June 27, 2008
Camera in the Kitchen: Northeast Kingdom
Northeast Kingdom sits on the southwest corner of Wyckoff and Troutman streets in Bushwick, a block from the L train's Jefferson stop and myriad one-story warehouses and industrial spaces. Native Vermonters Paris Smeraldo and his wife, Meg Lipke, have invoked a funky ambiance with taxidermy and vintage wallpaper alongside a bar backed with orange and yellow stained glass. Throw in the flickering candlelight and you've got a place to linger for hours after dark.
Savory, comforting dishes like organic chicken pot pie and mac n' cheese made with a cave-aged gruyere are stars on a menu that isn't afraid to also make a stab at interpreting the traditional Vietnamese banh mi sandwich. Northeast Kingdom's version replaces pork with morsels of succulent duck for a sweet and spicy combination.
Among appetizers, the $4 dish of garlic oven fries is both the best bargain and supremely filling. Baked and then doused with a coarse salt, they are tasty enough to ingest without ketchup. The only disappointment of the night was an appetizer salad with bland figs and lackluster dressing that seemed more ornament than flavor. But that one misstep hardly stops Northeast Kingdom from being a surprisingly rustic urban oasis that's worth a special trip.
Northeast Kingdom is located at 18 Wyckoff Avenue (at Troutman Street), Bushwick, Brooklyn. (718) 386-3864.
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this gothamist feature almost always has bad photos. first picture, which I suppose is to give a sense of the ambiance, just makes the place look dark, which i guess it is. the second? looks like a sub with a salad in bad lighting. not sure what the purpose of that is, it certainly doesn't give much of a sense of the food.
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don't let the photos deter you from this place. it's quite tasty.
call me crazy, but i like the first pic.
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umm what is that a picture of? Oh yeah, that really makes me want to run right out to BUSHWICK and try this place out. (You are actually probably doing this place a dis-service by running this).
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Its a good place
I'm surprised its still open, nice to see it surviving after 2+ years
though yeah if you dont live in north brooklyn
there is really no point to go there unless you are visiting around the area for another reason as well
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Do they serve locals? Or just transplants?
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i really wanted to like this place more because its close to home and it's got good ambiance, but everything i've gotten has always cooked to a crisp (bet you that bread is crouton hard) and it's bullshit pricey for nothing special.
it falls at the 3rd or 4th choice when i want to eat out without having to get on a train or bike.
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Its a major hipster-we're-too-cool-for-bedford-ave hang out, but the breakfast is the best I've had in Williamsburg.
If you can deal with the elitist attitude of the crowd, you will enjoy the food.
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I had brunch there once, and it was amazing.
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i had brunch there it was pretty good. but you're gonna get looks if you aren't a lighter shade of pale.
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re: "you're gonna get looks if you aren't a lighter shade of pale."
That comment is both outrageous and completely untrue. I work at this place and I am in no way racist or elitest, nor are any of my co-workers or our regulars. I am white. I live and work in Bushwick and have a number of Dominican and Puerto Rican friends in the neighborhood. For the most part, we all get along and respect each other. Why the continued perpetuation of racism surrounding "whites" in the neighborhood?
Also, we're not "too-cool-for-bedford-ave", most of us just can't afford to live there.