Free Williamsburg

The Williamsburg Brooklyn-based culture guide to New York and beyond.

Aska

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We were unimpressed with the first iteration of Scandinavian restaurant, Aska, when it opened at Kinfolk Studio in 2013. Now, they’ve relocated to Williamsburg’s southside on South 5th Street beside the Williamsburg Bridge. If a $359 per person* tasting menu in a dark room appeals to you, this is your spot. We recommend trying the bar where you can sample a few small plates without making a reservation or breaking the bank.

Featured Reviews

  • … you half expect the chef to remove a floorboard, hand you a piece of sandpaper, and tell you to inhale as much moss-laced sawdust as you like. The restaurant unmistakably belongs to the larger Nordic movement, but it’s also an auteur-esque outlier that shatters some of the stodgy norms of fine dining. Just as one doesn’t typically encounter serious chiles at serious sushi spots -€— so as not to upset the palate, I suppose —€” I can’t think of a single other restaurant of Aska’s caliber that relishes in such concentrated flavors of funk, fermentation, oceanic offal, and death.

  • “Wait, do I eat the rock, too?” It’s an admittedly odd-sounding question, but it’s a legitimate one to ask while dining at Aska 2.0, the revival of the Michelin-starred Scandinavian kitchen helmed by Swedish wunderkind chef Fredrik Berselius. “No, just the two leaves on top,” the server replies without judgment. Those leaves are dried bladderwrack sourced from Maine, which Berselius and his workhorse band of sous chefs fry to a crackle and bead with blue-mussel emulsion. The plating you might not immediately understand, but the taste you do: It’s staunchly sea, with the briny funk of seaweed and shellfish. 

  • The new dining room is nearly unlit, and the round tables are heavy, immense, and draped in black tablecloths. The vibe is best described as hipster funeral. Yet the kitchen’s attempts at drama tend to repeat themselves. Cannibalism seems a central theme: king crab swam in king-crab consommé, and a skate wing sat in skate-wing sauce. A pile of incinerated lamb heart, served over a pad of rendered lamb fat, was something of a choking hazard (aska means “ash” in Swedish). Thankfully, a pig’s-blood pancake was heavy enough not to merit an additional bloodbath, but a birch-wood ice cream took its sylvan motif to extremes, studded with mushrooms that were variously candied, dehydrated, or meringued. 

Getting There

TØRST

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TØRST is an essential destination for any lover of craft beer. The owners have elevated its consumption to an art form. The Danish bar, partially owned by one of the dudes behind Evil Twin Brewing, has 21 taps regulated by a “The Flux Capacitor” which ensures drafts are served with the right amount of carbonation and at the perfect temperature. Yes, it’s geeky as hell, but the staff is friendly and the impeccable design is Scandinavian minimalism at its very best. The beer list includes all-star brews like Evil Twin, Other Half, and Oxbow and a large selection of cans and bottles to further complicate your decisions. The affiliated restaurant Luksus closed in 2016, but fear not, TØRST now has its own revamped menu. There are about a dozen shareable plates including Littleneck Clams in Country Ham Broth, Pickled Mackerel, Crispy Chicken Skin, Asparagus with Smoked Trout, and some fantastic sourdough bread with a selection of cheeses. They also have sandwiches such as a tasty Fried Main Shrimp Sandwich and the obligatory Burger. It ain’t cheap, but it’s a wonderful experience.

Featured Reviews

  • The 21, temperature-controlled taps at this Greenpoint bar range from light to dark, each handle reflecting the color of the beer it pours. There is beer and only beer here, and it’s served in wine glasses. The inside resembles a 70’s-style model home. Yet, while the interior design harkens to the past, the brew selection is a foamy vision of the future… Only the best, most obscure brews are penned on the mirror above the marble countertops, which may as well include the message: “Serious Beer Drinkers Only.”

  • Started by a consortium of “hardcore beer and food” types (including a Momofuku research lab chef, a former beer sommelier from DBGB, and the guy behind Evil Twin Brewing), this temple to all things brew is dedicated to bringing you some of the tastiest and rarest suds. Torst is a Danish bar boasting over 20 carefully-selected beers, which are all kept fresh through a high-tech, temperature-regulating system.

  • The menu is divided into snacks, sandwiches, and small plates, but no matter what else you’re getting, you should also get some bread…. a knee-buckling reminder of just how good a bite of bread and butter can be… The Crispy Chicken Skin is a fun and satisfying riff on the classic plate of wings, with its crackling pieces of skin flattened and forged together, it’s served with a generous bowl of thick Point Reyes bleu sauce for dipping (this goes nicely on your bread, too), pickled slivers of celery, and a squirt bottle of Crystal hot sauce. For something more complicated and Nordic, order the chunky Beef Tartare, which may have been the single best dish I had across two meals here.

  • Scandinavian food is hotter than a Finnish sauna right now, so praise Odin that the same culinary Vikings who made gravlax sexy are out to conquer the bar scene as well. On the front line is new Greenpoint drinkery Tørst—Danish for “thirst”—helmed by legendary “gypsy brewer” Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø and chef Daniel Burns, formerly of the planet’s hottest restaurant, Noma in Copenhagen. These warriors are laying waste to tired ideas of what a great taproom should be, with a minimalist space that looks and smells like a modernist log cabin, and rare brews from thoughout Europe and North America.

Getting There