DUMONT
7/28/2008I had first been introduced to DuMont for brunch a couple of weeks ago by a friend who lives in Williamsburg and knew as soon as I sat down that I'd have to return for dinner to make a proper review. When we got here we sat in the outdoor rear garden. DuMont was deserted at 11am, but by the time we left was packed. So get there early. Brunch was good but the setting, with it's wooden tables and shrubbery, was perfect for a summer meal. It was immensely relaxing.
DuMont itself sits right across the street from the Lorimer Street stop on the L or G, meaning that I didn't get lost when trying to find the place. I don't know Williamsburg very well, so I'm more than willing to give ease-of-access points here.
When my friend Seth came to town from far-off Los Angeles, I suggested DuMont. I think it's important that people not from New York City learn that there are good things beyond the East River that don't end in -amptons.
I called ahead to see if reservations would be necessary and was told that they would not be. So we didn't get them. This was a mistake. We quite literally got the last table available when we got there at 7:30 and it wasn't outside. It was instead in the central dining room. DuMont has three dining areas: The front, which has windows, the bar, big windows, and is very lively; the garden, which is totally cool, breezy, tree-lined, and my top pick of sections to eat in; and the central area, which used to be a bar but is no longer, is windowless and almost pitch-black dark (I apologize for the photos), feels like sitting in the back room of a hidden club in 1931, and, with four tables, is rather small. This is fine for intimate conversations, but it isn't very upbeat, despite the rock music playing overhead. By the way, DuMont is a big fan of R.E.M.
Seth and I started with drinks. There are cocktails (which are strong) that run $10 , and a small number of high end beers. The appetizers are almost entirely salads of one sort or another. In fact, I ordered the only appetizer that wasn't a salad and one could argue that it could have been one. I ordered the Chilled Cucumber Soup with dill and a dollop of yogurt in the middle. I liked it and while I wouldn't make this a staple of my soup diet, I can attest to it being the perfect kind of soup for this hot day where the humidity alone is enough to make a grown man cry. Plus it felt completely guiltless. Seth ordered the Mixed Greens salad with a rosemary vinaigrette, gruyere cheese and croutons. It was, in his words, "a fairly typical mixed greens salad".
For his entree, Seth ordered the Roast Free Range Chicken with roast garlic mashed potatoes, baby carrots, asparagus and cippolini, which is a fancy way of saying "small onion". Seth thought that the entree was excellent and, having tried some myself, I can attest to its deliciosity. The chicken was very moist, very tender and very flavorful. The gravy-slash-drippings were perfect and we certainly recommend this to anyone. I chose the Skate, which was incredible and I found myself scraping the plate when I ran out of food. It was served atop mashed potatoes and under roast garlic cloves, roasted tomato, and olives. The result was a rather bland fish that became electric under its sauce and sharp tangy accompaniments.
For dessert, I ordered the Berry Shortcake: mixed berries and cream over a piece of cake, and served with vanilla ice cream and another piece of cake. Like the cucumber soup, a great hot weather dish. Also, it was very good. Seth ordered the Fudge and Caramel Sundae, a tall, old-school styled ice cream sundae with chocolate syrup, caramel, pecans and whipped cream. We got these dishes for free since there was a delay in getting them to us, so the total price doesn't reflect their cost. Actually, we didn't even notice the delay. We just had three people coming up to us towards the end of the meal apologizing.
Much like Quaint, which is the closest restaurant I can compare DuMont to off the top of my head, none of the food served here is really "different" in the sense that they aren't culinary experiments. The chef isn't playing with the food, he's just making the dishes really well.
One cocktail, three beers, two appetizers, and two entrees were $101 with tax and tip. They comped us the desserts and coffees.
DuMont itself sits right across the street from the Lorimer Street stop on the L or G, meaning that I didn't get lost when trying to find the place. I don't know Williamsburg very well, so I'm more than willing to give ease-of-access points here.
When my friend Seth came to town from far-off Los Angeles, I suggested DuMont. I think it's important that people not from New York City learn that there are good things beyond the East River that don't end in -amptons.
I called ahead to see if reservations would be necessary and was told that they would not be. So we didn't get them. This was a mistake. We quite literally got the last table available when we got there at 7:30 and it wasn't outside. It was instead in the central dining room. DuMont has three dining areas: The front, which has windows, the bar, big windows, and is very lively; the garden, which is totally cool, breezy, tree-lined, and my top pick of sections to eat in; and the central area, which used to be a bar but is no longer, is windowless and almost pitch-black dark (I apologize for the photos), feels like sitting in the back room of a hidden club in 1931, and, with four tables, is rather small. This is fine for intimate conversations, but it isn't very upbeat, despite the rock music playing overhead. By the way, DuMont is a big fan of R.E.M.
Seth and I started with drinks. There are cocktails (which are strong) that run $10 , and a small number of high end beers. The appetizers are almost entirely salads of one sort or another. In fact, I ordered the only appetizer that wasn't a salad and one could argue that it could have been one. I ordered the Chilled Cucumber Soup with dill and a dollop of yogurt in the middle. I liked it and while I wouldn't make this a staple of my soup diet, I can attest to it being the perfect kind of soup for this hot day where the humidity alone is enough to make a grown man cry. Plus it felt completely guiltless. Seth ordered the Mixed Greens salad with a rosemary vinaigrette, gruyere cheese and croutons. It was, in his words, "a fairly typical mixed greens salad".
For his entree, Seth ordered the Roast Free Range Chicken with roast garlic mashed potatoes, baby carrots, asparagus and cippolini, which is a fancy way of saying "small onion". Seth thought that the entree was excellent and, having tried some myself, I can attest to its deliciosity. The chicken was very moist, very tender and very flavorful. The gravy-slash-drippings were perfect and we certainly recommend this to anyone. I chose the Skate, which was incredible and I found myself scraping the plate when I ran out of food. It was served atop mashed potatoes and under roast garlic cloves, roasted tomato, and olives. The result was a rather bland fish that became electric under its sauce and sharp tangy accompaniments.
For dessert, I ordered the Berry Shortcake: mixed berries and cream over a piece of cake, and served with vanilla ice cream and another piece of cake. Like the cucumber soup, a great hot weather dish. Also, it was very good. Seth ordered the Fudge and Caramel Sundae, a tall, old-school styled ice cream sundae with chocolate syrup, caramel, pecans and whipped cream. We got these dishes for free since there was a delay in getting them to us, so the total price doesn't reflect their cost. Actually, we didn't even notice the delay. We just had three people coming up to us towards the end of the meal apologizing.
Much like Quaint, which is the closest restaurant I can compare DuMont to off the top of my head, none of the food served here is really "different" in the sense that they aren't culinary experiments. The chef isn't playing with the food, he's just making the dishes really well.
One cocktail, three beers, two appetizers, and two entrees were $101 with tax and tip. They comped us the desserts and coffees.
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