Bring Hungry Carnivores & Skip the Appetizers at Vinegar Hill House

Date March 8, 2010

It’s a blustery winter night and you’re wandering through the wilderness, surrounded by dark, unfriendly mountains subconsciously hastening your search for a nearby lodge, a warm oasis stocked with food and drink.  Now replace the wilderness with the eerie calm of Vinegar Hill; the dark, unfriendly mountains with the Farragut Houses;  and the nearby lodge with Vinegar Hill House, a welcoming oasis buzzing with activity amidst a slumbering, industrial Brooklyn neighborhood.    The appetite of a hunter comes in handy at Vinegar Hill House where well-intended appetizers mainly fall prey to entrees only a carnivore can love.  Cast iron chicken.  Red Wattle Pork Chop.  And if it’s offered, a 36 ounce rib eye special.  It’s all part of a seasonal menu carved around the week’s freshest ingredients.  Fitting fare for the site of a former butcher shop.  Read on to see why skipping the appetizers is a smart move on more than one level…

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Upon entry, a bustling dining room, populated by young 30-somethings trained in the look of the hipster, greets you unceremoniously.  If your party is under six people, you don’t have a reservation so alert the hostess to your presence and make room for yourself at the copper-topped bar, mere feet from the massive wood-fired oven.  When the time comes you’ll either be led to a nearby table or guided to a steep, narrow staircase in the back of the restaurant, at the bottom of which is a cozy room with a fireplace, unadorned save a painting of John F. Kennedy and a pile of chopped wood.  This is where NYC Food Guy found himself with three friends, hungry and warmed by the roaring fire.

Vinegar Hill House - NYCFoodGuy.com

Of the four appetizers we ordered, only the Chicken Liver Mousse with Vinegar Onions and Pistachios ($12) offered a totally cohesive dish.  Crisp pistachios and delicately toasted, airy bread balance the decadence of the creamy mousse while the sweet cippolini onions help counter the offal-ness of the liver.

Vinegar Hill House - NYCFoodGuy.com

The Oven Roasted Octopus with cranberry beans, olives, mâche, and charred lemon ($12) featured perfectly charred octopus whose flavor and texture was overcome by the strength of the charred lemon rinds and crisp olives.

Vinegar Hill House - NYCFoodGuy.com

The fact that the creamy collard greens were the most notable ingredient in the Wood Fired Tart with Collard Greens & Pork Belly ($11) tells us how disappointingly bland the pork belly and burnt pastry shell were.

Vinegar Hill House - NYCFoodGuy.com

The Shaved Market Salad with clothbound cheddar, pecans and caraway vinaigrette ($10) proved to be a one-note dish, deriving all its flavor from the red onion strewn throughout the pleasingly crunchy salad.

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Our disappointment with the inconsistent appetizers was literally squashed by the appearance of our entrees.  First, the super juicy Cast Iron Chicken ($16), which embodied a pleasingly tart flavor reminiscent of the best salt and vinegar potato chips.  The crisp skin echoed a potato chip crunch when not soaked in the addictive jus, so delicious it rendered unnecessary the flavor of the sweet grilled onions.

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The Red Wattle Country Chop ($24) with homemade sauerkraut featured crispy-skinned slices of sometimes tough, sometimes buttery pork sweetly sauced but devoid of the tender, edible fat NYC Food Guy has grown to love (see: Momofuku Pork Belly).

Vinegar Hill House - NYCFoodGuy.com

La piece de resistance was the special 36 Oz. Rib Eye for Two ($80) which easily served three, justifying its hefty price tag.  Butterflied prior to service, the steak became juicier as it rested.  But the bone provided the most delicious bites as we carved off small, charred bits of gristle-laced meat crusted with salt and spicy crushed peppercorn.

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The bitter green salad ($8), served as an accompaniment to the Rib Eye, offered disappointingly dull buttermilk dressing watered down by the greens, which had not been dried thoroughly.

Vinegar Hill House - NYCFoodGuy.com

Braised kale with ricotta and nutmeg ($8) lacked the flavor and contrast in texture needed to make it stand out.

Vinegar Hill House - NYCFoodGuy.com

The salty-sweet contrast of the seasonal salt baked sweet potato with harissa creme fraiche ($8), overshadowed the harissa which lacked the spice I was hoping for.

Vinegar Hill House - NYCFoodGuy.com

Pass on dessert as well; the signature Guiness cake ($8) is overpriced considering the boring, dense cake beneath a crown of ordinary cream cheese frosting.

Vinegar Hill House - NYCFoodGuy.com

Now that your journey is complete, you understand the need for a focused path to satisfaction.  Extraneous appetizers dilute value and valuable stomach space.  Make the outdoors-man in you proud at Vinegar Hill House and stick with the pleasing products of the hunt.

Vinegar Hill House

72 Hudson Avenue between Front & Water Streets
Brooklyn, New York 11201
718-522-1018
Closed Monday
Open for Dinner only, Tues. – Sun.
http://www.vinegarhillhouse.com/
[email protected]

6 Responses to “Bring Hungry Carnivores & Skip the Appetizers at Vinegar Hill House”

  1. pigtrip said:

    Based on how that food looks I’d skip more than the appetizers.

  2. bbqmackster said:

    FoodGuy does it again. Your review mirrors my visit to the VHH about two months ago. There wasn’t a chx liver mousse at the time, the Tart was exactly as you said, bland and burnt. the greens with the ricotta mixture was oddly boring and over nutmegged. I however found our octopus to be spot on, not too soft in texture from over poaching that usually dooms these dishes. We had the same salad, but on our visit it was spot on, crisp greens and tart buttermilk, tasty. We had another app that I can’t remember, and we skipped some pasta dish that I also forget. We did not have the chicken based on the number app’s we ordered, and there wasn’t a that AMAZING looking Steak special, but we did have the Red Wattle Chop, it was too die for, most slices were very moist still, the flavor was great and the meaty rib portions were sublime. Though I don’t believe ours was sauced up as your appears to be. (perhaps prep changed) My companion this night knew a owner and they sent us both the Guin cake and key lime pie, both unerwhelming, the key lime had too unctous of a flavor, like over citrused or it didn’t set right,something was off. I enjoyed my cocktail and our wine for about 45 bucks was decent too.

  3. sally mae said:

    chicken looks pretty good food guy…i love ribs though, when is the next nycfg ribs tour?

  4. simon said:

    I thought the appetizers were great. We ordered two tarts because the first was that good, not burnt like in your picture. The octopus was great, perfectly cooked. The mousse and bread I could live on. The entree’s were equally delicious.
    I would choose a midweek night to go and check it out again. Price point is pretty good for what I think is a great meal…

  5. appetizers - Loredana’s Gourmet Products said:

    […] Bring Hungry Carnivores %26 Skip the appetizers at Vinegar Hill … Of the four appetizers we ordered, only the Chicken Liver Mousse with Vinegar Onions and Pistachios ($12) offered a totally cohesive dish. Crisp pistachios and delicately toasted, airy bread balance the decadence of the creamy mousse … […]

  6. Janine said:

    Wow, that burnt tart is pretty bad… surprising they’d let it leave the kitchen like that!

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