Battersby Is the 3rd-Best New Restaurant in America 2012
In many ways, Battersby is just like any other brick-walled, Edison lightbulb-lit restaurant in the hipper-than-thou culinary hotbed known as Brooklyn. I might have skipped it if not for the thing that matters most about restaurants: the food. And, okay, it's right by my house... My first visit was with my family, and if you can enjoy a meal with two kids under the age of four the place must be great, right? From the moment I dipped warm rosemary flatbread into the whipped ricotta that arrives on every table, I knew I'd be back. Subsequent dishes—like linguine with clams, crab, and lemon, and lamb ribs with red-pepper glaze—confirmed my suspicions that there's serious talent in the postage stamp-size kitchen (actually, there are two chefs: Joseph Ogrodnek and Walker Stern, who worked together at Alain Ducasse at the Essex House). And then there's the kale salad. Kale salad? This duo took a dish that's been everywhere this year and transformed it into the dish of the year. I'm probably going to regret telling so many people about the little restaurant up the block, but two of the hardest-working chefs I've ever witnessed deserve the recognition.
