 11pm. It is located at 79 North 11th St (between Wythe and Berry).
Phone: (718) 486-7422
Website: Brooklyn Brewery