RESTAURANTS • First Person
“I didn’t plan that, I swear,” laughed Anoop Pillarisetti. The entire Brooklyn United marching band — all 50-some-odd members — had just finished performing on the sidewalk right outside of Strange Delight, the new New Orleans-inspired seafood spot Pillarisetti (a Momofuku empire alum) co-owns with Michael Tuiach (Moonburger, Shake Shack) and chef/recipe developer Ham El-Waylly. It’s smack in the middle of one of Fort Greene’s busier thoroughfares, and a fair filled the streets that day.
And yet it would’ve been fitting if Pillarisetti had planned the spectacle. Despite its plentitudes, New York’s restaurant scene hasn’t had much success translating the Crescent City’s legendary, distinct foodways. That changes at Strange Delight, a vibey, fun seafood spot that wouldn’t be out of place in the city that inspired it. Consider it FOUND’s first contender for Restaurant of the Summer.
The space is divided into two parts: in front, a few standing tables and a counter facing an open kitchen forwalk-ins; in the back, an airy dining room with a massive skylight, lined with tables, booths, and banquettes, along with a marble bar for seating at the far end, which is where we landed. While the cocktail menu is still a work in progress (the restaurant is only soft-open through June 5), by the looks of what was behind the bar, expect at least a very, very good Sazerac to complement some excellent wines by the glass.
As a soundtrack of disco, soul, and rap filled the room (at the perfect, non-conversation-interfering volume), we made a gameplan with the formidable menu — sectioned off by oysters, shrimp, a seafood tower (that can be ordered as a single!), a few snacks, two sandwiches, some sides, and three larger, composed fish plates. Notes explain the inspirations behind the dishes: legendary Bourbon Street lunch spot Galatoire’s, the Magazine Street institution Casamento’s, Sheepshead Bay spot Randazzao’s, among others.
We opted for the BBQ shrimp (“derivative of Pascal’s Manale”), served head-on, in a murky pool of the sauce that’s a dead-ringer for the real artifact, savory, spicy, rich, delerium-inducingly good. They’re a must-order, on a slate chock full of them.
Like our three spinach-filled and Herbsaint-tinged oysters Rockefeller, marinated crab claws served in a small mason jar of their crabby-oil with confit tomatoes, and a chinese broccoli salad topped by nutritional yeast dressing, one of the more offbeat but no less excellent surprises in the menu’s far reaches. A fish dip with fried saltines, for example, might not be compelling on first-glance, but had we been on a four-top, we would’ve cleaned right through two. Same for hush puppies, in all their corn-fried glory, which can also be ordered with smoked trout roe, an add-on we won’t forego next time.
To finish, a fried shrimp loaf — that aforementioned Casamento’s tribute, served on milk bread. Were they to only serve those out of a window, there’d be lines around the block. Once word gets out about the profound, absurd pleasures of Strange Delight, there may be lines anyway. –Foster Kamer
→ Strange Delight (Fort Greene) • 63 Lafayette Ave • full-service starts Wed, June 5, walk-ins and reservations • @strangedelight.nyc for details.