Forget subway signs — the decor comes straight out of a New York hipster’s wet dream — paintings of Woody Allen and Barbra Streisand dot the walls and mood lighting comes in the form of chandeliers inside birdcages. Wooden chairs are painted to resemble seats taken from a local public school. And while the food is good and the decor charming, it doesn’t distract from the fact that, on a Friday night, it is too loud to hear, well, anything.
Given that the centerpiece of the restaurant is a bar, it is no wonder that their short cocktail menu has detailed offerings like the Back Pocket Mule and the Melon Manhattan (both $10). The Back Pocket Mule flips a traditional Moscow Mule on its head, blending Russian Standard Vodka, mashed strawberries, cucumber, agave syrup and ginger beer in a frosty metal mug. But because of the sheer amount of sugary additions to the cocktail, it lacks the kick it so badly needs. The Melon Manhattan is a much harsher drink, combining cantaloupe rye whiskey, carpano antica vermouth and angostura bitters served on the rocks. If cocktails aren’t your thing, Brooklyn Girl boasts a decent selection of local draft and bottled beers in addition to a variety of specialty sodas made with seltzer water and artisan soda syrups imported from Brooklyn.
For an interactive dining experience (or simply because the restaurant is fully booked — make reservations ahead of time), sit at the bar or at the two shared tables in the restaurant. Of course, their bar offerings are much more affordable than their dinner menu, which features, among others, a $42 stuffed lamb saddle. Instead, try the oyster sliders ($12), which comes in a set of three with a side of fresh salt and vinegar chips. Though the roll was more than slightly stale, the fried oysters were crunchy, sweet and briny. Paired with a tasteless but otherwise creamy coleslaw, the sliders were a perfect blend of sweet and creamy crunchiness that just worked well together.
The recommended shrimp and chorizo ($12) is everything you would ever want from New York-Southern cuisine. Shrimp and chorizo are sauteed with tomatoes and garlic, and sit atop a bed of slow-cooked masa grits so creamy and silky, you’ll never want to go back to any other starch again. The spicy oils from the chorizo give the grits a unique heat, and the salty queso fresco rounds out the standout dish of the night. The only mild disappointment with the dish is the over-saltiness of the shrimp, which was also dangerously on the undercooked side. But just the grits itself makes the dish well worth the order.
With a dessert menu that boasts such offerings as bourbon bread pudding paired with bourbon ice cream ($6) and goat cheese cheesecake topped with a cherry brandy reduction ($7), ordering a lemon blackberry pie inside of a jar ($7) seems like a vanilla option (no pun intended). But the lemon curd, which could have been off-puttingly sour, was surprisingly sweet — so sweet, in fact, that it was like eating blackberry lemonade. The only problem with the dessert was that the graham cracker crust was so thin, it was quite nearly nonexistent.
Though the rest of the menu is not college-affordable, students should stick to sitting at the communal tables, though they are prone to oversharing and other diners looking lustfully at your food. At San Diego’s twice-annual Restaurant Week, Brooklyn Girl has a more affordable prix fixe menu.
